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???

It's their home OP.

OP HAVE THE TENANTS BEEN SERVED NOTICE?

Your completion date doesn't mean that's their notice. You're the worst off party in this situation. The longer you wait, the tenants get to stay and the landlord collects rent and has a buyer waiting in the wings. Why would anyone rush to move out of complete?

They have every right to look for somewhere suitable and at the right price. Perhaps they have lost income during the pandemic and don't have a new deposit yet. But they have rights here and you don't, actually.

I don't know if tenants are fully aware the house was SSTC but it was on the website as SSTC for the last 6 months and my mortgage survey was carried out while they were there. I'm sure they must have known but maybe hoped the sale would fall through due to Covid

Well the renters won't have been looking at properties for sale would they? They'd have been looking at properties for rent, which wouldn't have been the same ad as the one for sale. The landlord probably lied to them about the reason for the survey- he probably said he was remortgaging the property himself/herself. the landlord is responsible for this mess.
However, you seem to be without any empathy whatsoever for these renters who have been duped into moving to a home without knowing they were going to be given notice the moment it was legally possible. This is a really shit thing to happen and you should have some sympathy for them imo.
Having said all that, there's nothing wrong with buying a house that is currently tenanted. BUT, you have to be willing to wait patiently until those tenants have moved out which could take over a year. You shouldn't be exchanging or completing on the sale. You do not take on any responsibility for evicting the tenants- this is for the landlord to sort out. Your solicitor should be strongly advising you on this? You can exchange and complete all on the same day AFTER the tenants have moved out.
As others have pointed out- house prices are bound to fall after the stamp duty holiday expires at the end of March.
You should think very carefully as you seem hellbent on getting yourself entangled in a very costly mistake here by your refusal to see what risks you are entering into, because you 'love the house'.
Can you explain why you think it will cost you money? Why are you buying the house with a teant in situ? Are you getting it very cheaply because this has been taken into account? Potentially if so, your costs
of evicting the tenants when possible (who knows what the gov will say next about extending the period when tenants can't be evicted) will be far more expensive than any stamp duty you're saving.

@UrAWizHarry

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

Pretty much every single landlord on this thread has told the OP this is not the tenants' fault but the landlord's fault for not having vacant possession before marketing the property.

Perhaps you would care to point to the "dickhead landlords on this thread" that you so easily spotted?

I would lower my offer to the vendor every month by the amount of my additional costs of them being there. No one else will touch it with tenants in situe.

Tbh op I think you've been very foolish here. In August the covid eviction laws were clear.

I sold a tenanted property in July. It all worked out and my tenants found somewhere appropriate, moved out after three months and it completed a few weeks after which was great. But every potential buyer was aware of what potentially could happen.

You either wait or pull out. It's not the tenants fault. I don't even think it's the seller fault - empty houses can be crippling, especially in this climate. Buying was a risk you decided to take and unfortunately it's not gone to the best case scenario.

It is not the tenants problem either. Ask the vendors to come back to you once the property is vacant and look elsewhere in the meantime.

Your frustration is directed to the wrong people. The seller allowed them to rent the place and you are continuing with the purchase despite knowing the tenants are there. It’s not the tenancts fault they were let a property due to be sold and it absolutely right renters have greater protection during the pandemic.

@SeasonFinale the few posters saying renters don't have a home and they should buy somewhere if they want to love a place, and that tenants should move out at the end of the fixed term regardless of their own circumstances

I've not read the whole thread OP so apologies if this has already been mentioned. Have you tried renegotiating with the vendor and reducing by the amount of money it will cost with stamp duty etc. Its the landlords issue after all.

Obviously you'll still have to wait for tenants to move out but you get the house you love in the end?

How selfish of the tenants not to make themselves homeless for your convenience OP

@Iamsodonewith2020

Wombatchocolate why are the sellers greedy? It’s their house and the time has come that they need to sell. I am so sick of mumsnet making out that landlords are all the same. Some of us do our best to provide wonderful homes for our tenants and go above and beyond but sadly In the current climate many landlords are selling up as it’s too risky. Some cannot afford to keep their rentals anymore as tenants paying no rent just because of covid. No proof is needed of financial hardship from tenants but mortgage companies require proof from property owners to reduce mortgage payments. Tenants have all the rights.

