Landlords, would you consider this if your tenants asked?

[DesperateTenant]

I have rented my current home for 13 years. I am a good tenant, I keep the house in excellent shape and care for it as if it was my own. I have never asked for anything, rent is always paid on time.

Landlord has decided to sell and I only discovered this when someone knocked on my door wanting a sneaky viewing. They showed me the listing on Rightmove, complete with pictures I was completely unaware were taken.

I am shocked and desperate not to move. I came from nothing and I've made a life for me and my children here. We have a real community around us. I'm at the point where I'll be able to buy locally within 6 months and staying in the area is so important to me.

I completely understand that legally I am not entitled to be told when the LL is selling and have no rights to ask for anything from the LL and I don't know their personal situation.

But, for the landlords out there, in these circumstances if your long term tenant asked if you would consider waiting 6 months and offered to pay more rent (currently pay £850, would offer £1150) would you?

Would it be completely unreasonable for me to ask this?

In 6 months I'd have enough to buy the house I'm in and would do so in a heartbeat.

I bought the house I was renting. It wasn’t on the market, I just wrote to the landlord and asked if he wanted to sell, and he did.

I would write to him and say you’ve seen it’s on the market, you’d like to offer the asking price, but would need a few months to raise the deposit. Don’t go in heavy handed at this stage about your rights, how long it could take to evict you, the immorality of him taking photos without your consent etc just yet. I’d go in all nice and friendly at this stage, and then see what happens.

Offer what you can afford now and negotiate hard.

You can make life very difficult for your landlord if you want to. It would take him months to evict you if you don't leave voluntarily and that would cost him money. Selling to another landlord will limit his market so this is a good negotiation point.

Look closely at that advert. Have you bought things or improved things? My neighbour got a good reduction on buying the house they were renting when they pointed out to the landlord that if he evicted them they would be removing the curtains, wood flooring, the decking, the shed etc all of which were on the sale advert but were purchased by them.

Be ready to play hard ball

I would be delighted if my tenant wanted to buy our rental. However, I wouldn’t understand all this waiting 6 months weirdness and would think she was playing for time, whereas if she outright came to us with an offer of “on X date, I would be able to afford to buy this flat from you for Y”, she would be my top choice, even if the offer was a little under asking or we needed a little more time, she’s been a reliable tenant, I know she loves the place and knows all it’s quirks and that saves me hassle. To be honest, I would give her first refusal and offer her an off market sale to save us both the fees!

The only exception to this would be if we were under some kind of financial pressure and were being pushed by the bank on value/time or something, which I hope is unlikely!!!

Well no they don't have this choice because they can't just tip the OP out and change her for a more amenable tenant! The OP needs to stay put as long as she can whether she buys this place or not. If she can't buy this place she needs to stay as long as she can to find somewhere else to rent or buy.

@DesperateTenant I am curgently doing exactly this with my tenant; she has managed to get a mortgage with a lower deposit so it’s hopefully about to move forward.
Good luck!

I'm a 'nice' landlord (only one tiny flat which is for my eventual retirement as I live in tied accommodation; never increase the rent; repairs etc done speedily and without complaint) - your landlord is not!

I would not dream of starting the sales process without talking to my tenants, and I (or any workmen needed) would never, ever enter the property without the tenants' permission.

So, my first thought is to start to get assertive - if he's about to sell from under you, what is there to lose?

However, if you think keeping him on-side is worth it, by all means make him an offer: if I was your landlord I would definitely consider it.

I would ask abs I hope they agree

I would accept that now but when interests rates suddenly shot up and I was paying just under 50% more if I had not made an agreement with the mortgage company I would not have been in a position to accept this

it very much depends on their circumstances

And I would have discussed this with you firstly it’s terrible so many landlords don’t

What kind of landlord doesn't discuss his plans to sell with a tenant of 13 years - that's shocking.

I would tell him you've been made aware the house is on right move due to people coming round asking to look around - then tell him you are interested in buying it and is that something he'd be on board with?

Then you can get into the specifics of price etc.

And definitely get clued up on your rights.

Do not adjust your rent, that has nothing to do with this. If it's been up for a while without viewings, definitely do not offer asking price. Offer below, and say it's based on completion in 5 months (lower price and no extra rent, that should be doable). A sitting tenant can be a problem for the landlord, check what your notice period is, it is possible that your kandlord could sell faster to you than to anyone else.

Have you verified a mortgage with someone for that value? You should get a mortgage offer agreed in principle to be clear exactly what you can borrow. Be clear on other fees like the survey too.

Your LL sounds a bit dodgy TBH. Over my renting years 3 different LLs wanted to sell properties we lived in - each time we were told this was the case before it when to market and twice were given ‘first refusal’ before it was listed.

We weren’t in a position to buy so had to decline but were given several months notice to move out and were involved in any permissions for photos/viewings.

Ask about buying for sure, but as others say - don’t offer more rent. I’d also want to diplomatically let them know you’re unhappy with how this has been handled so far.

Don't offer extra rent. The landlord might decide to continue renting it out and not sell when they see the rent they can get - which won't help you if you want to buy it. Paying out more will also slow your ability to buy.

You are in a stronger position than you think. An owner occupier can't buy the house with a mortgage while you live there as their mortgage will require vacant possession. So only a landlord or cash buyer can buy while you are a tenant. If people are coming to view relying on you to show them round mention this "hi, yes I'm the tenant - I've not found anywhere to go yet - so I'm not sure how long that will take ...I'm hoping to buy myself but not seen anything I like yet..." It's very off putting for a private buyer to have a tenant in a house they want to buy as they don't know if the person will move out and so they don't know if the sale can go through. If the sale fails the money they have spent on searches and solicitor is wasted and their mortgage offer will expire.

