Simply don't know what to do.

[Cantgiveitaway]

4 years ago we inherited a house. It has been on the market for the entirety of that time. It is on sale for approx 25% of market value. Reasons below:

The property is non-standard construction and therefore unmortgagable (we have explored this extensively).

It has a sitting lifetime tenancy on a peppercorn rent. Tenant is in their 70s and in good health.

We cannot sell it due to the above.

For those unaware, lifetime tenants cannot be evicted and the rent is very tightly controlled. We have increased it to the maximum allowed every year for the 4 years we've owned it. It still doesn't constitute £1000 a year.

We do not have any more money to put in to the property. We've done the legal required stuff. We've explored legal avenues for eviction ABD offered to give (gift) the property to the sitting tenant.

We basically need someone to come along with enough money to keep the property legally for 20+ years before they can do anything with it.

The most recent gas and electricity safety checks and the EPC have shown significant work needed in the next 12 months to keep it legal. We can't do it. Our only option is to sell our home that we, move in to a much smaller property in a different area (moving children's schools and away from family) and renting ourselves.

We have 0 savings because of the house and cannot afford basic things for our own home.

I just don't know what to do.

WWYD? We literally cannot give it away - we offered it to the LA and to a social landlord and a landlord with an extensive portfolio in the area and all said no.

In 20years, when the tenant dies or moves in to care the land might be worth something (and therefore sellable) but we can't wait that long. We had absolutely no idea the property existed until we inherited it and I've no idea why we did.

Any out of the box thinking here from the hive mind?

Just a thought, the property must have a very poor EPC due to its construction, 1 Oct 2030, I don’t think you will be able to rent out a property below a minimum C EPC rating. Worth bearing in mind, and may make the tenant take it over. It would cost a fortune to bring a non standard construction upto a C? Have you sought legal advice on this aspect? It could possibly be exempt due to the tenancy.

Sorry OP, I meant that I’m wondering if a surveyor might think that the cost of removing asbestos, plus rewire and anything else that needs doing, is not worth it in their opinion. Meaning that the property is effectively condemned, so you can thereby legally evict the tenant.

In other words, repair costs (and rehousing tenant costs while work is ongoing) outweigh the value of the property. Is it worth speaking to a surveyor to see if that might be the case?

CAB or council for housing advice, council's environmental health department re the disrepair issues.

I can't stress enough how the tenant has done nothing wrong.

They aren't making it difficult for us, or trying to bankrupt us or get us in trouble or any of the other accusations in this thread. They are simply living their life, in their home as the law allows them to do.

They are maintaining the property well, it's clean and tidy and they keep the little front garden beautifully. They've done several minor repairs including a bit of plumbing and fixing of stuff. The kitchen looks as new as the day it was installed (in the 1970s I think). They aren't demanding of us and have been very understanding of workmen and stuff in the property. They are exemplary tenants. The rent cheque arrives in the post the day before it is due, every single year, meaning they post it before it's due. We couldn't ask for a better tenant.

And it seems awful to be wishing them dead or in to a care home, but that is the reality of it.

No because that isn't reason to eviction. We would need to go to court to claim (and prove) we couldn't afford to do the repairs. And technically we could get a loan to do them but that would place us in to financial difficulties however what the court label as necessary expenditure and what we do could be two different things (pet insurance, children's activities, life insurance, home broadband that sort of thing).

I've contacted a few house buying companies and am waiting to hear back.

This thread has given me new energy to deal with it.

I'll keep everything crossed for you! I think in your position I'd try and sell / give it to a home buying company if I could get one who'd take it though, being a landlord is a lot of hassle even when you are getting a decent reward for it. I really feel for you

I’ve read the entire thread, but I don’t recall who told you the repairs need doing? It comes under old tenancy rules, so has the tenant gone to the council or something?

You’re not really responding to anyone trying to help you, you’re just arguing with people
who aren’t understanding the situation.

It is extreme but this sort of tenancy means you are stuck so form a limited company, buy it, run it at a loss for a while then liquidate and offload to the crown. Or divorce your husband, get all assets into your name, he can bankrupt himself and get rid of it that way.

