Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

Original poster

Showing a house with tenants

25 replies

JellyCat1 · 27/04/2019 07:35

Hi all

We are selling our house, which currently has tenants in. There are quite a few of them in there and the house is pretty cluttered. They work funny hours too, so there seem to be people in pretty much all the time! Anyone successfully showed their property whilst tenanted? We're minded to take it off and put it back on when they've gone. We don't want it to sit on the market and get stale. However we've found another property and don't want to lose it. Can people see through clutter and mess?!!! Dilemma......

OP posts:

Finfintytint · 27/04/2019 07:38

It’s not the clutter or mess that would put me off buying, it would be the timescales involved if they were reluctant to leave. It could take a while to get them out.

SunshineSpring · 27/04/2019 07:44

I wouldn't offer on a house with sitting tenants. So I guess you would be restricting your market to Landlords?

IWouldPreferNotTo · 27/04/2019 07:44

When do the new section 21 rules come into affect as that may impact your ability to get them out?

I wouldn't even look at a house with sitting tenants as its moving risk to me for the benefit of the seller.

Jayblue · 27/04/2019 07:45

I agree, it's not the clutter and mess that will put people off so much as knowing that evicting tenants could become a lengthy process that will hold up the sale.

Have you given an S21 to the tenants yet?

Original poster

JellyCat1 · 27/04/2019 07:48

No they're already part way through the notice period. They'll be gone in 4/5 weeks. No issue there.

OP posts:

Finfintytint · 27/04/2019 07:51

Are they likely to be cooperative with viewings. Many tenants don’t want the intrusion.

Original poster

JellyCat1 · 27/04/2019 07:52

They're dream tenants. Super cooperative. Very amicable. No issues there. The question is can people see through mess and clutter!

OP posts:

Finfintytint · 27/04/2019 07:54

Yes. It’s just stuff that wont be there when new owners get keys. I have viewed many untidy houses and still bought.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 27/04/2019 08:07

If your tenants are happy to allow viewings then do go ahead. Only the extremely dim and stupid cannot "see" a house without the current occupiers' belongings in it. People so dim that they would be a nightmare to go through the sales process with anyway.

Original poster

JellyCat1 · 27/04/2019 08:10

Ha! You could be right there @bibbitybobbityyhat Hadn't really thought of it like that
I'm a bit of a control freak about this stuff and would be completely clearing the decks and having scented candles / fresh coffee and all that malarkey if I was there.

OP posts:

TiddleTaddleTat · 27/04/2019 09:05

I think you might restrict the number of interest / offers you get if it's in a mess - presumably the online photos are also showing a cluttered property?

Having been in this situation we did manage to receive an offer (which followed through) while our tenants were living there but by that time they were very close to moving out. I had also spoken to them in person (not via the managing agent we had at the time) to make sure that the timescale for moving out was going to work for them. We added a few weeks to the end of the Sec 21 while they found somewhere.

If I was doing it again I'd wait until tenants had moved out then repaint/tidy as needed, unless in a very buoyant market.

Bluntness100 · 27/04/2019 09:12

It depends in all honesty op. I'll be honest, I've been in houses that I've not been able to see past it. Because simply the horror show of it made my skin crawl. Feeling like it's a horror show and being blindsided by the mess, does not tend to make people wish to buy a property. Unless they think they will get it cheap

So you've got a double whammy. Tenants in situ, which every single landlord ever has said will move out, it's all good, and then, as we all know, sometimes they don't, and then the property looking like a shit tip seldom attracts top dollar. It usually attracts people trying to low ball you.

So I think it depends on just how messy and cluttered and is it dirty. Whatever way you cut it, you're not presenting it in thr best light, and that is normally what's required to get the best price. Unless it's a hugely in demand property.

If you've the normal competition, then anyone offering for yours versus a competition is likely going to be thinking it's a dump with tenants. So I can get a bargain.

