To be furious with landlord who hasn’t made any repairs to our home in over 9 years but now we want to buy the property, she wants to make repairs and charge us £30k more?!!

[NancyFridayWrites]

We have come into some money... so we are planning on buying the house we’ve rented/live in.
Found out from estate agent it’s value, and it’s at least £40k less than if the property had been kept/or even repaired up to standard. DH and I have been juggling jobs etc making the decision to spend more time with our 2 DCs when they were newborn-pre school. We now have well paid jobs and a decent deposit.
Landlord came over at the weekend and we discussed the value - he said he was going away and would have his own valuation done. Thing is we know (found out by accident) that despite turning up in a convertible he has an interest only mortgage on the property and owes the bank £250k (just off what the estate agent valued it at). He started talking about his options - getting more for the house by making repairs etc.
I didn’t challenge him on it but he’s done nothing to this property in nearly a decade...feel annoyed and like taking our money elsewhere

How do you know she wants to sell it?

Well i guess first question is are there other houses you can buy in your budget? If so i would make an offer that would be outside of estate agents and then he gets more money. Also refuse to allow the work to be done whilst you are renting. Only essential works need to be done as you have a right to a quiet life or something like that. He will need to serve you notice to end tennancy and then get the major works done whilst the place is empty so he loses the rental income. If he wants to do the work to add value then and you still want to buy it. Make sure you do it via estate agent so he gets charged % commission. So many more variables that the landlord needs to consider and if he wants a quick easy sale without having to pay commission he should take your offer and then you can do the work yourself and to your taste and more importantly correctly. If people are going to sell a place they will only do it up so that it looks appealing to the market. Good luck!

I'm a landlord (one that does repairs though). You are in an incredibly strong position as buyers. If you buy the house direct from the landlord you will save him/her:
estate agent fees
void periods - can be significant if they are thinking of repairing then selling
-uncertainty - buyers that get near to exchange and pull out etc - you are much less likely to do this

• hassle of trying to sell a tenanted property - they must know you can refuse viewings, you are not going to 'dress' the house so they can sell it underneath you for instance
• depends on the area but definitely a buyers market at present.

I would put in an offer and bargain hard. I guess it depends how much you want that exact house but sounds like it would need some work doing. You should definitely be prepared to walk away. Good luck.

Has he said he wants to sell?
If not then I think you overstepped the mark by getting a valuation (didn't the EA ask if you owned it?) and then putting in an offer based on that

We bought off our landlady. She phoned up apologising for needing to sell (it was her mum's who needed specialist care ) at just the point we were going to look to buy.
We agreed she would ask one EA, we would ask another and we mutually chose one, and we went for a average of the three.

Also if you found the house through an EA be prepared that they will claim fees for selling. Ours did even though all they did was the initial contract 2 years previously. We did get them to back down but only on the basis they'd not got round to organising our second year contract despite being asked by both sides

Estate agents can be slippery. They like to talk up their prices to sellers (remember they get commission on their sales) so they'd be likely to pitch the price high to the landlord. There's excellent responses here. Have confidence in offering the value of the property in to you.

I don't understand why you're "furious". You haven't purchased this property or made an offer yet.

Why did you get a valuation? Was it agreed with the landlord that you would?

When does your current lease end? Not to be too opportunistic or anything but I personally would wait until next April to purchase a house, I'd be worried about buying a house now just to see the value drop after we leave the EU - I am NOT saying this to start a Brexit bun fight btw! On the other hand though, mortgage rates are very low currently and will inevitably rise after Brexit (according to the FT) so...

The owner is entirely within their rights to do repair work if they want to sell it for a higher price. However, if I were you, I would be inclined to put an offer in now, for what it's worth now, and make it very clear that is the only basis on which you would buy it, and that you will otherwise be looking at other properties.

You might need to negotiate a bit, but he would be stupid not to agree and save himself the hassle.

