Do I sell house to tenants

[Movingon2024]

Asking here as no-one else to ask for advice really.

moved abroad 2024. Uk house rented to some lovely tenants. Is in a v desirable area and a v nice property.

trnants approached after Xmas and asked to buy the house. Tenancy ends November.
they made an offer of 420, I am out of touch w uk housing market so asked for EA valuations. Came back at 500-550.

called both EAs and asked for reasons for valuations. They both said local market has increased significantly in last year linked to changed schools admission criteria (local schools are outstanding). Both said 500 would be low offer for the property.

informed tenants who then increased offer to 485. Estate agent fees (I asked) are around 1 per cent.

am very torn. Have accepted that the house needs to be sold, it’s too big for me now that kids have moved on. The tenants are a lovely family and would be great owners of it.

But the price difference if it sold at 550 would make a massive difference to our lives - I could give the kids some cash to help them with a house deposit of their own for example.

Any advice? Said I would get back to them by end weekend. thankyou so much.

My Parents house was over valued by estate agents , I knew the prices of houses selling locally , they were all very well decorated etc. My parents house needed a complete re furbishment .
They said it was a desirable area ( we knew this we had an offer before it was time to even think about selling )
But yes ,EA was way over the actual worth .

I would do one more counter offer £520k final offer. Selling to them is a lot more convenient that waiting for their lease to end, getting deep clean, possibly decorators ...because it's surprising how poor walls/carpets look when the furniture's out. Carpet under sofa like new for example but worn wear people walk. Wall paper looking ok until close inspection.
Also you may not get £550k if this is more or less too going price or possibly inflated. you might wait a very long time for top dollar while losing money because you won't want to begin again with tenants if you"re intent on selling.
Just tell them that you are going for a final offer of £520k because they've been good tenants.
Obviously no need to mention that you're not sure you could get top dollar 😁

I think you need to take a realistic look at the figures. As many PP have pointed out the £550 K is hypothetical in this flat housing market. £500K seems like a more realistic price to me. You could ask the tenants if they are in a position to raise their offer to £500K. Another thing to be bourne in mind is that if you sell to the tenants the sale will likely go through more smoothly. And you will be in receipt of rent from them until contracts exchanged. Selling on the market could take upto 12 months with no receipts at all. You have no notion of how random buyers might behave or what tricks they might try. Mumsnet is full of tales where buyers demand a reduction at the last minute causing worry and stress. You existing tenants are unlikely to do this. And there is no chain to worry about.

Just in case this crops up….

Tenants: ‘You should accept less from us because we have paid £x in rent over the last eighteen months’

Your immediate answer, and do not budge from this: ‘Sorry that’s not how it works.’

(and possibly give them notice.)

By the way you would be well advised to have some other buyers lined up presumably via an agent even if you accept the tenants’ offer. Otherwise you are far too exposed to them and ‘last minute negotiations’ .

I'd think tenants are less likely to try that stunt. Imagine where it would leave them if Op stands firm and says No I want you out?
Then they are left trying to find somewhere else short notice and the hassle of packing up and moving. Plus schools etc etc.

True but these ones started out by offering very low assuming OP didn’t realise the level of the market. I have the impression OP
has been very nice to them and they are trying/will try to take advantage of her good nature.

Very happy to be proved wrong.

If they can’t raise the extra money and know you are selling they will likely move out and then you’ll have to cover the mortgage yourself until it sells which could be months.

My own house has been valued at £500-550k, recently. Which is farcical.

There are very few of exactly my design of house, and I haven't seen one for sale in years. But there are similar sized ones that have en-suites and conservatories, going for £475k (and I have neither)

So be careful not to get sucked into their sakes pitch.

in Scotland the vendor has a survey done which gives a valuation. Why not do that then take it to the tenant?
Alternatively ask them to have it surveyed if they are keen.

Thanks so much to you all.
have said I will get back to them tonight as needed extra time to think about it.
checked rental contract as advised and indeed I have to pay EA managing it 1 per cent if they buy it. Which negates any saving on the EA selling fee. Btw the tenants said that EA selling fees would be 2-3 per cent, actually it’s only around 1 - I think (well hope) they weren’t aware of the actual costs.

I think I may propose:
thank you for offer but quite far below market value and EA fees cancelled about by having to pay rental mgmt EA
houses risen 17 per cent in last year due to schools admission criteria change
go to market but with them as first refusal
would they consider rental reduction to allow visits
if offers are within reaching distance of theirs ie 10-15k, they could have it.

how does that sound?

(single parent here & house is main asset so v nervous about getting it wrong. Advice here invaluable).

Meant to add, tenants last message said that they also have a house to sell as part of process.
so I guess I’d be in a chain anyway

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but on the open market you are going to need to evict them before you list it for sale. You can’t just hope they’ll pack up and leave reasonably once you exchange / complete, and nobody is going to offer you a good price with sitting tenants. Your solicitor won’t allow exchange until you can guarantee vacant possession. And I say this because the courts and evictions are backed up. It can take 18 months or so to get someone out.

Same here!

Oh well they’re getting much less appealing now - chain, EA fees, low offer. The only upside is not needing them to move out, which may be a pain when the time comes. But they’re far from the ideal ‘sell to us hassle free’ tenants. I’d put it on the open market and see how their offer stacks up against others. Don’t give them first refusal as another chain free offer would be much simpler and likely higher if the bubble is as you suspect.

I’d snatch their hand off

if they don’t buy it, they’ll move on and you’ll have an empty house whilst you sell, which could take 12 months of rent, agents fees, hassle

would they consider rental reduction to allow visits

do they have to allow visits at all, legally?

Doesn't sound like the house would have any problems selling or renting.

They have a house to sell so are not hard done by. Get the best price you can OP. Your tenants know exactly how much your house is worth

Obviously them needing to sell adds delay but you’re not really in a chain per se. They need to sell before they buy yours but it doesn’t need to line up in the way a normal chain does because they are not living there.

Yes they did that with my mums property whe She passed away, ended up reducing advertising 30k less, then 5k less per offer lol.

So property was advertised at 215k, bungalow, sold 180k.

So multiply.that up, thatd be difference for op.

Friend recently got advised to sell 350k too, sold at 300k.

I think estate agents over inflate so sellers see pound signs and choose them.

Still the stresses of the chain below the tenants though. It’s not the same as tenants getting a mortgage without needing to sell. Sounds more like a strategy now, that they had a home, moved to OP’s house to rent so they were in catchment for schools and get first dibs on buying in a desirable area where houses rarely come up for sale. Which is a good strategy but would be better for OP if they weren’t offering so low given the chain and EA fees. I still don’t think they stack up to such an appealing deal.

This is a house in a street with 2m properties though in a desirable area. If it's anything like a road near me, people buy these houses, knock them down and build huge places to their specifications. Given the surroundings, I bet there a developer who would be itching to get their hands on this house.

i doubt you'll have much trouble OP, but if you want to get their hands max for it, and the tenants aren't willing to pay, then give them notice now and get them out so that you don't have sitting tenants.

You don’t owe them anything if you sell you don’t have to sell to them and you could just put on market and get going rate that’s a lot of money for your family to lose!

Can you or anyone else let us know approximately where this is?

Similarly areas where nothing sells?

Given that they’ve got a house to sell too, gotta wonder if they’d sell to their tenants for significantly below market value with EA fees and a chain involved too. Chances are nope, they’d market it for the best offer then decide. Completely different if it’s tenants without EA fees or chain offering a fair price but in this case, it’s not the good deal it might’ve seemed.