Tenants in prospective house purchase - advice?

[SquidgyMaltLoaf]

A friend of mine has found a house she really likes which currently has tenants in it. The vendor doesn't plan to give them notice until she has had an offer on the house. The house looked like a show home in the details but on viewing they're not looking after it very well - nothing major as far as we could see but scruffy, dirty, a few bashes in the plaster and so on. Felt very like a student house!

The tenants won't allow anyone to view it when they're not there, even bough the agent is doing the viewings, and made us feel quite uncomfortable when we were there (I was there to give my friend a second opinion). The vendor has already knocked £100pcm off their rent for them allowing viewings (?!). My friend loved the house - once she saw past the slight state it's in - but is worried that if she puts an offer in they will refuse to move out even when given notice. They're due to leave the country in December and there are very few places that will offer a shorter than six month contract IMO.

Wwyd? There's nothing else on the market that's as promising, her house has been sold so she's putting her stuff in storage and staying with relatives, so obviously doesn't want it to drag until December. What would happen if they did refuse to move out? Agent is tearing his hair out as he has told the vendor it'd be better to ask the tenants to leave now but I think she's a bit soft and they seem to be exploiting this a bit. Any advice would be appreciated!

Don't exchange until the tenants are gone

Agent should be advising the owner to get shot of the tenants ASAP (serving Section 21 notice, if not already done). If they don't vacate after 2 months, could be another 3/4 through the Courts. No one in their right mind would exchange contracts without knowing vacant possession will be available on completion. She will not be able to sell it to you (or anyone else) whist the tenants are being unhelpful.
I'm a letting agent (for my sins) and unless you are buying as an investment (i.e. not planning to occupy) then I always advise my landlords to either sell or let it, not both. I can see that the owner is hedging her bets but as the previous poster says, you should not agree to exchange contracts until the property is vacant.
BTW, she is being helpful by way of the rent reduction but the tenants sound like they are trying to manipulate the position to their own pace - not on.
Good luck, and change the locks if and when you do complete the purchase.

That's what she thought - she doesn't really want to even have a survey done until they're out as she doesn't want to lose money if they end up being really awkward and not going. Agent has advised vendor to get rid of them but vendor won't. It's really awkward too as my friend doesn't feel she can really look round as much as she'd like because the tenants were there staring at her all the way round / glued to tv so she couldn't go to that end of the room etc. Vendor really needs to get shot ASAP IMHO!

We bought a house that had tenants in it when we viewed - slightly different situation as they were relatives of the vendor and didn't have an AST and I have no idea whether they were paying rent. Yes the viewing was weird - being shown round by someone who was going to get kicked out if we bought the place, but you have to let that not put you off if you like the place.

She could make an offer conditional on the vendor providing evidence notice has been served on the tenants within X days? The vendor cannot guarantee vacant possession if they haven't made steps to end the tenancy so will need to bite the bullet. Alternatively both parties (purchaser and vendor) wait until the tenants have vacated voluntarily.

We found the place was filthy when we viewed it (even DP noticed and he doesn't see muck under normal circumstances ) and arranged for a professional deep clean on the day of completion, moving in the day after. Yes, the vendor is supposed to leave the place clean and tidy, but we realised this wasn't going to happen - he had no money and was desperate to sell.

I would advise her to make an offer but (at least initially) say she won't arrange for a survey until the tenants are out as there is no knowing what damage the tenants may or may not do between a survey being done and eventual completion. TBH if the tenants are planning to leave the country in December they will almost certainly not vacate this property until December unless they get very poor advice - they are more likely to refuse to leave when notice is given and wait for the eviction process to take its course. If she really likes this place she should take a 6 month let herself somewhere and work on the assumption that she won't actually move till January. If she doesn't like it enough to do that, she should look elsewhere.

Good advice Fish

Agreed - make an offer, but do not exchange until she has sight of a section 21 notice having been served, and insist on an indemnity clause if she can't move in in January. And insist that the survey is done and photos are taken at survey time so that the seller has to put right any damage.

But not a cat in hell's chance the tenants will be out before December...it will take that long to give 2 months notice then evict anyway.

That's a good point Fish - I suppose they could trash the place between survey and exchange / completion. I do think the vendor has her head in the clouds! It's been on for a good while and she's not doing herself any favours by pussyfooting around the tenants. I think she'll end up losing more in what she could have got for the house than if she'd bitten the billet and got rid of the tenants before putting it on the market.

So typical - the only house that ticks all the boxes and it comes with a load of hassle. I feel really sorry for my friend because she's already had one fall through - hence the situation with her having to move before she's got somewhere to go!

if the tenants have a tenancy running until December they cannot be evicted unless they breach. If they are on a rolling contract they can be given two months notice, but if they refuse to leave it will take the vendor four months and a lot of cash to get them out.

if your friend really wants this house, she needs to rent a place herself on a six month tenancy which will take her to the end of the year, and wait for the place to be available.

I'm pretty sure it's a rolling tenancy - the agent reckoned it says in their contract they need a month's notice (I was a bit at that as I've not heard of contracts ever specifying fewer than two months' notice). Them not leaving til December is just what we reckon might happen. We could be wrong, but..! I suppose she could take into account the cost of renting for six months if she makes an offer.

AFAIK legal min notice to tenants is two months, issued on the right day. The contract cannot override that.

if your friend moves into a rental, she should go for six months and ask for a rolling tenancy after that. That then puts her on one month notice to her landlord from January which gives her flexibility if this is to be the house for her.

Just an update - she's decided to tell the agent she really likes the house but isn't prepared to make an offer until the tenants are out. If someone else buys it in the meantime then it just wasn't meant to be! She doesn't want the hassle which I can understand. In the meantime she'll keep looking. Thanks for all your advice!

I think she has done the right thing and that vendor is going to find that any buyer will be exactly the same.