Landlord showing around buyers in our family home flat :(

[Dragontale]

Our landlord wants to sell our flat. We've been here 16 years and are raising our children here.

Firstly, we'd actually like to buy it ourselves and it would be possible for us financially. The reason we didn't ask to buy it was that we didn't realise it was up for sale.

We're gutted. I'd really like some advice from you please.

How can we get the potential buyer to pull out? We'd like to buy the flat ourselves without going into a bidding war.

Not sure if this makes a difference but the landlord is an investment fund, not a private BTL landlord.

AIBU to think we could get the landlord to sell to us instead? And if you know what we could do please let me know

Yup. I had to change agents as the first lot were rubbish and was advised to wait 30 days so the 1st lot couldn't try to charge commission as well!

We bought our flat that we were renting. Similarly to you, we were contacted to arrange viewings. We said we were interested and estate agent was delighted. Less work for them, much more straightforward.

Landlord may not want to deal with you directly FYI. I have tenants in my flat now as we live abroad and I wouldn't have the headspace to deal with buyer directly. Estate agent will usually get paid regardless!

isnt it more likely that this viewing is just for a valuation? Fund would get it valued before selling. And they probably won't know what price to give you until it has been valued - especially if you have been in it for 16 years and no one has valued it in all that time. You also presumably don't know if you can buy it until you know how much it costs?

I'd let them in to value it and contact landlord seperately. As pp has said though, they may just say 'go through our chosen estate agent'

Of course you can. The landlord wants to sell, if OP doesn’t buy then they will certainly be given notice. If they don’t allow viewing they will likely be given notice sooner because the landlord will need people to view it in order to sell it.

OP - hope it goes well for you and you manage to buy it!

Legally you CANNOT be given notice for not allowing viewings.
Of course if you don't it may encourage the LL to not renew your lease when it ends or to give the proper notice as per your contract using proper legal procedure but to say you can be given notice for not allowing viewings is just wrong.
Its important that people understand their rights when it comes to renting

This! Do it OP, as soon as possible! Wishing you lots of luck.

thank you! Should I just ask a local estate agent for a valuation? I didn't know tenants can do this. Also, I don't want to alert anyone to our flat! But I guess for the agent it's just a routine task.

next steps for us: We're going to ask our contact at the landlord what the asking price is.

Also for anyone commenting:

• we're not in touch with an agent,
• there's no agent selling the flat,
• the flat isn't listed anywhere I can see (zoopla, Rightmove, etc),
• it's sold via a property fund (probably via their own networks?)

UPDATE: the landlord's contact has called the viewing off (before we could call to ask about asking price or express an interest). I wonder what was up? A spontaneous business deal burst or (worse) someone buying without viewing?

Also, form your answers I understand that we need to get the place valued (contacting local estate agent) and then check if our finances allow and maybe even get a mortgage in principle.

To get an idea on how much the property you live in might be worth, try looking at sold house prices for similar properties for your road on Rightmove
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

Zoopla also have an instant online property valuation tool, although this can vary in accuracy
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/home-values/

No, you don’t need an EA to come and value it.
You will need a surveyor’s valuation for the mortgage- that comes later.

Buyers cancel viewings all the time, I would not read anything into that. I think you just need a good chat with the landlord to understand what they intend to do, find out the price they have in mind and let them know you are interested.

Presumably you haven't been given notice? Whether you want to buy it or not, it is perfectly reasonable to want to know if your home is on the market and there's a chance you'll have to find somewhere else to live. Don't be passive about this. Contact the landlord and ask what's going on.

No, you don't. You're over-thinking this.

You need to contact the property manager (I presume this is who you mean by "landlord's contact") and simply say that you had the viewing request so understand that the landlord may be considering selling the property. You'd like first refusal if this is the case. Could they confirm one way or the other please.

Simples.

Chances are it would be another similar fund buying so you may not have to move even if it did sell.

That definitely makes sense then. Very best of luck!!

