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

Of course, hence my comment about giving notice via the proper legal process.
Refusal to allow viewings would not be a breach of the Tenancy agreement, you may not be suggesting that of course but its important to be clear as a lot of incorrect information is given around renting.

If you had an AST then you should be on a rolling contract.
It is a bit worrying that you don't have a new one when the owner changed, it could be an issue for both parties.
Although I deal with Tenancy agreements I am not a property lawyer so it might be worth seeking proper advice about the lack of contract

I'd be a bit wary of taking an estate agent's initial valuation as the basis of your offer to buy if there hasn't been a recent sale in the block to use as a comparison. They always bump it up as future buyers make an offer and knock off a bit. You could end up overpaying.

Just be aware of this. Or even better, spend a hundred quid or so on a quick valuation survey (not a structural survey) by a local independent chartered surveyor. That gives you a solid rationale of your offer to the seller.

It isn't necessary to issue a new tenancy when the head landlord changes. The new landlord takes over the tenancy by default. The only thing that legally should happen is the tenant being informed of the name and address of the new landlord for service.

In this case the tenant has either a statutory periodic tenancy or a contractual periodic tenancy depending upon the wording of the original tenancy document.

Refusing to allow viewings when it is specified in the tenancy agreement under tenants obligations IS a breach of the terms of the tenancy. You are wrong. However there is little action available to the landlord other than damages or a s21. If a tenants actions cause financial loss to the landlord they could sue for damages or if stated in the tenancy agreement, forfeit all or part of the deposit.

People state their believes on here as if they are fact. If you want to be an armchair lawyer, legislation.gov.uk has all the statutory legislation available.

It is not a belief and I am not a lawyer (armchair or otherwise). The legislation states that a Tenant does not have to allow a LL access, there are allowances for emergencies but without a court order a LL CANNOT access a Tenants property without their permission
You MAY be breaking your Tenancy agreement if you do not allow access after they have given you written notice
See below from Shelter, which is a good place to go for properly qualified advice for any Tenant who is unsure of their rights
Tenancy agreements: When your landlord can come in - Shelter England

You don't need a tenants permission to enter the property. There is a fine distinction to being refused entry and informing the tenant you will be entering the property with 24 hours notice.

Providing the tenant has not said you cannot enter, you may enter. Be careful giving advice when it is partially incorrect.

Shelter supports this.

If you refuse to let your landlord or agent in, they should not let themselves in or break into the property

Wow we have very different perspectives on this.

It's VERY relevant what I think something is worth! I wouldn't pay blindly what someone asks me to pay. If I can't see the value then I will not buy. I always ask myself: I this worth the price or am I buying hype.

So from that angle it's always good to get a benchmark.

@MargaretThursday you say that I'm writing from a feeling of "we deserve this". It sounds cold. Did you mean it like that?

Isn't it normal to have a sense of ownership to a flat if you lived there for almost 2 decades?

thank you @Hoppinggreen and @PrincessofWells I appreciate both your advice. DH looked into it a while ago and says it's better for us that we don't have a contract. I'm going to read up on the contract stuff myself now too though.

@Dragontale have you now spoken to your contact at the landlord's office to establish what is actually happening and whether your flat is even for sale?

yes we have, thanks for checking in!

I did update last night I think but here goes: LL is planning to sell the whole block to a big player, i.e. someone who wants to buy the whole block. They're not interested in chunking it up. DH and I thought to ask someone higher up than our contact but we may not be able to compete.

I have no idea at what stage this is.

It's also strange that a year ago I saw one of the flats on Rightmove so in the end the landlord appears to be flip flopping a bit.

Why on earth would you rent for 16 years if you can afford to buy?

You can't do that! What about the people who have invested time and money into buying it...it's not their fault they got there first. How selfish. Imagine if you were buying a place and someone tried to do this to you. Why don't you buy somewhere else if you can afford to?

I'd speak to a solicitor as I was under the impression that if a Tennant had lived for 10 years or more at the same place and the landlord wanted to sell then the landlord had to offer it to the Tennant as a first offer.....however if you can afford to buy it or landlord won't accept the amount you've offered then it can go on public sale. Pretty sure it's in the terms and conditions.

This is certainly not the law in England and Wales. Your impression is wrong.

If you can potentially afford to buy 2 flats in your block why are you renting?

And how are you living there without a contract or tenancy agreement? How do you pay the rent? This sounds like quite an insecure way to live with kids. If you have deposit money for 2 flats wouldnt you be better off moving a bit further out and buying a bigger place?

Not a lawyer, but I believe OP is on some kind of rolling contract, governed by the terms of what she signed years ago.

In English law if rent payments are being made and accepted then a contract exists and a tenancy is implied.

Once the original fixed period tenancy has expired, a rolling "statutory periodic tenancy" operates unless a tenant signs up to another fixed period.

Good question! Our jobs are well paid but insecure so whenever there was a lull in property prices (2009 for example) one of us lost their job. Also, where we want to live prices are high and we don't want to pay through the nose for something that doesn't even tick all our boxes. Our rent is cheaper than what we'd pay as a mortgage. And when rates were low our rent was equal to a mortgage and we invested in other things than in a house.

Selfish? That made me laugh. Why can't I put an offer in too? It's supply and demand, not who comes first.

Also, these aren't even private people buying it. It's one bank selling to another bank. So I don't feel bad one bit. But even if it was a private buyer trying to bid on my family home, I'm not going to lay back and watch and do nothing. I feel a sense of ownership. We don't want to buy somewhere else because we like our flat.

But this point is dead anyway as it looks like the landlord won't sell to us anyway. They want to sell the whole block to a fund, not single units.

Thanks so much for your input. I appreciate it. Unfortunately the sale is not going to be a private to private one. In that case we would get first offer as I learned on here. But LL wants to sell the whole block to another investment fund unfortunately.

@AIstolemylunch we don't want to move out, even if it's a squeeze here. We love the place. But I understand that 95% of people don't think like us...

and @NigelHarmansNewWife and@SheilaFentiman nailed the answer to that (thank you!) we're on a rolling contract, governed by the terms of what we signed years ago.

the rent is very cheap TOUCH WOOD