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.

Agree with PP - ask your landlord. When exH and I split, we sold our BTL flat to the tenants. From landlord/seller’s perspective, it reduces the faff of dealing with potential buyers who might be in a chain or change their mind halfway. The question is whether you are able to offer a good enough price. Your LL was silly not to approach you first as they could have avoided the sales commission.

As a landlord I would absolutely do this, especially if you were planning to buy the house because then could arrange a private sale and avoid a whole lot of kerfuffle. Deffo speak to your landlord. Very, very shoddy that they have listed it without notifying you though, and they will still have to serve you a section 21 (I think it is) with 2 months notice.

I'd send him a message saying, " I've discovered the house is up for sale. If you give me 6 months, I'd be in a position to buy it from you. Let me know if that's possible?"

No harm in asking, id just be a bit miffed that photos were taken whilst I lived there, without my consent!

As the sitting tenant you do not have to allow viewings of the property.

The LL shouldn't have taken photos with your belongings in the property without asking you first,

Get some advice from Citizen Advice, but I would:

1. Refuse viewings
2. Tell the LL you want to buy it and explain your financial situation and the timescales.

Do your finances allow you to put in any sort of offer right now? Even a cheeky one that's below the asking price.

A house near me went up for sale and the tenant refused viewings. So the house was for sale but no one could see it (I was looking to buy in the area at the time and when I rang the estate agent about this one, they said I couldn't view it, Icould only buy it based on the photos of it). The LL had to do a no fault eviction before anyone could view it and he could secure a sale, and that took longer than 6 months.

If your LL has any sense, having got 13 years rent out of you, they will sell it to you below the asking price to avoid the faff of having to get rid of you before they can sell it.

I'm a landlord, if he's selling it could be because he just doesn't want the hassle involved anymore. I'd ask to talk to him, for what it's worth I do think he should have told you before advertising it. He may wait 6 months and take higher rent but he may need to sell straight away for financial reasons . It could take 6 months to sell anyway so there's no harm asking . It would be unreasonable of him not to give proper notice to you .

Shelter may be able to advise, OP.

Scotland: https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/private_residential_tenancy

England/Wales: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction

Rented house go up for sale all the time where I live and they always mention if there's a tenant in situ. It often means they appeal mostly to other LLs who want to buy it and let the tenant continue to live there.

I would be worried the LL has lied to the estate agent and they don't know its rented. Or that they're only looking to sell to another LL.

Can you go to the estate agent and have a chat with them? Make it clear to them you won't be allowing viewings? And also tell them you'd like to buy the house if possible. If the LL is being an ass you might be better to do all the negotiating through the EA anyway (although LL could have avoided paying an EA if they'd just come straight to you!)

I wouldn't let the LL know yet that you've found out about this. Ring the estate agent (or get a friend to do so) posing as a potential buyer who's seen the house on Rightmove and wants a viewing. Find out a bit more.

This is outrageous!

I'm a LL firstly, I think your LL is an absolute arse for not informing you of his intention to sell. Deciding to sell a property is not usually done on a whim and if I were to sell a property, which I have no intention of doing, I'd give my tenants at least a year's notice so they could have time to look for something else.

Secondly yes I'd be prepared to wait 6 months providing you could prove you'd have the funds to buy the house then.

Good luck op.

I think it’s worth asking your LL, as he would save on estate agent fees by selling privately to you, whic would make it worth his while to wait the 6m?

You can only ask. The landlord can chose to say yes or no.

I think it was unfair not to inform you the house was going up for sale. When I had tenants in my house that I was going to sell, I phoned them to explain our situation in full, and then agreed a convenient time with them for estate agents to do valuations, etc. In the end, the tenants bought the house off us, but they did so straight away. If they had asked us to wait 6 months I would have said no as it wouldn't have had a massive impact on our own plans. It was back in 2022 when houses were going like hot cakes so we knew we could sell within days on the open market.
We weren't landlords of a big property portfolio, we just rented our only house out for a year while we went away. When we got back, we needed to sell so we could buy in a different city that we were going to settle down in.

If thats the case and LL sells without disclosing that - the buyers could sue him loads for their time/costs and losses.

I would but I'd want proof.
It's outrageous there's pictures on Rightmove. It's illegal for LL to come in without asking you.
When were they taken?

Not decent at all.

You won't get if you don't ask so try. LL should've at least mentioned it to you given your a long term tenant what an ass they are for not.unless the sale if because of financial woes and they need a quick sale then your a bit stuck.

The fact that a) the photos were taken without your permission, and b) it's on the market and he's not even told you, is just terrible. What awful behaviour from your LL. Are they recent photographs? Do they have your things in the pictures? It wouldn't be so bad if they were old photos from before you moved in, but terrible if they're new.

I would definitely say you'd be willing to buy it. My mother sold the house she let out, and offered it to the tenants for first refusal. There are some good LLs out there. Although if he's looking for a quick sale then you might not be in luck. We can hope!

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.

I think what SaturdayGiraffe means by he can have a choice of tenant who will help sell the house or one who will not, she means the OP can be helpful or not, depending on how she is treated.

Why would you let anyone who just knocks for a viewing? Especially if you’d had no idea it was for sale.

definitely explain to landlord you’d like to purchase, but he might not agree as you can back out

Definitely ask, but please DO NOT offer to pay him additional rent in the meantime. He sounds like a utter cock and could pull out last minute, having pocketed a load of extra cash from you.

THIS!

I don't see how you can accumulate that much extra deposit in 6 months if you can afford to pay that extra rent? Are you waiting for an inheritance or something?

I would be very careful. A house that has had no maintenance for 13 years probably needs a lot of work. Replacing all the windows for a start. If you have money maybe buy a different house?

I'm a private landlord (my Dad's house) and, if I wanted to sell, I would definitely offer it to my tenants first. To me, that would be the most sensible and considerate thing to do. I've had my tenants for a good few years now and they are extremely good tenants. So I try to be a good landlord. I always repair or replace things when needed. I also don't take rent from them in December. My advice would be to approach your landlord and ask, if he says no, you're no worse off. But if you have a good relationship with him, he should at least hear you out and maybe negotiate with you to get a satisfactory outcome for you both. You definitely are NOT being unreasonable though! Good luck x

Who knows? LL might need 200k for whatever reason in a few weeks.
It's their house, at the end of the day.