Selling house - renting in meantime with no income - any advice?

[cupidsabsolutepsyche]

My mum's house is falling down around her and she has finally made the decision to sell up. Even in its current state it is worth a lot of money due to location and will be more than sufficient for her to buy a smaller flat/house and have some left over.

The issue is that she will need somewhere to live until she can find a suitable property to purchase and as the plan is to sell the house at auction, I'm assuming things could move very quickly once we get going?

She is a pensioner and so has no proper income, and neither I or my sibling are in a position to help with rental costs until she can buy a new place.

Does anyone have any experience of this situation and know if there is a way that she could rent using the house as a 'bond' of sorts? As soon as her cash is freed up she could of course pay any rent that was due. Are we wishful thinking?

She also could not stay with me as I live far from her and also in a very small flat - my sibling has the same problem. A few nights, not a problem but not longer.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks very much!

I think she needs some financial advice, not legal.

Is there a particular reason why she cannot remain in the house until completion of the sale?

Why can't she stay in the house until after the auction? A) it might not sell and b) she'll have four weeks after it has sold at the auction.

Thanks - I may also post this in the Money topic.

ThroughThickAndThin01 - Four weeks after sale sounds reasonable if there is at least some of the money forthcoming - I suppose the best thing I can do is actually research timescales for these kinds of things! Thank you.

She'll find it hard to rent without proof of income, unless she can pay a chunk upfront (6 months is standard where I am).

Does she have enough for a deposit and the first month upfront?

You could call some estate agents near you and ask what proof of income they'd need, or how much rent in advance.

She's unlikely to be able to use her house as any type of security because the letting agent/landlord will have no claim to the house.

Assuming England/Wales: She pays 6 months rent in advance, using the proceeds of the sale. Once she has exchange, she signs up to the tenancy she wants. On completion she has the money, she pays it over and gets the keys. There may be a short gap but that's what hotels and short-term storage are for; the removal company can keep her stuff for her.

she or you need to get informed of tenant's rights; start at gov.uk.

Why not just stay in the house until the sale is completed? She could then get a holiday rental or serviced apartment for a few weeks until she sorts herself out with a more long term rental.