This isn’t a trust situation. It’s a specific type of tenancy allowed for by the Rent Act 1977 and applies to residential tenancies created before 15 January 1989. So OP is the landlord and has duties in respect of repair.

This is such an absurd and unreasonable situation for you. Perhaps it would be worth a punt to try Paul Lewis or even You & Yours to get them trying to do something or to at least help you explore any other options (if there are any!). I do hope it doesn't come down to your DH having to declare bankruptcy or for you to lose your current home over this. Surely there must be some sort of legal remedy that the current tenant can be persuaded to accept. I know it's not in his interest, but if he's got any sort of heart, there might be someone who could convince him to accept some solution.

Who knew there were so many evil people on Mumsnet?

Arson, rat infestations, harassment of a vulnerable pensioner... WTF is wrong with you people.

I hope you sort it out somehow OP, it sounds like a nightmare scenario.

Ok you can get a 'prc repair'. They are often financed as btl. As your tenant is sitting thr work can be done externally in the main i believe. I was going to do it on my old unity house. But when it was valued, it was January and really snowy and icy. So my house was devalued by £30k! So couldnt get initial bridging loan. I already had expensive re mortgage on it. But as I needed to stop working, realised i needed to pay off that finance so had to sell and got well over the £30k on top of that woman's valuation. I was lucky I think! I am mortgage free now.

There's been a lot of bad advice on this thread and I don't want to add to it, but is it really the case that a legal contract can be bequeathed in the same way as a property? Presumably there is, or was, a tenancy agreement between the tenant and the late uncle, but I'm wondering whether the terms of that should have ceased when the uncle died. Is the tenant really entitled to have the terms of that, which were agreed and signed by the uncle, replicated by the new owner? If you had bought it with a sitting tenant, then the purchase contract would have included clauses allowing for the tenancy, but in these circumstances I'm not so sure. Credit contracts, for example, are voided on the death of the person who signed on the dotted line.

I think I would get specialised legal advice if you can possibly afford it at this point.

Ok read it all now, you will need to get finance on it to at least make it safe. It tends to be fairly expensive on non standard construcrtion. I would be v tempted by getting it done on a credit card t o get it compliant at least. It may not be pretty! Or go the whole hog remortgage, and v keep tenant but turn the place into a hmo. That way the other rooms with vetted tenants can generate more income, enough to pay the finance then some. If you did the prc repair too, (turns it into a brick looking house, instead of concrete, we'll insulated and will be safe for tenant. It would be vastly improved for her. That would be the right thing to do, but its always a bit v of a risk if you end up needing a bridging loan. As. It needs to be repaid in a specific tome frame. But by that time you could get a standard btl mortgage

Ooops typos

It's a tiny bungalow by the sound of it, and the tenant has a lifetime regulated tenancy - you can't just turn it into an HMO.

No. The tenancy is under old legislation and the tenants rights remain but they have gained new rights under successive laws. So we still have to do the gas and electrical safety checks and the EPC of the newer laws.

On our most recent electrical inspection we were advised it had passed but is very unlikely to again and gave advisory works.

The boiler is as old as the hills and replacement parts are no longer available.

This type of tenancy gets converted into a statutory tenancy once the contractual period ends, as long as the tenant continues to live there.

Or ent another room only to a very trusted person to her. To get more rent and for your tenants safety. Well something needs to happen with the services at very least. I just wonder what the tenant may want and feel safer with.?

Definitely, contact the probate solicitor

If you would rather not have the house, have you considered giving it away to the current tenant?
Or donating it to charity?
I get that nobody wants to buy it but surely, you must be able to shift it free of charge?

I'm looking in to all viable options. Divorcing my husband and him becoming bankrupt are really extreme measures. It may come to that but I'm going to explore other options that people have suggested first, like a different auction house and some of the property buying companies we haven't already tried.

Creating a company is also a possibility but again, it going in to liquidation could have other implications for us.

I'm not going to do anything on the day so of people on the internet but will look at all the options, including the risks to other aspects of our lives and the costs of some of those options.

I'm trying the easiest and lowest cost options first!

Or OP could cancel the cheque...

Have you considered reading at least the opening post if you’re not going to read all of OPs further posts?