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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

873 replies

wirldsgonemad · 12/02/2021 17:42

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???

OP posts:
ConsuelaHammock · 13/02/2021 15:38

Don’t blame the tenants , blame the owner . And look for another house .

Onsiesarethenewblack · 13/02/2021 15:40

@Radio4Rocks as others have said, it's not the LLs home. The LL has a home that they live in. The house is an asset that the landlord has invested in as a means to make money. They are two very different things.
Just because the landlord owns the property doesn't mean they can treat it as theirs; by renting it out they have given up that right, in return for money. How about a different example - you have your car on PCP. Do you think that the finance company should be able to pop round when they want and drive your car? Do you think they should be able to decide at any point how long you can have the car, or that they want it back next week and that telling you is sufficient? Now imagine that switching cars would likely cost you a couple of thousand pounds in fees before you'd be allowed another PCP deal. Still think that's reasonable?
It sounds ridiculous when you compare it, yet a car isn't even an essential thing. A home is.

Eaststreet · 13/02/2021 15:46

I honestly would pull out! It is a nightmare to evict tenants if they don’t want to go. I have a friend who has been trying for 2 years and tenants have come up with one excuse after another why they can’t go (including in court twice, both times judge siding with tenants). If offering them money hasn’t been an incentive I would imagine they love the house as much as you and want to stay in it. I couldn’t be bothered with the uncertainty, potential stress and cost of evicting them if it were me.

Eaststreet · 13/02/2021 15:48

Also re mortgage application running out, have you approached lender and asked to extent the offer?

JustLyra · 13/02/2021 16:08

@Eaststreet

I honestly would pull out! It is a nightmare to evict tenants if they don’t want to go. I have a friend who has been trying for 2 years and tenants have come up with one excuse after another why they can’t go (including in court twice, both times judge siding with tenants). If offering them money hasn’t been an incentive I would imagine they love the house as much as you and want to stay in it. I couldn’t be bothered with the uncertainty, potential stress and cost of evicting them if it were me.
If your friend has been to court twice and lost twice then they must be going wrong somewhere with the official paperwork. There are certain grounds to be met, judges don't have the option to 'side' with the tenants if the relevant grounds are met.

There was a case in my town where the judge openly questioned if the LL should be allowed to be a LL because of his habits with tenants, but that still didn't change the fact the eviction notice had to be served because the law is set.

ememem84 · 13/02/2021 16:20

I’d be contacting solicitor and lowering my offer by at least £25k.

maggienolia · 13/02/2021 16:23

Pull out.
Or hire Phil Mitchell.

Bythemillpond · 13/02/2021 16:35

They've been told to leave. The landlord doesn't want them there. For them to stay is squatting where they are unwelcome. It may be legal but it's daft. And the law needs to be changed

Technically they have only just been told to leave. According to the op they were told verbally to go in December but it wasn’t put into writing so wasn’t something that the tenants needed to take notice of.

Agree that this vendor is either a scammer or stupid and I do think people need to pass a basic test to become landlords if they can get something so basic wrong

So no they are not squatting, from my perspective they are just serving out their notice.

WinterIsGone · 13/02/2021 16:48

Technically they have only just been told to leave.
Because of this, I think there's a very small chance the OP might be lucky, the tenants could be planning to leave without it reaching the eviction stage, it could be that the stamp duty holiday is extended, and house prices could fall so she could reduce her offer and still get the house. On the other hand...

dontdisturbmenow · 13/02/2021 16:50

*Immoral is occupying a home that belongs to someone else and refusing to move
I'm a landlord who had a fair share of problems with tenants with poor morals and I totally disagree with you.

For once I never call the property I rent my home. It's my property, extending to my house when specifying the type but I never ever refer to it as my home because it isn't, it's the home if my tenants.

I hope you're not a landlord or not intend to become one because I'm tired of the bashing and assumption that I'm a shit human being because I happen to let my property, because if people like you who give us such a bad name.

Sarahrellyboo1987 · 13/02/2021 17:24

YABU!

You knew it had renters. A basic google search would have told you how much time they would have needed to be given as notice.

Sounds like irresponsible research on your part.

Nith · 13/02/2021 17:33

They are also the homes of the landlords - and sometimes they need to move back in.

No, they aren't the landlords' homes. If they were, the tenants would be lodgers, which would be a different legal scenario. Many, many landlords have no intention whatsoever of living in the properties they rent out. Even if they are properties that were formerly their homes that they plan to move back to, at the point when they are rented out they are the tenants' homes.