Do both . Speak to Landlord saying you want to buy. Also talk to EA.
They should not have shown anyone into your home without giving you 48 hours notice. ( unless law has changed in last few years)
If the LL had asked you in the first place they could have saved EA fees.
And best of luck, I hope it all works out for you.

I would call them and say you are very interested in buying the flat. We bought the house we rented for many years and just called and asked if they were interested in selling it to us. I wrote a ‘script’ and mainly focused on how happy our family had been in the house and that we had been dreaming of owning it for such a long time to raise our family there. I heard that often owners like selling to someone they like, and prefer if it the house goes to people who truly love it (if the price is right, obviously). The approach worked! After some thinking they came back saying they would be open to an offer and in the meantime we had an appraisal done by someone I found through a Facebook group. (I was afraid to ask a local estate agent and that this agent might contact the owner to introduce other potential buyers so I played it ‘safe’ by finding some appraisal guy who lived further away. We live in a quite sought after area where everyone knows everyone and I did not want to risk anything!) Lots of good luck, I hope it works out for you!

Is the Landlord selling to another landlord who will keep your tenancy running?
Maybe the Fund is selling a 50 to another Investment vehicle. Surveyor is coming to verify property exists and is a domestic home not a Cannabis Farm.
Do you know of any other flats with same LL?
As many others have said when they show people round is a matter of negotiation between LL and tenant. I know, believe me, I do know.

If your flat was actually on the market, it could be as a commercial investment as it is already tenanted that’s a separate section of right move have a look there. Good luck

I think you’re making this way too complicated OP.
I used to rent, and decided I’d like to buy the house I was renting. So I emailed the owner and asked if he was interested in selling. Luckily he was. We didn’t avoid estate agent fees though, because the landlord used an agency to let the house, so they were entitled to a cut of the sale.
Just ask your landlord contact. If they want to sell they’ll be very happy to have a ready-made buyer.

Being given “first refusal” means you get offered something before it’s made available to others.

I would start by reaching out to the landlord, not by organising valuations behind their back. Good luck.

If there's an estate agent there may well be a clause that they get paid whoever finds the buyer, so I would discreetly make direct contact with the landlord but don't wax lyrical about saving them £££. Your USP is that you are super motivated, much more reliable than people who have no connection to the property, the practicalities would be easy and they'd get rent guaranteed until the day of completion.

Stopping viewings really isn't the right way to go about this unless you want to piss off the landlord - whose cooperation you'll need in order to buy it . . ..

Why on earth are you allowing viewings...

You do not get the flat valued. What you think the flat is worth is irrelevant. It’s up to the landlord to tell you what price they’re willing to sell for. Go and get a mortgage agreed in principle, for the maximum amount you can possibly get.

You can be given notice that is effective outside of the fixed term for any breach of the tenancy agreement. However only several grounds would result in a possession order as they are mandatory incl a s8 and a s21.

I think you need to step back a little, even assuming from the fact he's cancelled the viewing, from this, so it may not be going ahead anyway.

There's a feeling of "wouldn't it be nice for the landlord" and perhaps "we deserve it."
You've even written:
We'd like to buy the flat ourselves without going into a bidding war.
and
bit gutted because now there's interest in the flat we'd have to offer more!

But from the landlord's point of view, it's great if there's a bidding war, and they're going to want to maximise what they get. Wouldn't you?

What's the advantage to them for you buying it?

Ease. Probably a little easier - but much easier from your side as you don't have to move. Assuming you don't stay and have to be evicted, then it's relatively painless on their side if someone else comes in.

Lack of commission? Well, what's commission? Let's say 3% which is towards the top end of commission as far as I can see.
Again a quick google says that moving cost is around £12k on average.

3% commission on £400k is £12k.

So if the flat is less than £400k then they may well be saving less on commission that you will be saving on moving costs.

So realistically the gain to you buying it is greater than the landlord's gain selling it to you as oppose to someone else.

I get where you're coming from. We bought our landlady's house. It was much easier for us. I didn't appreciate how much easier (and cheaper) it was until we had to move again. She did us far more of a service than we did her.