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 read her posts

@Cantgiveitaway ask for this thread to be moved to Legal and then you won't get it filled up with nonsense and posters who reply with a view who haven't read the thread or all your posts.
My stepfather had your issue but X 4 and it was a headache as the rents were pennies and the maintenance costs did put him in debt. The tenants did all die eventually and I do know he did offload 1 for 30k when it's market value was about 250k as the repairs required were beyond his reach at the time.
There are some decent suggestions on the thread buried under the crazy ones.
Ltd co set up
Putting into auction with the lowest reserve you can
I doubt an EA would take it in and pay the Rightmove listing fees unless the price was high enough to give them some profit from the commission.
The fast sale companies

Good luck. You will find a solution.

Read my replies. It's not hard mimsnet even let's you filter by OPs responses. It's on this thread.

I have not see it. Please refer me to it. Thanks . Again, sorry for any typos I was dictating.

Possibly, if you say that a lot of the other prefabs have gone and been replaced with bungalows, does it have any historical value? National Trust, Museum of London any organisations like that which you could gift it to?

As I said, I had followed this thread. So clearly I must’ve missed yours because I even click on see all so that I see all of yours. - which is why I asked the question in the first place because I obviously did not see it properly addressed, other than when earlier on you said it was four years on now and a bit too late. I was now asking about what happened at the start when everything became clear to you that it’s all .Never mind, I will try to search for it tomorrow.

yep or penguin bollards

On my phone browser there are three pages of OP replies. Did you only read one?

It sounds like you have tried this already from your op, but housing associations buy properties, even already tenanted, as part of their portfolio.

Yours might not be financially viable on its own but maybe worth another approach to local HAs?

For those saying you can get a mortgage on this - you really can't. There is no such thing as a BTL mortgage on a non-standard construction with peppercorn rent and a lifelong tenant. If the OP cannot evict the tenant then neither can the mortgage lender if they end up repo-ing it. And if there were to be a mortgage for this it would be up around 20-30% interest.

I would look into any and all gifting options. Church, charity. Or would any of the surrounding houses take it with a view to eventually levelling it and owning the land?

I haven’t read the full thread, sorry if this has come up, but have you consulted a specialist solicitor about effectively disclaiming the freehold (escheat)? The freehold can pass to the Crown Estate - usually happens if there’s no will and nobody inherits under the intestacy rules, but I have vague memories from law school about land subject to heavy burdens or liabilities. It’s not common, and would likely require a very niche solicitor, but might be worth it just to get it off your hands.

edited to add: a little research suggests it may not be possible but the Crown Estate may well take it anyway, as let’s face it, that’s an organisation that will be around long enough to see some financial gain!

OP, if there is a life tenant, there must be a trust structure? When was this created, and do you know the trustees? Do you have any trust deeds? Unless it is a Right of Occupation. Would be interesting to hear more about the actual legal structure of the arrangement. I believe people then may be able to provide more help.

Apologies if this is mentioned. Have tried to keep up with thread but it is going quickly

A life tenant is different to a regulated tenancy. No trust here.

Today at18:31 is the post you need, I think. I don’t want to reply to it and copy you in as I don’t want the OP to think there’s a post they need to reply to

Sounds like a nightmare, my only suggestion is to hope the old git living in it dies soon

Nice.

Thinking outside the box here but as the tenant has lived there all their life, is it a pre 1961 tenancy? If so you are probably not liable for section 11 of the Homes Act (but so double check). Irritatingly as you've already done them that probably would mean you weren't actually liable to fix the roof and windows unless the contract specifically says you are. It basically means you're not liable for the same standard of upkeep as a modern tenancy. You'd be liable for electrical and gas safety, but not safe non-functionality if that makes sense. So in theory if the boiler can't be repaired, you could just turn it off. The council can only enforce against you on this if it's a serious hazard, which it arguably wouldn't be if you bought a couple of £20 space heaters.

