Tenants still in living in for sale property?

[Bucdynovehbkfdg]

So there is a really nice property that i am interested in, near good school and only wallpaper/flooring would need changing.

But it still has Tenants living there. We are FTB (currently private renting too), how does having tenants living in the property affect putting an offer in/completion timelines?

i also feel morally bad about people being evicted for us to live there. I know how hard private renting is and how shitty some landlords can be. But there is no other property in the area that would work for us in terms if schools/work/near family/price range.

I've done it twice.

First time, the tenants needed to be evicted in order to qualify for housing support so it was very clear that they would not go until the court order. It added a few months on. I exchanged contracts once they and gone and I had seen tbe property again to confirm they and their belongings were gone. You can't buy on a residential mortgage if there are tenants in place

Second time, the tenants were young professional house share so much lower risk that they would be particularly desperate to stay long term. They had been given six months notice and were gone by the time the surveyor went to visit so no delay at all.

You need to ask the estate agent for more details . And nip round before exchanging to confirm they have gone (or let the surveyor confirm).

I offered on a house that had tenants, but they had exchanged on a house they were buying and were in the process of packing.

It is greedy if LLs to try and keep the house tenanted til the last minute, which puts all the risk in the buyer, paying out for surveys etc.

@Bucdynovehbkfdg there are a number of points to consider here.

1. In the event that the tenant does not vacate, the average time to get them to court currently is 12 to 18 months.
2. If you do exchange, and the tenants do not move out, it would be the seller's responsibility to compensate you for any losses, so there is no financial risk to you, however this depends on whether the seller has the funds, you could end up having to take them to court to retrieve your loss.
3. I agree with PP not to exchange until you see a vacated property.
4. I would also budget for an extra month where you are as there will likely be renovations necessary, and having an empty property to work in makes a huge difference. Also, you can move in a more controlled way and potentially save money on removal costs.
5. Despite the bad press, most tenants are reasonable. I have been a landlord for over 20 years, and have only had one nightmare. That said, with that nightmare and the changes to the law to make it easier for tenants to be a nightmare, I am selling up.

On balance, as long as you are cautious, it isn't something that would put me off. It also gives some leverage to the price you pay as you may be able to negotiate it down on the basis of risk.

I'd avoid, or worse case not exchange until the tenants have vacated the property and you have inspected it post departure.

You could end up shelling out on surveys and solicitors only for them to not leave.

Owner/landlord should of listed once they left imo.

I used to work as a homeless officer, we always advised landlords that if they wanted to sell then they really needed to give the tenant notice and obtain a PO before putting the house on the market. If they haven't done that then it's their lookout and I would not, personally, be viewing. I realise that means the landlord loses some income, but truthfully that's just a cost they should factor in.

Don't feel bad @Bucdynovehbkfdg Landlords are entitled to sell their own properties. It's a shame that a family is having to leave, but that's the nature of being in private let sadly. Just make sure they are definitely gone before you exchange contracts.

Do you have a flavour of who the tenants are? Nothing is guaranteed of course but if they are e.g. young working professionals who have been there for a fairly short time then I would be a lot less automatically nervous than if the impression I got was that they would struggle to find another suitable property in good time and might be forced to stay until formally evicted.

As a few key principles:

1. If a quick completion is important to you and you can't afford to wait, avoid anything tenanted.
2. Obviously don't exchange until the tenants are out - if you have a mortgage, I doubt you'd be able to anyway (provider won't allow it if it's a residential mortgage).
3. Ensure you view the property vacated before exchange to make sure they're actually gone and that the place hasn't been trashed in the process.

I looked at buying a house in a similar situation and my mortgage provider told me I couldn't proceed until the tenants left as it wasn't a buy to let mortgage that I'd applied for.

With the delays in the courts now, you could find yourself waiting 12 months until they are evicted, should they refuse to go

We were in the same position and after much research the answer was the same- avoid, avoid, avoid. More problems than it's worth.

Look into it properly and carefully. We gave our tenants 6 months notice, we were on very friendly terms and they did allow all and any viewings. We had an official moving out date which was supposed to be 2 days before the exchange. The day before they were supposed to move out they stopped all communication and finally announced via text after some time that they’re not going anywhere and long story short it took a year to evict them, at a great financial cost as well. The buyer was of course devastated.

Get information from the EA on the tenants' position. Have they given notice as they are leaving to buy etc? Your solicitor will not let you buy until there's vacant possession.

Do not sign a contract to buy until the landlord has obtained vacant possession from the tenants. Some tenants just move on. Others need to be evicted and that can take a very long time. If you sign a contract you will become their landlord and it could get very messy and expensive. Be careful.

You can't exchange until they leave but I would find out what the situation is as they might be moving out.

MIL bought a tenanted house and it was a nightmare with delays, it wasn't easy to get them out but going round everyday looking in the windows and being a pain seemed to work. You wouldn't get away with as much now. This is why the law shouldn't change.

Is it being sold with vacant possession? You can sell property with tenants in situ, but needs to be marketed as such.

Don't rely on information from the estate agent. They have no incentive to be honest with you. They're the agent of the seller.

I was in this position four years ago - house we wanted to buy had tenants- but they were moving to rent and then buy in a totally different area and so had moved onto a rolling one month contract- they moved out well within time but I do know that the rental market has changed since then and properties to move into to rent are more expensive and harder to come by than they were at that time

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole if there are still there. As has been mentioned, if they don't move out the eviction process can take in excess of 6 months which will delay the completion.

They're not required to leave just because the Landlord wants to sell. The landlord will have to serve a section 21 notice. Your solicitor should be providing you with guidance on this matter.

https://www.henriquesgriffiths.com/site/blog/hq-blog/tenants-rights-when-a-landlord-sells-property

Are you sure the current landlord isn't selling with tenants "in situ" which means if you buy it you will become the new landlord and cannot live in it yourself.
I used to rent a property where the landlord sold it to another landlord

So I called the estate agent and all they said was that the tenants are on a 1 month rolling contract. So the landlord in palling in giving notice once they get an offer.

Although, interestingly, the house has been on the market much longer than similar properties and this could be why?

Just to clarify, we haven’t put in an offer yet. Maybe we should just keep looking 😭, or look for a place that would work for 5 years and then plan to move again in 5 or so years.

Under S21. Which is why the govt wants to stop it. None of the other eviction routes offers any housing support from LA.

The end of tenancy is either by choice or by a court ordered eviction.

This is very likely to exactly the reason. Best practice is to only market the properly after the tenants have moved out or at least given notice because of the potential issue of tenants refusing to move out. A section 21 based eviction will likely take at least 6 months. It could well be quicker, but if the tenants need to find a new rental which could take forever with the state of the current rental market.

Just because they get given notice to leave doesn’t mean anything. The landlord would have to take them to court to force the eviction. Then baliffs if they still don’t leave. Which if they need social housing they will be told by the council to stay then. Unless you can wait a long time I wouldn’t touch it.