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???

I agree that the owner has tried to have his cake and eat it by renting while the sale went through. He's been wanting to sell, but accepted renters, then I cane along and offered to buy. I agree it is the renters home but it's been advertised as for sale. Someone would have bought it if it hadn't been me, the market is hot now.

It might be that the tenants have no where to go. And have been told by council to stay until bailiffs come.

If you’re determined not to pull out, I would threaten to pull out, unless the seller covers some of your costs by lowering the asking price.

I can well imagine the current owner has offered them a six month “rolling” tenancy, only to pull the rug out from under them by putting the house in the market immediately they signed, meaning they would auto renew the contract.

All of my sympathy is with the tenants here.

You have a choice if you really love the house that much, buy, but it will cost you loads in fees to get them out, or find somewhere else

Personally I would be finding somewhere else

Wouldnt* automatically renew

Gobsmacked you’re trying to blame the tenant here.
I wouldn’t give a shit if you were a single mum with 2 kids to be honest-not their problem at all. They’re having to find a new home in the middle of a pandemic.
This is a problem of your own making and I have no sympathy.

The seller, the landlord is responsible. The tenants aren't, neither are you.

The Council won't rehouse them until the legal route has been exhausted.

@wirldsgonemad

I agree that the owner has tried to have his cake and eat it by renting while the sale went through. He's been wanting to sell, but accepted renters, then I cane along and offered to buy. I agree it is the renters home but it's been advertised as for sale. Someone would have bought it if it hadn't been me, the market is hot now.

Then direct your ire at the owner. The renters have done nothing wrong here.

They've probably been conned into thinking it was going to be a long-term lease.

@wirldsgonemad
If they are true sitting tenants from as far back as 1980s you won’t be able to get them out.
An elderly woman I know moved in to a Georgian flat in a lovely area..house has been sold numerous times at very cheap rate because of her tenancy.
Buyers have offered her £40k to move, as the house then would be worth over a million.
Buyers have tried to bully her out.

She ain’t moving.
She says the rent is cheap and she wouldn’t get benefits with the £40 k

She is a pensioner, was a nurse.

A sitting tenant next to parents was offered the equivalent of £200,000 to move and she DID accept, as she could buy a place outright with that.

Sitting tenants have a lot of protection.

I’d buy elsewhere.

Why is everyone so sympathetic with the renters? They knew the house was on the market when they moved in. I rented for 15 years, a few places, and I always knew that I could be served notice any time. That’s the way it goes. It’s not nice, but it’s not illegal or morally wrong.

The most dubious person here is the vendor, who installed tenants in order to make some extra cash while waiting for a buyer.

OP hasn’t done anything wrong apart from being a bit foolish in taking this on. Stop implying that she’s making the renters homeless. They’ll just have to find somewhere else, like people always do.

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

As said, the only other people who'd buy in these coircumstances are BTL landlords - and they're unlikely to have paid the owner what he wants

And the market's only "hot" right now because of the ridiculous stamp duty race. What's your view on owning a devaluing house if a crash comes, which you can't live in and which is costing you a fortune in legal fees to remove tenants who may even trash the place before leaving?

Still think it's such a good idea ... ?

If the tenants haven’t taken you up on your offer of cash to move out, I would be very concerned that they either will refuse to move, whatever notice they get, or simply cannot. You’d have thought the offer would be enticing if they accepted they’ll be going at some point in the not too distant future anyway.

A friend was buying a flat with tenants, but all signs were that they accepted they needed to move out. The signs aren’t so promising here.

I understand if you love the place - and if there really was certainty it would be over relatively quickly, you could simply grit your teeth over the SD or try to get the price down to allow for the seller’s inconveniencing you this way - but it sounds like these tenants aren’t going anywhere. It could all get very messy.

I would be pushing for the seller to pay your extra stamp duty costs because it is his fault!

If I just moved in, I would expect a very hefty sum to move out. I thought at first you were talking about longer term tenants who were in a month to month lease. You can’t expect them to move out before their lease ends without someone paying all of their moving expenses and compensating them generously for the inconvenience. I’m thinking the cost of their deposit, plus the cost of movers including packers, plus the cost of any utility or service setup fees, plus at least 3 months rent before you could even get them to think about moving early.

I take it you've never seen an episode of a channel 5 like "Nightmare tenants" or "can't pay we'll take it away".................
It can take anything up to 18 months to get possession of a property, then get bailiffs in to evict. And that's not during a pandemic.

Hope you've got bottomless pockets because you'll need them.

What are they like? Can you move in or get friends to move in and be utter shits to chase them out?

The vendor should not have rented it out if he wanted to sell. He can't have it both ways. If he had already served eviction notice I would still expect it unlikely to be vacant for a year. There is a no eviction on section 21 ATM. If they
pay rent it is more or impossible to evict. You are wasting your time and money.

[quote oakleaffy]@wirldsgonemad
If they are true sitting tenants from as far back as 1980s you won’t be able to get them out.
An elderly woman I know moved in to a Georgian flat in a lovely area..house has been sold numerous times at very cheap rate because of her tenancy.
Buyers have offered her £40k to move, as the house then would be worth over a million.
Buyers have tried to bully her out.

She ain’t moving.
She says the rent is cheap and she wouldn’t get benefits with the £40 k

She is a pensioner, was a nurse.

A sitting tenant next to parents was offered the equivalent of £200,000 to move and she DID accept, as she could buy a place outright with that.

Sitting tenants have a lot of protection.

I’d buy elsewhere.[/quote]
Have you read ANY of the thread?

Nah, I'd pull out.
You'll find another house you love just as much.

@Bagamoyo1

Why is everyone so sympathetic with the renters? They knew the house was on the market when they moved in. I rented for 15 years, a few places, and I always knew that I could be served notice any time. That’s the way it goes. It’s not nice, but it’s not illegal or morally wrong.

The most dubious person here is the vendor, who installed tenants in order to make some extra cash while waiting for a buyer.

OP hasn’t done anything wrong apart from being a bit foolish in taking this on. Stop implying that she’s making the renters homeless. They’ll just have to find somewhere else, like people always do.

But the renters are only following the law?

Did you exchange knowing they were still in situ?

Get the vendor to compensate you for the delay. You would be absolutely mad not to, this is a situation of his own making.

@Bagamoyo1

Why is everyone so sympathetic with the renters? They knew the house was on the market when they moved in. I rented for 15 years, a few places, and I always knew that I could be served notice any time. That’s the way it goes. It’s not nice, but it’s not illegal or morally wrong.

The most dubious person here is the vendor, who installed tenants in order to make some extra cash while waiting for a buyer.

OP hasn’t done anything wrong apart from being a bit foolish in taking this on. Stop implying that she’s making the renters homeless. They’ll just have to find somewhere else, like people always do.

It's a pandemic. Rental properties are extremely hard to find, many people have lost income and agents won't let to people without regular work. They are not likely to make themselves intentionally homeless by leaving with nowhere to go just so the landlord can sell. The landlord took on a risk which is part of the business of landlording. He shouldn't have tried to sell at the same time.

@m0therofdragons

What are they like? Can you move in or get friends to move in and be utter shits to chase them out?

Please don't do this OP. Landlords (which is what you will be if you buy the house with tenants in situ) can go to prison for unlawful eviction.