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.

its perfectly possible for them to rent it to another family, they don’t need to mention upgrades to you because if you don’t move out you might be asking for them to fit them. As a farming family, having an asset ion the form of a rental house makes sense so 30 years or whatever down the line they can move there and their dc takes over the farm.

It sounds really galling for the OP and I can understand the disappointment, especially if previpusly given tje impression there might be the possibility to buy it. If she's not actually selling, do you have to leave imminently?

I'm interested in the pp who think no one should have a second home/own more than one property. I can see in a lot of seaside towns or tourist areas there is a problem, but there are plenty of circumstances where people need rental accomodation (students, short term contracts, recently separated families, people new to an area, when their own house is uninhabitable due to damage/refurbishment...etc etc)
I'm not a LL btw

This

Also I didn’t get that the OP has been asked to move so she isn’t about to lose her home, she just can’t own it.

Growl.
With luck it might be that their initial thought is they won't sell it.

I would write to them, and state

• You love the house and would like the opportunity to buy it
• You are prepared to offer £xx now (foregoing estate agents fees and surveyors reports etc)
• You will leave the offer with them

When they see it written down they may rethink. At the moment selling is a hassle (even selling to you) as it involves effort on their behalf, whereas you are paying rent and looking after the house so causing absolutely no hassle.

I echo this.

This isn't your house OP, yet you feel entitled to it due to making a nice garden.

Let this serve as a warning to others, do not get emotionally attached to a house that isn't yours.

YABU it is her house and she will have her reasons for not wanting to sell it at the present time, even if those reasons aren't clear to you. I understand why you're upset but it was never guaranteed to be your permanent home.

Just because someone grows up in an area that doesn't give them the automatic right to live there as adults. I couldn't afford a decent sized house in the area I grew up in (nice part of London) - a 2 bed flat maybe but not a house. That's life! We can only buy houses in places we can afford hence I live in a less vibrant place that is more affordable.

If I were you I would have bought a house in a less desirable area and spent money on improving my own property not someone else's. This is what I think you should do moving forwards.

It also seems that the LL is from the local area so doesn’t seem like your typical 2nd home owner and instead is keeping her link to the area. With farmers if they hand over their farm as an estate planning mechanism they have to leave the farm so it seems like a good thing to keep an asset to move in to.

I do understand your feelings.

The real problem is you've invested too much in a house that isn't yours- money, time and emotions.

If you had started off always accepting you'd have to move, you'd not have put so much into it.

Maybe in the time you're looking for somewhere to buy, they will think again and there's no harm asking again.

But if the town is declining because all houses are now holiday lets, maybe it's best to move elsewhere anyway?

Houses are bricks and mortar- you take your love , your family and life elsewhere.

It sounds as if your husband is very emotionally tied to where he grew up so maybe he needs a bit more of a 'fluid' outlook?

I don't understand when you say they won't be able to rent again. Of course they will be able to. Either through an exemption, or able to claim grants or tax deductions.

My situation is similar to your landlord. My tenants love the house and might approach me to buy it. Unfortunately, I've planned my future on the rent paying towards my pension. Selling would mean paying a large tax bill. There is nothing in it for me. Its sad, but it doesn't make the landlord unreasonable.

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

That seems really unfair.

Maybe, she’s taking the very sensible route of having a backup if she ever wants out of the marriage. Otherwise I imagine, if the house they are living in is his, she may be faced with nowhere to go while the long machinations of a divorce and financial settlement play out.

Or, maybe they see the farm as ‘when we are in good health and capable’, and this house is for when that’s no longer the case and they need to exit the farm?

So many possibilities. I think ‘just to keep it as an asset on their balance sheet’ is likely unfair.

You don’t know her personal situation. Maybe her marriage is rocky? Maybe she has a relative who may need it? None of which I would expect her to have told you - she doesn’t need to justify herself. It’s her house. She can do as she pleases with it.

We’d all love to live in the perfect idyll you describe. Few of us manage it. Time to get real and find your next, and hopefully forever, home. There are lots of lovely places out there. Stop focusing on what you can’t have and look at all the wonderful choices you could have.

. I am also confused as to whether or not they are actually asking you to leave.

I don't think they ae.

OP says they are now in a position to buy so are looking around. And this rental seemed the solution.

