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.

Sorry what?
What does the EPC have got to do with electrics?
Also are you insinuating tenant don’t know anything about electrics? 🤔

On a second note, isn’t it funny that these EPC rules only apply to the private rented sector and not to Council or Housing Association stock, which arguably, house more vulnerable tenants more often than not?

Where has the OP said that the landlord had promised them they would sell in the future?

They might sell to you at full market price but you want to buy it as a sitting tenant which is very different. It would be a significant loss to them and a huge financial advantage to you.

The landlord doesn't want to sell at the amount you have offered (or they think you will offer). There will be a price they're prepared to sell for, but it might be more than you can afford.

Have you made an offer to them they've rejected, or have they just said no to the concept? If the former, up your offer (or accept you can't afford this house if you have offered the max), if the latter make an offer, but ensure it is a top end offer.

It sounds like this is a unicorn house and your landlord suspects they can make more money by holding onto it than by selling it UK you.

how rude

Have you actually had it valued and made an offer? Seeing it in writing might make a difference rather than a passing comment. But otherwise, why not just buy another home. You do seem overinvested in a house that was never yours.

So sorry OP, what a difficult situation for you. You are obviously very emotionally invested in your home and I can understand why.
You can hope they change their minds but it sounds unlikely.
If you want to buy your own home it sounds like you have no option but to move.
At least you have the luxury of having time on your side and not having a property to sell
I would suggest starting to have a look around, you need to shift your mindset from the home you have being the only home you want to being open to what else might be out there. Easier said than done but put it out to the universe and see what it sends you.

I don’t see that. The landlord can section 21 op and sell at full market rent if she wished. It’s not that hard to do currently. As a landlord myself, if I were wanting to sell, I would agree to sell to a tenant at pretty much market value minus what I would consider on costs of selling on the open market. I use an agent for our rentals and would therefore need to negotiate a sale percentage for them. I don’t think it would be that much less tbh.

I am another one who agrees with this.

The number of other threads on MN saying how (almost always) the woman used to own their own place and have financial independence, but now can’t afford to change an unhappy home situation due to lack of financial opportunity.

It’s her (your landlords) house, so unfortunately you have to bite the bullet and buy elsewhere or continue to rent this property and be happy as a tenant…

I hope you find somewhere you’re happy to put down roots, but you can’t hold your landlord responsible for your unhappiness at not being allowed to insist that she sell a sitting tenant her house.

I'd let the idea sit with them a while longer.

Save, look around and when you find a house in the same area up for sale, make it clear you're very interested and will be off like a shot if at all possible... its a risky game to play but it might just be enough to make her realise you are going to leave and she will lose her rental income anyway so... she may change her mind.

Or she doesn't and you buy a house in the area.

I would certainly stop doing any work to the property though!

I’m sure there was a post recently about a farmer’s wife who had moved an hour away and felt miserable, sad she didn’t have an asset as the farm was the in laws etc. Making an assumption here it gives your landlord a plan b, a future home an investment.

I’d guess they have kids or relatives they hope would get it, or maybe she has it in case her marriage goes belly up or she decides in the future she does want it or is hoping for laws to change or to find a loophole or something! To be honest you make the place and area sound so idyllic I’d be wondering why she would sell it!

It’s a pity the LL won’t sell to you and I can understand why you feel saddened about this, you’ve obviously fell in love with the property and have looked after it as if it were your own.

As others have suggested, I think the only thing you can do is to start asking around the local area or in the next village even. Unfortunately I don’t think this was meant to be and you will have to come to terms with that, however difficult that is.

I'm not surprised she wants to hold on to it. I kept my house when I moved in with my partner several years ago. It's a great second income, my son can use it when he's older if he's struggling to get onto the housing ladder, and I have it as security if anything should go wrong in my relationship. I worked hard to buy it and pay of the mortgage myself. My tenant, who is from overseas and can't get a mortgage himself, benefits too. I've never felt that I owe it to others to sell it.

So, why can't you stay there, even pay directly to the landlord, until you find the perfect home nearby?
Would the landlord let you stay until you find a place?

Sorry am I misunderstanding? It’s nothing to do with electrics? It’s about energy efficiency isn’t it?

I might be wrong but weren’t the EPC rules only going to apply to new tenants, no5 existing ones? Though the rules may have changed again. There’s been a lot of chopping and changing.

She may want to keep it to pass on to kids or younger generation in her family. If you left possibly she would pass it straight on, you just don't know

Spare room.com is what I've had to use moving round the country every 6m-1Y as a Dr. Great fun as a career choice

Some errors being written on this thread.

The current EPC rule is that a property must be a E as a minimum, thats not going to change until 2030, initially for new tenancies and within 12 months, to ALL tenancies.

To get to an EPC of E is ridiculously easy and relatively cheap, it also applies to existing tenancies, so this house has to meet this standard.

The LL never promised to sell to the OP either, as for the advice "take out all the the nice things you've put in to the house/garden" WTAF??

OP isn't being evicted, she can stay there for the foreseeable future.

If the LL and her DH don't need the money, has no significant mortgage, she has no need to sell, the rent is a steady and permanent income for her, vast majority of Farmers are very well off.

In the nicest possible way, you need to try and move on from this

See the next step as a positive and adventure. You will come to love your new home and area as much as you do this one.

You asked, and got your answer. Try not to dwell on that.

You were not unreasonable to ask, but landlord is also not unreasonable to not sell, its not fair to feel angry at her, she may have a lot of reasons why not to sell

Start house hunting now and look to the future

I think you sound entitled op. I don't know why landlords get so much hate on MN. We became landlords after moving abroad. The rent pays the mortgage and management fees but that's it. Lots of additional costs in maintenance.
In my home town in Wales there are not enough rental properties for tenants. It's not worth the hassle being a landlord and financially not viable for alot of people so the majority of sold up. This hasn't helped those that cannot afford to buy and need to rent. And it's just pushed up rental prices.
My mum is 75 and rents. She did own a home years ago but now rents and is terrified on the landlord selling up because there are so few rental properties available.
Your landlord doesn't have to sell up. She could have lots of reasons for keeping the property. You should have anticipated this

The difference here is that it won't be a second income but tbh if she can afford to leave it empty I wouldn't sell either for the other reasons you give, security and passing it on to children.

I doubt you’ve added much value by doing up the garden - and you seem to regard you looking after the place as doing some great favour to the LL instead of taking care of your home. If you weren’t looking after it you’d have been evicted

I feel for you @AppelationStation it's your home. It's just another asset to people that have more homes than they can live in. You've spent money, made it lovely and her response is to just leave it empty. That level of selfishness is killing villages and other small communities.