Can we rent then buy same house?

[Digestive28]

Have found a house we love and is on market for both rent and buying. We are not quite in a position to buy (our house is a guarantee sale to family member but family member hasn't sold as their offer fell through) but are hoping to be soon. So could we rent until we are ready to buy and is this possible? We would be struggling to afford more then two thirds of the rent it is on the market for and how does it work if a rent agreement is six months and we are ready after three. Our mortgage would be significantly cheaper then rent being asked for. The vendors are keen to move but not sure if it is worth is entering this conversation with them or do we just say what will be will be and leave it for a while?

You could offer, but there is no guarantee for the vendor (of the house you want) that you will buy. The sale of your own house is not guaranteed as it's already fallen through once, it depends on your relative finding a buyer - property sales or purchasing can be pretty stressful! And it could leave you paying the higher rental costs (and the costs of your own current property) for an unknown period of time.

Have you spoken to the Estate Agent? We put our property up for sale or rent a couple of times, and it was rented out quite quickly. It does sound as if the vendors want to sell it, but sales can take months and if someone rents it they will probably be getting an income from it in six weeks or so. Can you put a case forward that makes it sound an attractive proposition for the vendor?

Sellers usually do this is they are desperate to move - will list for both rent and sale. The issue is that they could rent it to you, but then later sell to someone else. Nothing is guaranteed.

We did this! We rented for 3 months and also had the proviso that if we bought at the end of the 3 months, the rent paid was considered part of the sum. We're in the US though and I think it's more normal here.

The other thing you can do is rent and then contact the landlord at a later date so they can choose not to have an Estste Agent and make the sale between the two of you.

Thanks for the advice, it's really helpful. We shall speak to the estate agents and take it from there. Fingers crossed!

Sounds like a great idea. I'd be pleased if it was my house. Good luck.

So we are meetings the vendors next week to discuss options! They want to sell essentially and are able to offer reduced rent until we are ready to buy but any advice before we meet them would be really helpful

We did it. I cannot recommend it enough you get a true picture of a house before you spend £££££ on it.

We did this in our current house because our buyers wanted to buy faster than we could purchase our new house (which was very old with a complex title).

We agreed to rent it for 2 months. The seller agreed to do this because they were getting more money out of it.

Things to consider are what happens if something breaks during the rental period or if you cause any damage.

We did it.

We were relocating for work. Needed to move before we had sold our house, and found the perfect house in a great school catchment for ds. It was empty at the time.

We put in an offer in principle, which was probably a little bit high in hindsight.

The vendor suggested renting it while we waited for ours to sell. We had a rolling 1 month contract, she effectively took the house off the market, and the deposit was returned to us when the sale went through, plus the portion of that month's rent that was left iyswim.

It took 6 months of renting before we sold our house/ 5 sales fell through in that time.
It was stressful and we only managed financially as we had overpaid so much on the mortgage of our old house we could take a break from payments in order to pay the rent on the new house.

I'm glad we did it though. I love this house and this area.

so nice to hear of success stories. It gives me hope, fingers crossed..

the American idea won't work here, the landlord would be very vulnerable renting to you for less than 6 months. So you could try for a 6 month tenancy, but you've no guarantee you'll be the successful buyer after that.

or you might be - who knows?