To ask about renting this house while selling ours?

[WildFlowerBees]

There’s a house near my elderly dad that is vacant due to the death of the owner. Both dh and I want to move to this area but haven’t yet sold our house. Would it be really stupid to approach the relative and enquire as to whether they might rent to us while we sell ours with a view to then buying?

We know the house, have been in it when the person was alive. Needs updating etc but it could be perfect and it’s close to my dad.

Why not just express interest in buying and ask if they’ll wait for you to sell?

Worth a try, I would approach them having researched how you can de-risk it for them wrt your rental agreement.

Might be tricky on the technicalities of renting a house: meeting H&S requirements, legality of holding a deposit etc

No harm in asking, as long as you're prepared for them to tell you to get lost!

You could always ask but they’d be nuts to say yes given the work and cost involved to them, especially for a short term thing

If its a recent death id let them grieve and not bother them, the probate may be going through and the house is part of the estate.

Definitely worth asking. You may do them a favour by generating extra income for them and saving fees if they plan to sell later. The housing market is dire at the moment - loads of supply (many landlords are selling due to the new rental act; downsizing etc) and lower demand due to high interest rates, economic uncertainty etc. The arrangement may work for both you and them.

A while ago, I actually saw a short-term rental ad from owners who wanted to sell their house but it took too long. It attracts tenants who want to filling gap (moving, renovation etc).

The worst scenario: you have nothing to lose.

I’d certainly ask, as long as you don’t expect them to do anything to it apart from a thorough, so probably professional, clean.

We know the person whose house it was and we’ve met the relative. It’s been a few months and we absolutely don’t want them to be uncomfortable. I was going to write a letter and say they don't need to reply and we mean no disrespect. The reason I’m thinking about this is that once we sell ours we’ll be cash buyers so not being part of a chain would be good and also I just need to get out of this house, I hate where we currently live. Perfectly prepared for them to say no but also thought it might be a source of income whilst we sell ours and then we could hopefully buy it.

Perhaps I’m not thinking clearly given I want to leave where we are so badly and houses where dad lives rarely come up for sale.

Please keep us posted on how it goes. The process may take ages for them to finally be able to sell and it still costs money to maintain the house while being empty (CT, Electricity/gas/water standing charge, safety issues etc)