If you have a six month contract then surely the expectation is that you may have to move after six months

No, the expectation is that you have to move after six months and after having been given the proper notice required by law.

Immoral is occupying a home that belongs to someone else and refusing to move.

You mean, obeying the law is immoral? Interesting point of view.

amispeakingenglish · 13/02/2021 17:35

This should be the owners problem , buy another house if you can or make the owners pay. They must have know the renters were going to be like this. Tell them unless they pay the extra costs or reduce house price pro rata, you won't buy it. No one will want this problem. Basically you are buying a rental property with tenants in place. Then you will have to do a deep clean too and whose to say they won't wreck it in spite when they do eventually go. The more you think about it the more could go wrong. If they refuse to go you'll have to go through the courts. Even getting squatters out takes time & money. I have a friend in this position & the tenant is gaslighting her too. She has been warned as he falsely claims she has been threatening him etc. DO NOT BUY WITH THEM THERE.

Yogalola · 13/02/2021 17:36

Don’t buy the house, you could end up with sitting tenants forever.

TheNoodlesIncident · 13/02/2021 17:38

Irrespective of the ins and outs of this situation, I would be pulling out of this purchase now because the vendor is a nightmare to deal with. He had two choices didn't he, he could accept OP's offer to buy or he could accept the tenants' application to rent. He couldn't realistically do both, and yet he did.

This could drag on and on for months and months. You are already six months in, nowhere near exchange - and can't possibly exchange - and your mortgage offer is about to run out of time. You really need to cut your losses now and start looking again. (Frankly in this situation I wouldn't have stopped looking, but I would have pulled out the moment I discovered that the vendor had rented it out as well.) I know the house seems perfect. We've all found a house like that, that ticks all our boxes. But there will be other houses that are suitable and won't have idiotic vendors or tenants in situ. I've fallen for houses when I've been looking, and I've been gazumped and had purchases fall through. Every time, it has turned out that it was for the best, although I wasn't aware of that then. There has always been another property and it has always turned out to be better than the one I had originally wanted. This could be the same for you too.

Don't do this to yourself OP. Honestly, house buying is so stressful. This house is just going to keep piling the stress on you month after month. You might end up wondering what godawful stunt the vendor pulls next. Please, just move on.

amispeakingenglish · 13/02/2021 17:39

Also it might be a shock to the tenants and just because they rent doesn't make them second class citizens necessarily, they might be very nice, and their LL a git. Do you know the whole story?

TrickyD · 13/02/2021 17:41

Pull out.
Any potential buyers will come up against the same problem with the tenants, The owner needs to start proceedings to get rid of them, then the house will be saleable again and you can step in.

ViperAtTheGatesOfDawn · 13/02/2021 17:43

@Yogalola

Don’t buy the house, you could end up with sitting tenants forever.
They're not 'sitting tenants' as they will not remain post-purchase. The OP cannot complete her purchase until they are gone.
Lisa46 · 13/02/2021 17:47

Please be really careful with this one - if the vendor has made any mistakes with the deposit or how he filled out / served the lease you may be stuck with these tenants. Make it the vendors problem - you want vacant possession or pull out.

wildchild554 · 13/02/2021 17:50

The tenants are probably waiting on section 21, they have to wait till they are actually to get help with housing and they may be in a situation where they have no choice but to do so.

wildchild554 · 13/02/2021 17:50

*evicted

SorryStateOfAffairs · 13/02/2021 17:53

They must have know the renters were going to be like this

Like what? Following the law? Expecting the LL to also follow the law?

I'm not sure why the tenants are being derided so thoroughly by some on here when the only person who has acted both immorality and outside of the law is the LL!

The OP has been a bit naive and far too trusting. Plus she has made a shed load of assumptions because most of her responses have been based on what she thought rather that what she knew or even what she was told!

The LL has been duplicitous.

The tenants signed a rental agreement and are complying with the law so far.

partyatthepalace · 13/02/2021 17:53

YABVU!

Why should they move out?! It’s their home - I’m sure they have issues to deal with, as you do, as everyone does. Your problems aren’t theirs.

All you can do is 1. Pull out 2. Put up with it 3. Offer them a sum to move out faster.

You are plenty entitled OP.

Eeve · 13/02/2021 17:53

How quickly do you need to move? If no pressure, can you get vendor to sign a legal document to promise to sell to you at XX price, when then tenants have left (leaving the place in good nick, of course)?

That way, you get your house, and the vendor can go through the appropriate channels with the current tenants?

SorryStateOfAffairs · 13/02/2021 17:54

*immorally

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