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.

But you dont know any of that, or anything about the owner of this house.

Op is just guessing that the house will sit empty. Noone knows if it will or not... landlord might let a family member live there who may equally contribute to the community.

She may do the work needed to rent it out again

Or landlord may be planning on living there herself (op doesnt know the details of landlords marriage)

She is not obligated to sell her house and You have made a lot of negative assumptions about a person you do not know based on the fact they do not want to sell a property they own at this particular time

Could you possibly talk to them about doing some sort of deal/trade off that enables you to stay in the house but not pay anything (as such!) could you do the work to bring it up to rental standard again?
As an empty house is a risk and affects all sorts of things such as insurance. You're clearly good tenants who look after the property well.

She doesnt have to sell the house. Can't believe you think she has too. You no idea why she wants to keep the house and it's hers so she allowed to do what she wants with it. You sound Abit entitled. If you want to buy now you have to find somewhere else.

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.

As you say, OP, more fool you. I’m not saying that to be unkind, but you chose to put your time and money into a house you knew wasn’t yours. You presumably decided that this was worth it to give you a better standard of living. It was your choice, and you can’t reasonably be annoyed that they won’t sell just because that’s what you want.

As for the amount you’ve paid in rent - well, that’s just how renting works. It isn’t some con where you suddenly realise they’ve had all your money and you don’t get the house at the end of it. It’s not like increasing your share in a shared ownership property.

Unfortunately, this is the problem with renting. A good tenant, who looks after the property and even helps increase its value by putting money into it themselves. It doesn't pay someone who is renting to put money into a property that isn't theirs. By all means look after the property and be a good tenant but don't increase value on someone else's investment. There's a rented property at the back of me, looks dreadful. Landlord has had the property for 20 years, and has spent zero on it. The tenants aren't interested in even keeping the property tidy, let alone anything else. The last tenant moved out a week ago, into emergency accomodation, and we are hoping and praying the landlord will sell it, preferably to someone who gives a shit. The property itself is in a dreadful state, windows rotten etc, original kitchen from 1980's. You have to accept you will be moving out, and see about finding another suitable property you could buy or rent. As sad as it is, your landlord isn't obligated to sell, let alone to you.

You have to change how you’re viewing this or you’ll eat yourself up. You’ve had stability for 6 years which is rare in and of itself in a rental. Your landlord has given you the freedom to make the garden nice and that is something you’ve had benefit from. She doesn’t have to sell to you and has no obligation to be totally honest re her intentions.

This. Particularly if their home is a farm as I think they can fall outside usual rules on divorce

OO I’m 100% with you our long term 6 year rental where we had the babies was my favourite house ever! In our case the landlords died and the family did put the house up for sale but I’d just had baby number 2 and they were asking more than we could afford so we moved on and rented from the nation trust.

At the time I was so upset to leave I loved that house but with 10+ years hindsight it was a good move, we ended in a batter place, good schools and thrived.

Has the landlord actually told you to leave?? So you know how much they would need to sell? Have you put a value on paper to them that you’d be willing to pay.

Presumably you would have taken care of it regardless of hoping to buy it? That's a weird comment. All the stuff you've done to it extra is making it nicer while you live there, but you didn't have to do it. I've rented all my life, though not in the UK.

It's your home while you live there, that's all.

Its her house - she might love it as much as you do.

A friend of mine was recently evicted after 26 years renting the same house because she 'loved it'.

She was moaning on how much she had paid in rent over the years, how she had paid more rent than the house was worth probably twice over, how much work she had done to it, etc. Fact of the matter was, it was never hers in the first place and she had no rights.

There is a massive difference between “would consider” and “has promised”.

@AppelationStation
Read the EPC rules, regulations and exemptions.
You say it is old and stone built.
It won’t apply to this house.

Despite that, if you were the landlord, would you sell it if you didn’t have to? It sounds like a little gem, and I know for sure I wouldn’t.

This.

She might be regretting the lifestyle shift of marrying a farmer, she might be an abusive relationship, her parents might have died in that house … there’s many reasons she might want to keep it, and maybe some very sensible ones.

Yes, it’s sad and unfortunate, but you’ll have to look at other properties.

Errrrr no she didn't. Why do you think 'considered' = 'promised'? Words have meanings.

Exactly. Sounds like this is a case of OP hoping to own the house one day and therefore hearing what she wanted to.

@AppelationStation I think she’s keeping her property incase anything goes awry with the farmer..otherwise she could find herself either homeless or trapped with him..I wouldn’t sell up to marry/move in with a man either.

Maybe the owner is emotionally attached to it too?
Or perhaps they've decided to hang onto it for elderly parents or their kids in the future, as it's so rare for properties to come onto the market in this location.
What makes you think they won't do the work to bring it up to the required EPC grading for another renter?

If you know landlords aren’t in it to do anyone a favour, why do you expect them to care that the OP is a community-minded school governor? And why do you think they are looking for lovely friends instead of paying tenants?

Most people don’t get to buy the house they want. Unless you’re loaded and lucky, there’s always compromises and upheavals. It’s a relatively rare and fortunate thing when a landlord sells to a tenant and it all goes well. You’re only in the same boat as other housebuyers, doing what everyone terms ‘the most stressful thing’. I get why you’re directing frustration at the landlord, but theyre a landlord not your vendor and the issue is your (unfair imho) expectations. You know she’s got no obligation to sell to you, and yet you kinda think she does. I sympathise but disagree.

I feel for you but at the end of the day it’s not your house and never has been and it’s not up to you what happens to it. I get the sentiment, we have left DH’s village to go to the next one 3 miles away, nearer town and larger and not as quaint , so we could afford to buy. Some of our friends have to move even further to the next town, so they can buy, or one couple with a toddler we know are renting forever,’moving from whatever house is available to whatever house is available in their budget in the village. It’s lovely to live in these beautiful places and I get that second home ownership is damaging but at the end of the day property is a huge money maker and not a charity in this country that’s just how it is. Hopefully whatever you do next, you won’t pour your heart and savings into making someone else’s house nicer, because you won’t get thanks for it, sadly for you.

Or maybe with the farming industry as it is, having the option to sell up and move into this house is a useful safety net.

I was going to say, reading that the landlord has married a farmer, I bet she is using the house as her safety net, it’s smart really, they may be planning on selling their land and moving into the house at some point or downgrading the farming operations or something. Or maybe she wants a bolt hole in case it doesn’t work out.

You re mistaken about this, for England at least, Scotland tighter still.

All rented properties, used for permanent housing, regardless of construction type need to have an EPC rating of E or above, from 2030... it may become a C, with a different set of criteria for assessment.

I know two people who bought houses in London at ridiculously low prices because they were sitting tenants. Admittedly this is some years ago and the law might well have changed, but since the OP has mentioned buying as a sitting tenant I suspect she’s asking for a discount.

The owner obviously thinks the house might have future value to them. The OP might love the house now but once she owned it and was free to sell it on the open market her feelings might change.

I do have sympathy for the OP, having become so attached to her home it must be difficult to face having to give it up but homeowners also have to consider moving when their circumstances change.

You don’t sound wet and daft. It’s your home. You’ve paid huge amounts of money for it (as much as it cost to buy a home not that long ago). You’ve appreciated it and cared for it.

You don't want to lose your home. No one does.