Notice given - tenant not showing any sign of leaving

[ScoobyDoesnt]

Firstly, I know MN tends to be anti landlord, but please hear me out!

My DM went into a care home 6 years ago. At the time we (wider family) decided it best to rent out her house to gain some income towards the care home fees. And obviously at the time of admission, we had no idea how long she may be there (Dementia). DF died a few years back if relevant.

Property was refurbished and rented via a managing agent (due to distance) and the same family have been in there 5 years, with no issues, rent always paid on time and likewise any maintenance dealt with by the agent for us promptly. Property all legal from a compliance perspective.

The tenants were always aware that when the time came, the property would need to be sold due to there being different will beneficiaries, and proceeds would need to be split accordingly.

DM died last Xmas. Tenants were made aware late Jan (we decided to wait for post funeral in the New Year to do anything) via the agent that the property would need to be sold, and were given first refusal on buying, which they were unable to do. Because of the need for probate, they were were aware they had some time but ultimately the property would be sold asap. Solicitor dealing with probate advised it would take around 5-6 months, estate is simple with just the property and some bank balances, no IHT due.

The property was sold subject to probate in April, buyers fully aware it would likely be end July/August to be ready. Tenant complied with all viewings. We gave the tenants the correct notice to leave, via the agent who deals with everything, in mid June under probate solictor advice, and tenant is due to leave next week.

They have only just started looking for somewhere else - despite realistically knowing since Jan that they would need to leave at some future point. And they were advised when the offer was accepted in April, and when probate was expected and then granted. They've had the best part of 7 weeks notice so far.

The agent is now (they've been pretty quiet and just said not to worry....) proactively contacting the tenant daily for their intentions and offering to show them properties on their books, but we're now a week to go with nothing found as yet.

My question (finally!) - they are saying they're happy 'just to keep paying the rent whilst they look' - but we need the house back! Realistically how quickly can we start proceedings (which we'd do via a solicitor), and actually what does that involve / timescale? Worried now about losing the buyers, and how this may drag out.

Thanks in advance.

You have messed up
You should have sold the property empty or at the worst served notice in April and started legal proceedings when they did not vacate

Sadly you will probably now have a 6 month wait at least (in a falling market)

Start proceedings today (and fingers crossed that the the notices so far have all been 100% accurate)

Whose advice did you take? Agent? Lawyer? You may be able to pursue action against them but very unlikely

You have landlord insurance? They would be the best for help.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/section_21_eviction/how_long_a_section_21_eviction_takes#:~:text=Most%20landlords%20use%20county%20court,happens%20on%20the%20eviction%20date.

Option B is to pay them a large amount of cash to vacate.

Selling with a tenant is an option. Off to look for more info

Not if the buyer has a moorage it isnt

The tenants are legally entitled to remain until either they or the court ends the tenancy.

The agent needs to stop harassing the tenants to leave and you all need to follow proper legal procedure to regain possession.

Mortgage

Plus the price would beat least 20% lower as it has to be a cash buyer of a BTL
BTL products have been heavily withdrawn from the market - you also need a larger deposit

Could it be that they are going to wait to be evicted to get help from the council?
It sounds like they have been good tenants but the rental market has gone crazy(in my area at least), rents have gone up a lot and there is a lot of competition for every house. It might be that they will struggle to find somewhere otherwise.

i would ask the agent to stop contacting them daily, it sounds like harassment.

It was silly really to proceed with selling the property until they were gone as it’s well known that if a tenant decides not to move out it can take a long time and legal process to evict them. But what’s done is done. Realistically you’re highly likely to lose your sale and prepare yourself for them to stop paying rent. The housing market is horrific for renters and as a result landlords often find themselves covering the costs of tenants that are very protected. Proceed with caution but brace yourself for a potentially very tricky few months.

If you want to sell a house with vacant possession then you need it to be vacant before you put it on the market. So; serve the correct notice; at expiry of notice apply to the court for a possession order.If the tenant doesn't leave then you need to obtain a bailiffs warrant , which means the bailiff takes possession of the property. If your tenants are relying on the local authority to rehouse them then they will have been advised of the process and may have to await the warrant before being considered to be homeless.It is also a legal requirement for the landlord to follow the legal process.
I used to be a homeless officer and it's quite common for landlords to serve notice and then do nothing, to not follow the legal process etc. BTW , phoning the tenants constantly might be construed as harassment. No one wants the landlord to get into trouble that way. Far better to follow the legal route.

Thanks all, I really appreciate your comments.

Hindsight is great, but we were advised by solictors and agent it was fine to put it on the market, and tenants were fully aware. However, we can now see we should have given notice at the time, although we also didn't want to risk an empty property.

We have landlord insurance, so will explore that, thanks for that idea.

We took the advice of the agent on when to give notice, he said not to worry straight away. The notice was done by the agent, who is a national firm, so we have to assume it's all legal and correct. We pay them to fully manage the property as this is not an area of expertise; we didn't want to be landlords but needed a way to pay the care home fees!

The tenants pay what is considered a reasonable rent for the area, and having looked at what else similar is available, the rents are about the same.

The agent has only been contacting them daily this week (as in once Monday and once yesterday), prior to that it was once last week and once the week before - and only because we asked what the tenant situation was as the date was getting nearer. The tenant apparently has another viewing today, although not with this agent, so not sure if it's really happening or not.

Thanks again. I'm going to go and look at the landlord insurance and go from there. Just in case they don't vacate. Which I certainly don't think they'll do on time now.

Has your agent served them a Section 21 notice? They will if you ask them, but once the process is started it starts a clock ticking for the next steps.
If you don't want to do it yourself, you can instruct a firm. Prices begin around £1300 for initial stages, if no arrears and basically straightforward.