Landlord turned nasty

If the other houses are in the same price range you’re looking at on the same street I would go for a viewing.

She's elderly and losing it.
Getting frightened. My mum is the same.

Maybe buy another house on the street.

Buy another house in the same street, she’s obviously not a reasonable person. It’s taken me almost 3 months to sell a no chain house for well under what it’s worth, searches, buyer getting mortgage in place, dicking about with a minor repair etc.

Buy one of the other houses, she will struggle to sell her place by the sounds of things. Also ask her to put you down as a reference for new tenants and make sure they know what they are potentially dealing with!

Buy another on your street then she will be up the creek without a paddle as she will have to wait months and months for it to sell or struggle to rent it while needing repairs losing revenue because she's shot herself in the foot by being awkward

Don’t buy from her
you could get all the way through and spend out on searches and solicitors costs for her to pull out and you’ve lost that money

speak to all local estate agents, tell them what area you want and your budget and find something else

@LavenderLuxe if there is a house in the street in better condition than yours and it is for sale, buy it! she will then need to improve your old house for rent or take forever to sell!

My suspicion is she or her family has got cold feet now they can’t get the sake complete before CGT goes up, even though it rose under the Tories for property already. They may have decided to take the IHT hit when she dies and not risk the double whammy of both.

This is confusing, but if there unfold d at unilateral properties nearby, then start visiting them and put an offer in on the best one. If you haven’t exchanged contracts then she can withdrawer from the sale without penalty. In fairness, it’s nearly November, so it’s not clear why it’s taken so long. We’ve bought a house twice. First time it took 4 weeks. So I do time it took 6. You should have been able to exchange in 2 to 3 months.

My thoughts exactly!

She's completely unreasonable and even if she changes her mind, I wouldn't trust her not to piss you about at the last minute.

You're well placed to buy now, OP, you've got everything in place, buy somewhere else and then she can have the hassle and expense of finding another tenant or another buyer.

If you do stay renting, the Renters Reform Bill is likely to come into effect around Summer 2025 and it's also looking likely that if a landlord wants to sell a property that they have to give tenants first refusal at a market selling price. So you may still manage to do it.
Obviously it won't be confirmed how it will work until the Renters Reform Bill is passed which will be a few months away, likely around Spring.
It's up to you whether you're happy to sit and wait and see though, or if you can afford maybe buying and moving into a nicer house on the street? I wonder if her family have pulled some strings into talking her out of selling for now.

Sorry but I think you need to find somewhere else. It is a buyer's market at the moment and with a deposit and nothing to sell you are a very desirable prospect. Your landlady doesn't know how lucky she is but other vendors will.
She is either a very unreasonable person or may be having cognitive difficulties of some kind - the anger and going back on what she said are classic. Either way she's wasting your time. I hope you find something close to where you are so you get to enjoy the location and neighbours.

First I'm gonna say I know you have an an emotional connection to this house. But you're gonna have to bite the bullet and choose one of the other homes on your street. Have your solicitor send her 1 last letter indicating you are going to be looking elsewhere to buy if she continues to refuse sale.

While this is a back up option surely it's pretty obvious why they would prefer to stay in a house they know rather than risking somewhere they don't, let alone saving the costs and stress of moving.

OP do you have any means of speaking to her directly? Perhaps you could point out that she either sells the property and saves on all the fees that would come from advertising it, or risks you refusing to pay the rent increase, she has to give you notice to leave and go through the eviction process (which if you were minded to you could extend for several months, costing her money) and even then if she manages to let it out to a new family at the higher rate she still has to spend money advertising for them and runs the risk of new tenants being far worse than you. If you've got the deposit to buy you don't need to worry about a good reference from her so could potentially make her life very awkward. Obviously I am advising not to put this in writing!

She obviously shouldn't be messing you about like this. However, it's a very stressful time for the type of landlord who isn't very well off. The house prices have been going up and down for a few years now and it's difficult to work out the best time to sell. I'm not saying I agree with the housing situation but I'm looking at it logically. Maybe her mortgage is about to go up and she's panicking. She's worried about that and the house prices falling but at the same time she doesn't want to lose the property. So she keeps changing her mind. (Don't ask me how I know!)

Is there a reason you want that particular house though? I would have thought you'd have more bargaining power if you went for a different house. I'd have thought this situation would work out better for her because she knows you won't pull out at the last minute or gazunder.

It takes 4-6 months for a house sale to complete.

One that they've been promising to get sorted for 6 years! She's probably fed up of waiting tbh!

On what planet does a house sale start and complete in 9 days?? The woman is batshit!

Look elsewhere. She sounds a nightmare and you dont want to pay out for surveys etc only for her to pull out the day before exchange

She absolutely should not have lost her shit with you. Have you made any progress since end of August with the conveyancing and survey? We're now almost at end of October, so with a straightforward proposed sale like this, yes, good headway could have absolutely been made. What's been happening at your end with getting that moving?

I've seen an auction deadline of four weeks recently with a form to insure against search delays. Which to me stinks of something Dodgy.

9 days is insane.

Go view the houses on your street that are in better condition.

If there is something else in your price range in your street, buy that. If not, there will be other great streets with lovely neighbours.

As for the rental increase, she can increase it as long as, a) it is not higher than market rate in your area for a property in a similar condition, b) she hasn’t increased your rent already within the last 12 months and c) you aren’t on any kind of fixed term contract - ie not within the initial period of the tenancy agreement or under a fixed extension period.

Do any of the above apply?

Edit - to add if you do refuse, she can serve you notice. And even if none apply, you could try to negotiate less than the 15%.

Have you posted about this before?
My response is the same as it was on that thread... leave her well alone, she will cause so many issues. She's the type who you'd get all the surveys, checks mortgage etc in place then she'll pull the rug from under you before exchange.
I'd buy another on the same street.

She clearly doesn’t want to sell or she would have years ago.

Buy one of the other houses on the street, this is going to go down as you want it's going to be a living nightmare.

How the heck did she expect you to have all that done in nine days? You're not Jesus.