Landlord won't sell. Another second home in our dying village

[AppelationStation]

DH, DS and I have rented our current home for 6 years. We moved here, back to where he grew up, and weren't in a position to buy. We've saved hard and now we are.

We love this house. It's small, and in many ways impractical, but we adore the bones of it. It's seen us through some really rough times and been our sanctuary. We've cared for it, at our own expenses, and done loads of work to make the garden something special. Our landlord has said themselves "It's much nicer now than it was when I lived here!".

We love where it is, which is quite a unique rural setting with amazing landscapes and near the sea. We've made friends in the village, my son goes to the local primary and I'm a governor thereWeHouses aren't for sale here often. We know the local walks inside out, which wild flowers grow in which hedgerows, which birds come back to nest in which trees. It just feels like our forever home. Which of course it isn't, because we rent it.

Our landlord left the house herself to marry a farmer who lives an hour away. She won't move back. Since we've lived here the law on EPC ratings has changed so she can't legally let it out again. There is a 300% council tax penalty on second homes, because they're such a problem here (massive housing crisis, no houses for young families to buy, so local schools and shops closing all over the place). We thought, for those reasons, they'd be interested in selling to a sitting tenant.

We asked them recently. They came round this weekend, in person, to tell us No. They won't sell it. They know they can't rent it, and that they'll have to pay the second home tax. They're not sure what they want to do with it, but they don't want to sell and that's that.

I know, of course, that they're under no obligation to sell their house. They don't owe us anything. But I'm finding it really hard to accept that we have to leave, or face paying rent for the rest of our lives and have nothing to show for it. And I'm finding it doubly galling that, having paid them over 50k in rent and added value to their house by taking such good care of it (more fool us), they're going to leave it empty, let the garden go to ruin, just to keep it as an asset on their balance sheet.

I genuinely think I'd feel better if I knew another family or person was going to live here and love it. Instead the village will have another empty / second home. I can't imaging ever finding somewhere like it (it's very secluded, stone built, old, and just feels "right"), which means anything we do buy is going to be a reluctant compromise.

I know I probably sound a bit wet and daft. I can't make them sell. It's made me feel surprisingly, profoundly sad, and I just don't know how to move past that feeling.

If you are the tenant don’t you pay the council tax at the nominal rate and not the landlord? They would only pay it at the inflated rate if it was empty or have I missed something??

I can empathise with you: putting so much of yourself into a house only for you not to own it is very galling.

If only there had been a way around this…

How can you be so mean? Doesn't humanity mean anything to you? There is an Irish expression, "there's no pocket in a shroud". Isn't it better to be decent in life?? Because you can't take it with you...

Eh?

Can you hear yourself? How entitled do you sound? You're really pissed off that this person has the home you want, and can't understand why they aren't forced to sell it to you, dammit!!! Do you know, there was actually a government proposal that renters should be legally allowed to buy their home after a certain time, REGARDLESS of whether the owner WANTED to sell? How utterly ridiculous is that??? Stop being stupid, and start looking for your own home, instead of wanting to snatch someone else's just because you've paid rent on it! Sheesh.

Congratulations on coming in four days late to absolutely berate the OP on something she’s already been hammered on countless times, to the point that it appears she’s left the thread.

You could go to the ‘threads like this’ section and find some even older ones to pop up and berate the OP on. Maybe add a few more capital letters and exclamation marks and definitely continue to quote the long OP in every response 🤩

I’m a landlord in one country and a renter in another. We’ve been asked to move on 4 times in 5 years by landlords wanting to sell (they did in fact sell, I promise we are not just awful tenants!) We ADORED the third flat, it was simply perfect for us and ticked every box, but it went to sealed bids and we missed out. I still think about that flat and feel sad about it but I don’t hold any resentment to the landlords who sold, that’s the nature of renting. It’s fine to be utterly disappointed OP and I get it, but I’m afraid I agree that the landlord doesn’t owe you anything here and I think you’re looking at it wrong. Agree with PP you’ve had long term security living somewhere picture perfect for (on average) something like £700 / month if I’ve understood correctly. Granted I don’t know your local property market but I can’t say it sounds a bad deal overall. Just focus on the fact that you are now in a position to buy and remember very few FTB can afford to buy in the same area they can afford to rent in (I certainly could not, I had to move from the cusp of Z1, walking distance to the City, to a grotty house in Z4 but I was thrilled to have it and made it nice, and continue to upgrade it for my tenants who are lovely - new bathroom last year and new kitchen this year). Your first house is always a compromise, and by being able to buy at all you’re doing so much better than most).

Did you forward a good offer?

Money is a motivator - if you REALLY love it:

1. put forward a hard to resist offer price
2. say you'll cover their solicitor fees

It'll really make them think.

'Doubling galling' because you paid rent?

You paid rent to live in someone's property.
Do you think it should be free?

Any most people would look after the home they rented and not be 'fools' for doing so.

Presumably he is a business... He's not a charity interested in helping people?

Annoying but it's a fact.

(I'm not a LL)

I’m a landlord. I’d love to sell my property to the tenants. But given the capital gain payable and the outstanding mortgage, I’d walk away with almost nothing. I too would sooner leave it empty than sell, although luckily it’s in a very desirable area with no shortage of renters so it isn’t an issue. After just shelling out close to £10k on a new bathroom and boiler, I’d love to offload it, it makes no money after paying mortgage, tax and service charge. But better to leave it sitting there increasing in value than walking away with nothing. I wish it weren’t the case.
But neither do I expect any sympathy. After all, it’ll be a great option for the DC to have post university, which at the time was why I held onto it in the first place.
But just giving an insight into one of the many reasons why landlords don’t sell up.

I do understand how you feel because we were in a similar situation and had the same outcome following the conversation with our landlords.
The initial disappointment and sadness though, quickly wore off and we found we actively enjoyed looking for something else.
You are in a really great position to buy, presumably they’re happy for you to stay for the foreseeable future, so you’re under no immediate pressure and can take your time to find something else. Your lovely new home is out there somewhere, you will find it xxxxx