The landlord has not served you notice yet. Don't grumble about this to the landlord, keep your cards close to your chest. When they do serve notice, a minimum of 2 months I believe, it does not end the tenancy. It gives the landlord the right to go to court to end the tenancy (the court fees can be charged to you I believe about £500 - worth seeking advice from Shelter on this). It will probably take some time to get a court date.

If your landlord has done anything wrong in the serving of notice such as not having a valid gas safety certificate or not protecting your deposit they will have to re-serve notice.

I think that you should just continue with your plans to save to buy. The landlord might get more amenable to you buying when they see that they are struggling to sell with you living there. Don't panic if the landlord accepts an offer on the property as the sale cannot go through while you live there unless you remain a tenant of the new owner who would still have to serve notice/go to court if you didn't leave after the notice. You should be fine with your 6 months timescale plus purchase time to leave in your own time. It's best if you can make sure you have exchanged contracts before you give your notice to leave (one month?) so expect a bit or overlap of rent and mortgage there).

Make sure you are looking at the housing market. Don't try to buy your place just because you live there if there are places that are better value for money.

If you would be in a position to buy in 6 months time, put in an offer now! It can often take 6 months for the conveyancing solicitors to get their act together. The value of the property is low at the moment as it has a sitting tenant (you) - anyone who intends to be an owner-occupier will be put off because it can take months or even over a year to secure an eviction order. BtL landlords moght consider buying and just taking you on as a new tenant. So you could happily put in an offer a bit below asking price. You don't need to offer more rent. Selling to you is incentive enough it will be much less headache all round!

The landlord was an idiot not to talk to you first. They could have saved thousands in agent fees. They probably have a contract with an agent now that means they owe the agent a 2% fee even if they sell to you and the agent does nothing.

Do make sure you get all the searches &surveys done right - there may be issues with the property that never bother you as a tenant but would be expensive to maintain as an owner.

Don't offer to pay extra rent. He hasn't been a decent landlord leaving you with insecure windows and now putting house for sale wihtout informing you.

I'd keep very minimal conversation with him. Tell him you can buy in 6 months and make an offer

I'm in a similar long term rental set up to you and have a great relationship with my landlord. I'd be livid if he did this. Im a very private person and would take real issue with the photos.
Firstly play nice and see if he will consider your offer to buy.
If it's a no I'm afraid it would be gloves off for me because of the underhand way he'd approached it. No viewings and I'd not move a muscle until the bailiffs were on the door step, which would be more than 6 months time I'm sure.

Do not under any circumstances offer to pay more rent.

Entering your home to take photos of the interior when you are not there is illegal and you could make a complaint about that if you wanted to. If I were you I would contact the landlord or lettings agent to say that you have been made aware the property is on the market, you have seen photos which were taken without your knowledge or consent, and you would like them to confirm that they are not going to try and arrange viewings without first getting your permission. You don't actually have to consent to viewings.

The landlord would have to evict you as no one is seriously going to want to buy the property without vacant possession; not unless they're buying it as an investment and would be happy to continue letting it to you.

The eviction process takes a long time and would probably take longer than 6 months. So IMO you are in a strong position. You could offer to buy the property in 6 months on condition they take it off the market. If they refuse your offer, you can refuse all viewings which means they won't be able to sell it until they evict you months and months down the line.

See "Your right to quiet enjoyment" and "Unwanted visits or access to your home":
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/harassment_by_a_private_landlord/understand_your_tenancy_rights

How is the landlord going to get viewings when he/she have sitting tenants that do not have to give viewing of the property?

First the LL has to give you notice which could well take over 104 days

Id go and let the landlord know you'd like to put in an offer for the property and see if they accept the offer, and be prepared to negotiate, so go in with a lower offer.

as pp states there needed not be estate agent fees, the LL was daft not coming to you first and will waste a few thousand. Though it could be suggested to the LL that he goes back to his agent and states he/she has found their own buyer and therefore would like to negotiate a reduction in fee?

my mother is a landlord and she would agree.

I advise you to take screenshots of the rightmove listing (including photos taken without your consent) in case they take it down.

He sounds awful not fixing things that need to be. You can ask, but I certainly wouldn't pay more. Sneaky bastard.

What. CHEEKY LITTLE MAN

These situations make me angry. Your LL didn't even offer you the courtesy of telling you and have failed to carry out necessary repairs during your tenancy. They sound like real assholes. So honestly I think they will agree to this only if there is significant financial gain for them, which may be the case, but I wouldn't expect them to be easy to deal with. Fwiw I'm a landlord and would never in a million years behave like this.

I wish you the very best of luck OP. Let us know how it goes.

You wnbu to ask; your landlord would equally not bu to refuse. Everyone has different circumstances however.
For me, if it were a good tenant, I didn’t have concerns about a falling market, or have a mortgage product coming to an end, I’d happily accommodate you, and I wouldn’t take your increased rent offer either, would consider it unnecessary.

I was a landlord when I moved abroad for work and rented out my house in the uk. I needed my house back when I come back, but I gave my tenants a lot of notice. They were actually in the process of buying a place and they needed to stay a bit beyond the move out date. I wasn’t entirely happy about this as it meant staying with family for a few months. But it was also understandable. So in answer to your question, you can ask, but the answer will depend on your landlord’s circumstances. It is also btw, quite difficult to get a tenant to leave and it can also take a while to sell a property. Would you consider buying the house from them?