Landlord Selling Property

[itsonlysubterfuge]

Our landlord is planning on selling the property and has put it up for sale already. I had some questions that I seem to be having a hard time finding the answers to. I tried to ring Shelter, but they couldn't answer my questions until Tuesday. Thought I would see if anyone here has any advice.

A bit of the background is that we have a shorthold tenancy agreement that ends at the end of March. We have allowed them to carry out their inspections and allowed someone to come and value the property, however the landlord lied to us and said they wanted it valued for a second mortgage. The landlord is with a letting agency so we mostly deal with the agency.

The agency said they wanted to have some people view the property. We replied by e-mail saying we would not allow someone to view the property. They have finally e-mailed back. They are asking again for a viewing and implied that if the house sells we will be given 3 months notice to leave the property, but if we allow some of the people to come and view it, those people have said if they purchase the property they are happy to wait until our tenancy is over in March.

I'm pretty sure we have a right to stay in the property until our tenancy agreement has ended, is that correct? Also if the landlord does sell the property, don't the new owners have to abide by the current agreement in place? I just want to make sure I know our rights before I respond to the e-mail.

Also, before we get called out for being awkward the reason we aren't allowing viewings is because it's just too stressful for my family. My MIL has PTSD (among other things) and finds anyone in her space extremely stressful. My DH and DD both have autism and having a change in routine and people coming to the house causes them both an extreme amount of stress for a long time. It takes them weeks to calm down after and that doesn't include the anxiety before hand. My MIL also has severe asthma and it just worries us the we have no idea who these people are that would view the property and whether or not they may have Covid 19.

Thank you so much for reading my long winded essay.

OP, looking at it from the other side, if the LL is really keen to sell (or needs to) they might be willing to broker a deal with you to help release you from the tenancy? I know that might sound like a hideous prospect atm but you deserve a home with a decent, honest landlord without fear of impending eviction.

They might be willing to pay your removal fees for example?

We know they lied about the remortgage because they put the property up for sale in July and asked us about the remortgage in August
They lied because they knew you wouldn't let them in otherwise. Why was it ok to let them in this time but not at another time? You could be strict about conditions, do it at Stine your oh and ds are out, as well as MIL.

The reality us that you do want to make it difficult. It is understandable as you don't want to move, but being a tenant, that's always the risk you take.

Ultimately, it could go against you too as the property could be sold to another LL happy for you to continue to live there.

Whichever attitude you take, you'll have to face eviction in 6 months. This will be much more stressful, having to go to court, and being told you have to leave anyway in very short notice rather than taking a proactive approach to look for somewhere else and striking a deal that if you move early, they give you one month for free for instance.

Whatever attitude you take, you will be out of this property sometimes next year. You might as well start looking now.

We aren't allowed to move on to a new property because of the tenancy agreement. We have to pay the rent until the end of March and pay all of the landlord fees (if we end the agreement early) whether we live in the house or not. We were going to ask the landlord if he would be willing to end the agreement early if we found somewhere else to go before March, but we received this e-mail first.We have been looking at other houses to rent in the area, but there is little point at the moment as they are unlikely to still be available in March. It was always and still is our plan to leave this house when the Tenancy Agreement ends in March as it was unlikely our landlord was going to renew it. Our landlord told us he was going to sell the property in 9 months, when our tenancy agreement was up, only to put it on the market in July.

I think a lot of people can't really imagine why it's such a big deal because it isn't a big deal to them. I get it. It makes me a bit anxious having someone come into our house be around our things. I've had bad experiences where people have stolen my stuff on viewing a property. I hate the huge clean-up and feeling like your going to be judged, but I would still allow it. However to watch your 8 year old daughter have headaches everyday, complain of feeling upset, and have meltdowns for weeks after a 30 minute valuation by one person, it's horrible to know you could have prevented that. That's just my DD reaction, not withstanding my DH and MIL who both didn't cope well either.

We will be offering to do Zoom meetings or video tours of the property as a compromise.

@dontdisturbmenow I don't understand. We will not be facing eviction in 6 months, we are coming to the end of our tenancy and will move on. The reason we allowed the valuation was because we felt we had to, we were pressured by the letting agency. Also, my DH, MIL, and DD's reactions to having that valuation is one of the reasons I don't want to allow viewings. They all handled it really poorly. Yes we could leave the house, but that makes anxiety worse, because then you can't be sure of what they are doing.

The landlords lied because the want to sell the property and they do not care about us. They did not know we would refuse a valuation. They have lied about other things as well, such as telling us they would get multiple repairs done soon, just "leave it with them, don't worry" (our oven has been broken since April).

Anyway, I appreciate all the advice on the thread and it really has helped with a lot of stress and anxiety in the house. Thank you so much to everyone who has offered their thoughts.

We were going to ask the landlord if he would be willing to end the agreement early if we found somewhere else to go before March, but we received this e-mail first
Speak with the LL directly. They will want to sell asap so are likely to come to an agreement to release you from the fixed term especially if you won't allow viewings.

Be control of your search for another property to rent. Whatever you agree, make sure you have it all in writing, stated clearly.

I think the best thing to do is probably speak to your landlord and negotiate something mutually beneficial. He’s likely looking to sell ASAP with the stamp duty freeze—if so, you could discuss whether you could end tenancy early (subject to finding a new house you like) with no fees and with something from him to help the move (e.g. covering removal and the cost of a deposit upfront, excellent reference).

A situation like the above would give you certainty and put the landlord in a strong position to sell quickly. Selling with tenants in situ is a nightmare, he should be getting vacant possession first! Plus you don’t want to be living with this stress over your heads.

If the landlord is not ok with terminating your contract early and helping you move at a time that suits you, then screw him—you don’t need to allow viewings, and you can stay until the end of your contract unless he starts proceedings, which won’t end before then anyway.

@12309845653ghydrvj

I think the best thing to do is probably speak to your landlord and negotiate something mutually beneficial. He’s likely looking to sell ASAP with the stamp duty freeze—if so, you could discuss whether you could end tenancy early (subject to finding a new house you like) with no fees and with something from him to help the move (e.g. covering removal and the cost of a deposit upfront, excellent reference).

A situation like the above would give you certainty and put the landlord in a strong position to sell quickly. Selling with tenants in situ is a nightmare, he should be getting vacant possession first! Plus you don’t want to be living with this stress over your heads.

If the landlord is not ok with terminating your contract early and helping you move at a time that suits you, then screw him—you don’t need to allow viewings, and you can stay until the end of your contract unless he starts proceedings, which won’t end before then anyway.

@11239845653ghydrvj The landlord has no grounds for commencing proceedings before the end of the fixed term and cannot do so.