Do check though because sometimes section 11 is assumed in the fair rent (it'll be recorded if it is though), because obviously the tenancy is worth less if the tenant is liable for their own repairs.

A PP suggested sending this in to Moneybox or You and Yours. That could be really worth doing. If you include a link to this thread you'll prove the situation is interesting to lots of people, even if directly relevant to very few. And they can do some of the leg work for you in terms of working out which pieces of advice are valid.

I assume someone also suggested Citizen's Advice Bureau? But this is so niche and complicated, the person you get there would probably not have time to work it out. Whereas the Beeb could back a bit of a deep dive in research.

I apologise if this has already been covered in previous posts.

If the tenants are reasonable people, would they entertain paying for the new boiler and/or rewire? It's worth asking.

Are you required in law to provide them with heating when the boiler dies? Could they buy their own electric heaters? Could an electrician install some sort of hot water heater for the kitchen and bathroom and dispense with the gas boiler altogether?

I don't understand how this arrangement can be legal. Why on earth would you have to pay for some strangers living? Obviously a rent of less then 1k a year that does not even cover the cost of running the house/repairs is not fair. I don't understand why it would be continued to be allowed.....Sorry, not helpful. Just shocked. What a nightmare. I don't understand why the great uncle did this....surely he could see it was a great burden and why would he pass it on to someone else? He should have just left it to the person living there

All of your points have been addressed in the thread by the OP.

Yes, absolutely. You don’t have to take what’s given to you.

Transfer it to a limited company. Let the company go bust when the repairs etc are due. Walk away leaving it to the receivers.

not legal advice. Just occurred to me you might be able to do this.

I can see it from the tenants point of view, I always could. I'm usually on the tenants side in these landlords threads, but not this time.

It doesn't matter that OP is a stranger to the tenant. If the tenant had a decent bone in her body, she'd see that the current situation is ridiculous and can't continue, that she's had an amazing deal up to now and she wouldn't wish harm on her landlord (who has already lost their life savings all because she doesn't pay proper rent). Anyone decent would be horrified at the harm the landlord in this particular situation has already endured.

The OP and DH aren't people who set out to become landlords, they didn't ask for this situation and had no idea they could refuse the inheritance. If the tenant can't have compassion for them in their circumstances, can't accept that she's the unreasonable one in this situation - then frankly I don't care if she drops dead tomorrow, because she's a parasite.

She's old and has had an easy life (in terms of tenancy at least, born into the house and never having to move or pay proper rent). Whereas OP and her family are in the prime of their life, they've not been unreasonable with the tenant, haven't broken the law, have lost their life savings because of her and are facing the prospect of losing their home entirely, all so the selfish old person can keep hers!

If someone's life has to be ruined - I pick the person who's old, has had her life and is being unreasonable
versus the people with a family who have already lost so much, who are just trying to live a normal life and behave decently, but who can't realistically stay in this situation until the tenant dies.

I don't wish her harm as such, but that's likely to be the end result if someone less law abiding that the OP takes the property on and, since nobody in their right mind is going to take it even for free, thar type of lawless person exactly who she's likely to get as her next landlord.

As I said on another of my posts, she's shooting herself in the foot by refusing to be realistic and work with OP to agree a reasonable rent.

Nothing. I just can't stand parasites and this tenant is one.

She should accept she needs to pay a proper rent in line with social housing rents (IE cheaper than market rate for private rental but allowing OP the funds to do repairs and probably unless tenant has a ton of savings she can claim housing benefit to cover the rent, so it wouldn't actually cost her anything), or else she should accept the gift of the property and take ownership of it, relieving OP of landlord responsibilities.

I have no sympathy for someone who will happily bankrupt someone else and see that person lose all their life savings and have to sell their own home to become a renter themselves, just so they the tenant can maintain an unreasonable level of rent.

So what's wrong with you that you think OP is fair game to be shafted by this selfish tenant? Why doesn't OPs life matter to you?