Renters won't leave the house I'm buying, they 'can't find anywhere suitable'.

[wirldsgonemad]

But thanks to covid, a section 21 means people have 6 months instead of 2 months to vacate and this means I get charged £4,250 extra in stamp duty, plus mortgage application fees and survey of £1k plus my life being on hold for 6 months.

They are fully aware of my position, they know I'm a single mother of 2 small children and they don't give two hoots that they're actions are costing me £5-6k and months of waiting.

God give me strength to get through these next few months without attacking them on a regular basis.

What would you do in my situation???

And OP it is totally irrelevant if property was marked SSTC on a website or even on a board outside the house in terms of the tenants. Their agreement with the Landlord was for a determined period of time and by signing it, the Landlord gave them rights to be there and was required to give them the legal notice.

It was landlord greed to get a buyer and then a tenant.....presumably he hoped the tenants would just move out when he wanted (why he would have thought this would happen is unclear) or that OP would be prepared to wait until they were gone. Perhaps the Landlord was also clueless (some are) but he was at fault in all this and the Op was foolish for offering and proceeding to this point.

Op I hope you haven’t had any direct contact with the tenants. That would be entirely inappropriate. Their landlord is the person that their contract is with and any dealings should be with him. If anyone is offering g them money to go, it should be him and not you, even if bizarely you are funding it.

Is there any chance this landlord is in mortgage arrears? I suspect this is the issue and the mortgage company are after him to sell before they repossess. Perhaps he has marketed it knowing it cannot exchange and complete as a way to hold the mortgage company off and never actually expects to exchange and complete with you, but is wanting to make things harder for the mortgage company...you’d be surprised at the odd things that happen. I think this might explain the odd behaviour of the landlord, because even a greedy landlord knows you can’t exchange until the tenants have gone and the current law.

Some of the comments about tenants on this thread are everything that is wrong with the housing market in this country.

The problem is your vendor, not their tenants. And the tenants have no duty to make your life easier. They aren't going to prioritise your wish to move in over their need to have a home. So proceed, become a landlord and evict them, or pull out. But whatever you do, stop misdirecting your anger. Your selfish vendor is to blame, not the people renting the property.

The issue is the vendor was greedy. He needs to deal with the fall out. Reduce the offer by whatever the delay has cost you.

I agree with others- reduce your offer to reflect your higher costs the vendor's inability to proceed has cost you.

The vendor needs to sell. They need to sort this. This is their problem and their fuck up for not getting the tenants out before selling.

Negotiate with the vendor and make it their problem. I don't think the majority of posters here understand how the law has changed temporarily due to covid. It's a pain for landlords and if you wish to sell your property. I have had the same problem. I (seller) would have paid the tenants to leave for the right buyer.

@Edenspirits

Some of the comments about tenants on this thread are everything that is wrong with the housing market in this country.

too many tenants are able to get away with anything and everything, and penalising everybody else. It's a shame.

There should be stricter rules.

Loads in my area. 2 bed flats that are going for £400 pw for in really bad areas that were going for around half that a year ago.
2 beds are family homes and families are priced out of on a low income.
The housing market is similar. Looks great until you look at the details and many have tenants in place or unaffordable.

Can you not put yourself in their position for one minuite???

There's no particular reason for OP to do that, or indeed for the tenants to put themselves in hers; it's a financial transaction and won't necessarily be helped by bringing emotions into it

Which brings us back to OP "loving" the house ... all very well until the problems stack up, by which time she could easily regret ever having seen the place

Reducing the offer isn’t going to help. It won’t reduce the time it takes to get the tenants out. The Op needs to accept this isn’t happening and cut her losses and move on.

See my point just now querying if Landlord is in mortgage arrears and under pressure to sell from bank, but doesn’t really want to.....it might explain the seemingly odd behaviour from the landlord, who must have known he couldn’t exchange until the tenants were gone.

Having read the full thread I am not at all surprised the tenants are staying put. I would be seriously pissed off to have gone to all the trouble and expense and stress of moving into a property only to be told pretty much as I arrive that I am moving out.