I guess I’m angry because now they can see a fast buck to be made the landlord wants to make repairs! Three winters running - and the worst time was earlier this year during our extended winter - the boiler has broken down leaving us without heating and hot water; in one case a wee when my youngest DC was still very young! Then there’s the plastic flooring which we offered to fix - full of holes and feeling like a slum. The bathroom has a small leak and green and blue mound grew in a hole where the plastic flooring just wore away. The garden walls have been rotting for years. We’ve offered numerous times to repair - and the oven has broken down several times - dodgy wiring upstairs. In fact - why are we buying when there are new builds going up around the corner. So maybe I am BU about the wanting to improve the value of the house but NBU when we consider how our lives have been affected by the landlord’s lack of investment. If they had made the repairs the house would’ve worth more.

If the house is in such poor repair why do you want to buy it?

As another pp has suggested look around to see what else you can get for your money. Your LL sounds like he'll be hard work to negotiate with and you're in a strong position.

Take out the emotion and look at this as a business transaction because that's what it is. What did/didnt happen during the rental period is irrelevant (although it gives you useful insight into the kind of person you're dealing with). What is the house worth? What else could you get for that money?

Are you only looking at buying this property so you don't need to move? Honestly from everything you've said I'd give notice and buy elsewhere. Either they do the repairs(probably as cheap as poss) and you pay another £30k to the landlord or you buy at its current price and then you have to do the repairs and they'll probably cost you a fortune.

Probably best to look elsewhere, and keep in mind that this is simply a financial transaction between buyer and seller. The seller is not at fault for trying to get the highest price, and the buyer can walk away if they don't want to pay that price. No need for fury.

It sounds like it would suit you not to move, and your landlord knows this, and thinks you may pay a bit over the odds for the convenience of staying. If this is not the case, just buy another house.

Also bear in mind that landlord may not sell to you or may up price further once works are complete. Dont put yourself through weeks of disruption on the basis of a "gentleman's handshake".

'Thing is we know (found out by accident) that despite turning up in a convertible he has an interest only mortgage on the property and owes the bank £250k (just off what the estate agent valued it at)'. This is a red herring, the majority of landlords will have rental properties on an interest only mortagage as they are long term investments.

It's possible his plan for repayment is selling the house another 10+ years down the road. He's probably covering his costs now and banking on the property increasing in value in the future, so if he sells early obviously there will be a larger deficit to pay. He's not going to sell at a loss to him as a favour to a tenant.

The landlord not doing repairs to things like boilers and electrical wiring is shoddy though. It sounds like you'd be better off moving regardless of whether you buy a property or not.

you have been renting a dump for years, they never improve. the correct action would have been to move. the landlord's car and finances are irrelevant.

Another one here who is surprised you are even considering buying that house when there sounds like so much wrong with it?

Another one here who is surprised you are even considering buying that house when there sounds like so much wrong with it?

I think the OP thought they might get a bargain, based on the condition of the house and what she believed was the landlord's need to sell. It was worth a shot, but in reality probably better to buy elsewhere.

My friend has a large mortgage on her BTL even though she has assets to pay it off. Connected to tax brackets and tax on the rental income.

I would look at the costs of the work that needs doing, and make an offer based on that. Can be what some might consider a cheeky offer, as you are a tennant in situ, plus you can take into account the EA fees etc.
So the EA says it's worth £250K as it is, EA fees etc are probably going to be circa £3.5K. Can you get all the work done that needs doing for £40K - have you got quotes and costings? I'd look at offering around £235-240K but be prepared to increase it to 245-250K as I suspect that'll be what the landlord needs to realise from the property to cover the loan. I'd also be letting the EA / Landlord know you have no qualms about moving to a different property if they cannot agree what you offer.

I get your annoyance is that he should have done these things 5+ years ago, so you would have had the benefit as a tenant. Was the state or repair reflected in the rent though?

The other point is that he may want to get them repaired now, but you still have the right to quiet enjoyment of the property until the end of your tenancy. Are you on an AST or month-to-month? There's clearly a deal to be done as you could make it difficult to get the repairs done until the property is vacant.

Also consider that if you were to buy a different property, you would not be in a chain so you would be a strong position as a buyer on a different property too.

The more you post, the more the house seems to need a fair amount of work particularly wiring etc you can't do yourself. As well as the survey I would request a decent builder to look at the place before you commit yourself. There's also the issue that if you have young children, extensive building works will be a total nightmare.

Why on earth do you want to buy it? I would've thought you'd be sick of it by now! Buy another with less work to be done - you'll be snapped up as first time buyers.

Buy something better!