Renting to vendors

[happydays16]

DH and I have been trying to buy a house in our village since April. It’s ‘the one’. I’m really hoping patience and perstistence pay off.
For the THIRD time this year we have secured buyers (it’s been a mare) and now our vendors are struggling to find anywhere 🤦🏼‍♀️
Our buyers are now getting twitchy and they have said although they really want to buy our home, their FTB is threatening to pull out if things don’t hurry up.
I don’t want to move our family of 5 into rented as stepping off the property ladder scares me.
Our vendors are a mature couple downsizing. I appreciate they want to find the right home but we are at risk of the chain collapsing and it’s been a slog to get this far. And we’ve paid for searches etc.
Could we offer to procede with the sale... but allow them to still live in the house for 6 months? This would give them time to house hunt. Is this bonkers? Would be be breaking the law? Is there a way?
We are desperate to secure this home and trying to find a way. We would need to ask family for a roof for six months 😬 I need to win the lottery - so fed up of this house malarkey.

If they're downsizing can they not rent for a while and put some stuff in storage if necessary?

Apparently not. EA has already asked, and enquired if they have any family options. The market has gone so quiet too.

If you have a mortgage, you'd need to let the mortgage co know. I don't know, but I would bet money that they would charge you more with the vendors as sitting tenants, if they are still prepared to lend you the money at all.

It would be beyond awful if you ended up in a situation of trying to evict them.

Mortgage lenders would not like this at all, you'd have to report it to them and ask their permission. You also need to think about what if it all goes pear shaped and you have to try and evict them... no easy fix unfortunately!

In your place I would negotiate a price refutation to compensate for moving twice and renting. That way you don’t loose your buyers. You don’t loose the house you want to buy. And you reserve your position in the event that the housing market goes tits up (a probability atm). Be warned though. Older generations tend to be really unreasonable when it comes to house buying and selling IME. I wouldn’t risk loosing a buyer in this market though.

Thanks folks. I’ll check out the mortgage lenders position and speak with our IFA. The vendors may not even be willing ... I’m just wracking my brains for a way forward. Our other house moves have never been this tenuous.

My parents did this as the probate in the house they were buying hadn't gone through (think the vendors hadn't done something?!!) so they moved in before the sale concluded and rented for about 4 months.

I think they're mortgage free though.

I wouldn’t do it - too much of a risk and it would be very stressful to evict older people, they may be fussy and take ages to find something. I’d rather walk away than take the risk as heartbreaking as I imagine that will be. You could sell and move into rented then buy from them when they are ready.

We bought from a couple who were downsizing and they couldn’t agree on a property to buy for ages. I think one of them didn’t actually want to move. They first put the house on the market three summers before they moved out. We were supposed to have possession end of June and didn’t complete until 30 November.

It won’t happen. The lender will insist on vacant possession - ie that the vendors have left. You’d have to get a BTL mortgage and become landlords responsible for gas safety checks, paying income tax on rent payments and upkeep on the building before you’ve even moved in. And even a BTL mortgage provider won’t want you to rent to the previous owners. And then there’s the risk they’ll refuse to move out - forcing you to go to court and instruct bailiffs in the worst case scenario.

Plus there’s little motivation for them - why rent their home when they already own it? If there’s nothing for them out there perhaps they’ll just decide to stay?

I think you’re going to have the be brave - either give a deadline for them to find somewhere, accepting they may pull out of the sale, or decide to go into rented / in wth family for six months without a purchase secured so you can find somewhere that will move forward without a chain behind you.

Thanks to all who posted. Quickish update. Our buyers (as anticipated) pulled out yesterday as they cannot wait any longer. They have successfully bid on an empty property.
Gutted but we saw it coming.
We are having a think over the weekend what to do. Seriously considering coming off the market and waiting til next spring to review our options. Our EA says says prices are falling and brexit will no doubt impact on the market. I think I might prefer to ride it out in our smaller cheaper house in the village, than spend big now.
Vendors said if we go back on the market they will continue looking, but if we don’t they will rest their property until next spring and let the market refresh. I fear we may be in the same situation again if we secure buyers but they still haven’t found anywhere. Also fed up of it all really so a break from the property market might be the right thing x