@vivainsomnia Isn't the poster saying that the EPC rating means it won't be legally habitable in future as a rental unless the owner makes massive changes?

You can't buy the house as they are not selling it. They might change their minds. But they might not. So either carry on renting it or buy another house.

Oh dear. So the only option when going on holidays is to go those sordid all inclusive that I cannot stand?
i prefer renting a self catering accomodation, visit a new place, understand the culture and try to be as respecful to the local community as possible, i prefer my brekfast and diners at home, love eating lunch out.
it s sad when people hate the tourists who spend money they beed to build their communities

When my last financially abusive relationship broke down it took me 18months to sell the house we owned together because he made it so difficult.

When I got together with the new chap I made it clear, I would happily live together, but it would be in one of our homes and we would retain the other property.

For me I might sell my house one day, if we get married, and on a few other conditions but for me it is an escape option. I don't want my cash in a bank and the housing market outpacing me. If the property is rented, fine- if the government make it uneconomical to do so, my house is still doing its job empty.

Women need escape routes in relationships (the amount of posts you see on here from miserable women who can't afford to leave is astounding), he married to a farmer makes her situation even more precarious.

Blimey, what a kind friend you sound. I bet your friend was "moaning". She must have been devastated!

So basically, you’ve a house which you feel is amazing, it’s in a wonderful, rural, tranquil location and is exactly what you want. Surely you knew from the start that you were choosing a location where houses rarely come up for sale and where at some point (when you were financially in a position to buy) you’d likely have to move somewhere less amazing?

I get that it feels disappointing, but nobody forced you to make a lovely garden, presumably you did that for the benefits it brought your family while you lived fhere.

i would advise you try to reframe your thinking: yes, you need to move BUT you’ll be gaining an asset and have the security of your own home at last. It would be crazy to continue paying rent now you’re in a position to buy.

naturallly there’s the sprinkling of posters on here who think all LL are evil scum, but the fact is, many people rent out homes for all sorts of reasons- maybe they marry, move away for work and can’t sell, are in tied accommodation with work but need to stay in the market etc etc …

ultimately of course the owner can’t be forced to sell her property to you. And she may well decide not to re-let it because frankly, there are so many obstacles put in the way for LL now that she’s decided it’s not worth it.

Once you bite the bullet and buy, you’ll grow to feel the new place is your home, you need to make the mental adjustment. And look at it this way: you might have had 6 years paying rent for a grotty place, or had to move several times, while saving to buy. Instead you’ve had a home in a beautiful area without upheaval.

OP posts about landlords and second homes on MN thinking everyone will fawn over how unreasonable the LL is. When a quick glance at how you’ve described them on this thread tells everyone all they need to know.

I didn't say we should get rid of them altogether. But the amount of holiday lets/airBnBs should be far more tightly controlled than it is to ensure there are sufficient properties for people to rent or buy- to live in.

They said consider selling to them. They have considered it and decided not to.

Bear in mind what they can do is let it as Air BnB or as a holiday cottage. I own a property in the village where I grew up, similarly, if the sitting Tennant left I couldn't re let due to EPC, so I would use it as an Air BnB / Holiday let instead.

I don't know why so many posters are suggesting it's a bolt hole for the owner if her marriage breaks down.

Maybe it is but who knows?

She may decide to rent it out short term as a holiday let once it's improved.

I expect she's also emotionally attached to it. In time she may decide to sell up but that's a decision she needs to come to in her own time.

The issue is the OP lived a fantasy whereby she thought this was going to be their home and became far too attached to it.

Most rentals don't allow tenants to do very much at all other than a lick of paint on the walls and keeping the garden tidy.

I'm not sure what she's done to it.

And, being blunt, paying rent of under £1K a year ( she said £50K over 6 years) is pretty cheap for a house so she's had good value.

I am supportive, I listened to her, I advised her, I helped her move, i'm godmother to her children, I didn't tell her she was moaning.

The problem with that idea @LittleCharlotte is that often there is no work in these beautiful seaside villages- fishing's gone, mining's gone, farming's declined.
What work would be available?
Tourism has filled a gap.

You may end up with investment bankers buying the houses, working from home 2 days a week, and commuting to London in between.

Would that be okay?