TiddleTaddleTat · 27/04/2019 09:41

It's also worth adding that our tenants who were present during those first viewings were incredibly neat and tidy and looked after the place.

dimmu · 27/04/2019 10:10

It can be a challenge and a good relationship with the tenants is indeed vital. I have been on the other side of this process in the past, ie as a buyer and as a tenant.

We bought a property that was a flatshare, and it was a nightmare from a viewers point of view, but not because of clutter. All the interior doors had locks that the EA had no key for, so we had several viewings booked only for the tenants not be in, and us being unable to see anything but the kitchen and bathroom as even the lounge was tenanted.

We were also once tenants in a flat that was being sold, and things quickly turned sour with the landlord. The EA was very unreasonable, they wanted us to do some of the viewings and let people in on Sundays for example. No way would we be cancelling our plans to let someone in on a Sunday. Then the EA told the landlord that we were being difficult and uncooperative. So make sure you have a good EA as well.

Original poster

JellyCat1 · 27/04/2019 11:07

Thanks all. Good to have the different perspectives. It's a good sized family house and there's significant demand in the area. We should be ok. I believe it's on with too high a price but we can sort that.

OP posts:

Miljah · 28/04/2019 10:43

Yes, as a tenant our owner decided to sell. We, with a 2 and 4 year old, had been in 9 months.

The cheeky fekkers expected us to do the viewings!

I did a few, pointing out the damp patches, how the kitchen extension had no powerpoints, how the heating boiler wasn't man enough to heat the whole house with extension 😊

Then told the EA to shove it.

Pigsofdoom · 28/04/2019 10:47

I'd let them go and then sell. Even if the tenants are dream tenants there is always that doubt in the sellers mind whether they will actually go at the end of the notice. Technically they were could stay in place until it's been to court and the baliff comes.
You might thing they won't do that but the buyers won't know that.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 28/04/2019 19:27

As a LL myself, I'd want to wait until tenants had moved out. It's their home until then, and personally I think it's a bit of a cheek to expect them to put up with random people traipsing round.
Unless of course you were offering a significant reduction in the rent for that period, and they were happy to agree.

Wheresmyvagina · 28/04/2019 19:42

Take it off until they have left then re market it at a competitive price and it will be much easier to sell

Binkybix · 29/04/2019 07:54

We managed it, but were lucky and actually ended up with a private sale. It was difficult though, and we had to be very careful with the relationship to our tenants.

Fujexa · 29/04/2019 08:00

We bought a house with very uncooperative tenants in, they barely allowed us to have a viewing at all, were (awkwardly and silently) present for the viewing and then there was all sorts of delays getting them out. We bought the house anyway, but it was an area with very few similar houses for sale!

AnemoneAnenome · 29/04/2019 08:14

I'm with the first posters. However super-cooperative your tenants are, psychologically I'm not going to offer on a house with sitting tenants, or allow myself to put any eggs in that basket, so I think you are better waiting until it's untenanted to people can make that leap. Also I've gone to a viewing to be told by the tenants that we were not allowed in 2 of the bedrooms, which is really annoying and off putting.

That would be more of an issue to me than whatever mess and clutter surely your super-helpful tenants don't clear up.

jenke003 · 29/04/2019 10:42

I've recently had an offer accepted on a property which had tenants in it - same problem as you, they worked funny hours. It took the estate agents a while to sort viewing out, but having tenants in it didn't bother me at all. It was slightly messy too, not a problem for us..

ravenshope · 29/04/2019 13:12

I recently viewed a house with a tenant in, a gentleman who sat in his t-shirt and pants in the living room throughout the entire viewing process.
It was a little unnerving but what put me off more was things like the kitchen with half-eaten food on the counters, the unmade beds, the clutter everywhere. Even though I knew all that was cosmetic. It didn't mean I wouldn't have bought the house if other things were right, but it did make it feel unsavoury.

ravenshope · 29/04/2019 13:14

I also felt bad at potentially making him homeless, although he was helpful in calling out information from where he sat and didn't seem to have any objection to our being there.

Flip

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.