The seller took on tenants in the same week he sold. That’s greedy.

Tell the seller you will proceed but are reducing the price you are paying due to the tenants not leaving and costing you extra.

@hansgrueber you sound suspiciously like a landlord.........

And everything that's wrong with the housing market.

The seller here is a greedy so and so, who's now caused himself no end of trouble and cost, OP has been astonishingly naïve and it's clearly been a great over head purchase. However the tenants only signed a six month lease, in AUGUST, six months is up, personally if I was looking for an long term home I wouldn't be looking at somewhere with a six month lease, 12 month minimum is the norm, they've also been offered a large sum of money to vacate which they are not entitled to, so I don't think they're faultless in this either.

WombatChocolate I saw your point about potential mortgage arrears and can't pretend the same thought didn't occur to me. It would certainly make sense and would be just one more reason to avoid the place like the plague

This ‘tenants will trash the place’ attitude is appalling

I agree it would be wrong to assume they would, but not to suggest it as a possibility. Since good news doesn't make headlines it's often forgotten that both LLs and tenants are usually decent people, but sadly things can sometimes go very wrong

If you love the house, comfort yourself with the fact that you've got the house. The seller is at fault, not the tenants. Finding a rental home isn't easy now because a lot of people have removed theirs from the market while the Covid temporary rules are in place. The tenants probably expected to have a home for at least a year. This is unfair on you both.

But if you wanted to repeatedly attack anyone - even just mentally - it should really be the vendor...

@Puzzledandpissedoff

WombatChocolate I saw your point about potential mortgage arrears and can't pretend the same thought didn't occur to me. It would certainly make sense and would be just one more reason to avoid the place like the plague

This ‘tenants will trash the place’ attitude is appalling

I agree it would be wrong to assume they would, but not to suggest it as a possibility. Since good news doesn't make headlines it's often forgotten that both LLs and tenants are usually decent people, but sadly things can sometimes go very wrong

When taking on a risk one should consider the worst possible scenario, which in this case would be the tenants trashing the place and having to be evicted. Some people seem to think the worst case scenario is also the most likely scenario, which is simply wrong.

However the tenants only signed a six month lease, in AUGUST, six months is up, personally if I was looking for an long term home I wouldn't be looking at somewhere with a six month lease, 12 month minimum is the norm.

But they signed it in August when these rules were already in place. They knew they wouldn't be forced to move.

Like I said above, my friend has found it near impossible to get a rental place because of these new rules. The vendor was very irresponsible to put tenants in under these circumstances while actively trying to sell.

It does really depend where you live and OP hasn't said that, so you can't say there's nowhere to rent. I've just looked on Rightmove and within a 3 mile radius of my house there are 175 properties to rent ranging from £2500 a month for a two bed penthouse with Seaview to £400 a month houseshares one, two and three bed flats, houses and even bungalows (one houseboat) in between.

You're on a hiding to nothing. What's to stop the buyer from pulling out the sale when he's got rid of the tenants after you've paid them??

I'm obviously not a solicitor but I can't see how you can ever win in this situation. Even if the buyer pays them to leave it still doesn't guarantee he's not going to pull out.

Just walk away OP, nobody else will buy it with tenants in situ. Nobody with sense that is!

I saw your point about potential mortgage arrears and can't pretend the same thought didn't occur to me.
It hadn't occurred to me. But now you mention it, it was odd getting in new tenants when the 6-month rule was in force. Why would he do that, unless he was having difficulty in meeting the mortgage repayments? And he must have known he couldn't sell with tenants in place, except as a going BTL concern. So getting in tenants was an impediment to selling.

Sorry but I'm biased being a renter myself. It's their landlord's fault and being evicted from your home is horrid. I don't blame them at all. It's not your fault but I would look elsewhere.

The seller/landlord obviously wasn’t aware of the rule change that effectively means a 6 months contract becomes a 10 month contract and theY could be asked to leave would be June (if they moved in August).