buy a house with tenants

[CCTVmum]

Saw a house for sale last week. I phoned Estate Agent and they said back on market (17 months) as buyer could not afford it.

I was told they have tenants. The owner has to give 2 months notice by law for tenant to leave.

Am I taking a risk?
If tenant refuses to leave am I left homeless?
How can I ensure if I do buy it the tenants from current vendor leave by exchange of contracts?
What legally would be tenant rights (if refused to leave) and
My rights if tenant refused to leave and I then owned it?

Any advice how to manage this situation with EA?

I was evicted from my rented house when the Landlady wanted to move back in (she was previously working in Australia) If I remember right she served me with a Section 6 notice and gave me 8 weeks to leave.

I was advised by the Homeless Team at my local council that I didn't HAVE to leave on the said date. That the LL couldnt physically evict me unless she took me to court, but that if she did, I would also be liable to pay for her court fees to get a court order to evict me. It would have given me an extra 8 weeks in the house.

Fortunately, my local council found me a council house with 3 weeks of my notice being given, and so it did not come to that. (I had a 4 month old baby and a 2 year old at the time, partner had just left me, Id just started claiming benefits for the first time and had never been in that situation before, I had no idea about anything) I then had problems with LL cos she was "expecting another 4 weeks rent and as I was moving out earlier than the eviction date she expected me to still pay her" ( whaddaa fucking cheek ) However I refused and my local council backed me up with that.

I know thats from the tenants side and not the owners, but I hope that helps.

My advice would be to exchange with a "long stop" completion date. Which should give chance for the tenants to give vacant possession before you actually complete.

I think they normally have to sell with vacant possession( your solicitor would stipulate this).

You can set everything in motion but I think you won't be bound until there is actual vacant possession.

I'm in the process of selling with tenants and my buyer asked of vacant possession. It just means it takes a little longer.

My tenants were served with a Section 6 and my solicitor will be applying for the fastest possible court date to get them evicted if they aren't out when they ought to be. We keep reassuring the buyer that we are on it and ready to be as aggressive as necessary.

The buyer is refusing to agree a completion date until the tenants are out which is reasonable (but scary for me) and something I would recommend for buyers (sucks for the seller). However, everything else is in place so once the tenants move out things should be able to move very quickly.

It shouldn't put you off but demand that a section 6 is served and hold off a completion date until after vacancy is achieved.

I'm not sure saying you'll be "as aggressive as necessary" is a particularly good thing to be writing in public!

But yes, OP don't consider buying without vacant possession, but bear in mind it could take quite awhile!

I agree, don't exchange until the tenants are out. If they decided to stay, and you bought the house, you would still have to legally evict them, which could take months and cost a lot of money.

"Aggressive as necessary" could land you with a large fine or in gaol!

I would assume in this context that as aggressive as necessary means not delaying on taking legal steps to evict if needed and chasing everything up so no unnecessary delays with court action.

aggression regarding tenants is an offence and will get YOU in trouble, jail or both.

you can do nothing beyond due legal process. No cutting off services, no harrassment, no sending the boys round, no changing locks.

hopefully they will act like decent people and leave on or before the due date. But if they don't, it is legal process and bailiffs. Costs £££££ and takes time.

I would be wary of putting phrases such as "as aggressive as necessary" out in public like that. You really never know who is reading forums such as these - your tenants, for example. It could sound too threatening and could land you in problems.

Just say that you are working with the tenant to achieve the vacant possession, as necessary and within the law.

Even vacant, I'd be afraid the tenant would damage the property because the landlord has been as aggressive as necessary and then the vendor hands over a damaged property. I'd tread very carefully!

Oh yes, us tenants are a suspect bunch

I am a tenant back. I wouldn't do such a thing, but some might if their landlord is an aggressive arse.

Hope your tenant is 'as aggressive as necessary' to your property, straight back to you, Waiting.

I mean it's not like they're 'real' people and this is their home or anything. Oh no. They're just tenants, hence like furniture but you annoyingly can't bin them as easily.

Jeez. And you wonder why landlords have a bad reputation.

@bread - totally agree. My LL was absolutely awful to me. She wrote a list of 44 things that she wanted me to repair or replace as they werent in the same state that shed left them. 10 years ago. And there had been 5 other tenants in there before me. And the majority of the stuff on the list Id requested be repaired/replaced but oh no, it was just cosmetic when I was living there, but when SHE moved back in, it just wasn't good enough.

theother so sorry to hear what happened to you with small baby too. For that reason I cant even think of buying a house on such bad luck throwing a poor family into the street!

The vendors need to offer vacant possession, do not allow yourself to get into a position where you own it and there are still tenants there. I doubt your solicitor would let you do that anyway.

The tenants are not your concern, don't worry about them. For all you know, they are planning on moving on at the end of their contract anyway. Either way, they are for their landlord to deal with, not you.