Yup, and this is exactly what happened to me - moved into a flat and within a month the entire building was put on the market. Landlords (who owned the lot) must have known but they didn’t feel the need to tell me. I was as pissed off as hell because moving costs money by the time that the lettings agents have shaken you down for all they can. Fortunately the sale didn’t proceed but you can be damn sure that I’d have enforced my rights (WHY do some landlords see tenants’ rights as an affront) in order to stay in the home - and it IS a home despite the “Its legally mine so I should be able to do as I please attitudes that persist - that I had rented in good faith with a one year minimum rent. And no, I wouldn’t have “trashed it”, not all tenants are anti-social vengeful nightmares.

And all this was pre-pandemic - OP there is no use offering your tenants money to move when they probably don’t have anywhere to go. All the money in the world makes no difference if no-one will take it. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the landlord who wanted the rent money for the sale period, or your solicitor who should have warned you against this.

@SamLovesLembasBread

What happens if they LOVE their home?

It's not their "home", though.

I don't blame OP for being angry at the renters (in addition to the seller). When you rent, you know that circumstances can change. It's not a permanent, guaranteed arrangement.

While they're paying rent for it, they have an absolute right to be there and it is their home.

I don't know where you get the idea that these tenants expected a permanent, guaranteed arrangement? It looks as if they simply expect the landlord to comply with the law.

too many tenants are able to get away with anything and everything, and penalising everybody else. It's a shame.

How are these tenants "getting away" with anything? So far as I can tell, they're paying the rent and complying with their legal obligations. It's hardly getting away with something nefarious to expect the landlord to comply with his.

@BlackBucketOfCheese

what happens if I LOVE the house?

What happens if they LOVE their home?

Tough, it's not their's to love, if they want to 'love it' then they buy somewhere.

Someone would have bought it if it hadn't been me, the market is hot now.

I seriously doubt it with tenants in situ. The owner must have thought Christmas had come early this year when you decided to buy.

Are you prepared to wait 18 months/2 years while the process to evict them occurs? Once they are out what if they have been pissed off by being evicted and trashed the place? They can do some serious damage in eighteen months. What happens then? Will you still love it?

You have to start thinking with your head not your heart.

That is frustrating, the landlord should have squared it away before putting it on the market- be annoyed at them rather than the renters. I would try and negotiate with the seller, and see if you can reduce the offer by the amount you'll be out of pocket.

Yes, it is the tenants home. This ‘tenants will trash the place’ attitude is appalling. Millions of families rent and the attitude on this thread is that they are some kind of scum that will wreck the house. Truly appalling and incredible entitled.

@wirldsgonemad

The house was for sale, I looked, it didn't have tenants in but they had just signed to rent that week. Owner said he is desperate to sell and earliest will be in 6 months when tenancy is up. If I love the house, why would I not go for it, it would still be for sale and someone else would have gone for it. The renters would have been in the same position.

But you are in the position, and you are what would we do? The majority of us would pull out of the sale, unless the seller offered a large discount and could guarantee vacant possession

Drop the price by £15k & see what the Landlord seller says - then pull out

[quote Bagamoyo1]@KnobblyWand
Just had a look at rightmove, as you told me to.
10 rental properties in the very small town I live in, ranging from £450/ month for a one bed flat, to £1200/month for a 4 bed house.[/quote]
Three houses available in my town, one 1-bed for £800, two 2-beds for £950-£1100. That has been the case for weeks now. We look every day because we desperately need to move out of our very cramped, tiny 2-bed. 3-beds are rare as hen's teeth and if we found one, we probably wouldn't be able to afford it because rent has shot through the fucking roof!

It's not a good time to be in need of housing right now.

I dont blame the tenants for wanting to exercise their legal rights to 6 months notice.

But if you cannot afford to wait or have further delays (if they refused to move after 6 months it could take at least as long again for a court eviction) you need to walk away.

This is 100% the vendor’s fault. What the hell were they thinking letting tenants move in so close to selling. So greedy.

To force them to move the LL needs a court order which they can only obtain after the 6 months notice to move runs out. So if you go ahead you may be waiting for up to a year. Has the LL actually given them notice yet?

Tough, it's not their's to love, if they want to 'love it' then they buy somewhere.

It's not tough, they can just carry on living there till they have to leave by law. Whilst they pay rent for it and have a legal right of occupation, it is theirs.

Pretty easy to spot the dickhead landlords on this thread eh?