Asking my landlord to sell to me

[mamaofboyss]

I have been saving for a mortgage for years and now finally have enough for a deposit. I've been looking at houses in my local area and have realised that I love my house I currently live in. It's rented so how do I go about asking my landlord if there is any chance she will sell to me? Do I offer more than it's worth? If any body can give me their experience on the subject I would be greatful

I would first find out if she actually WANTS to sell. Then you need to get three agents round to value it to get a ball park figure. Take it from there.

No, you ask her to get agents around. Flags would be waving if a tenant told me she had estate agents around to my property to evaluate it.

Bear in mind that she might not want to sell as she would have to pay capital gains tax (I think it is called)

I bought my house from my landlord. I only found out they were selling when I was informed it had been sold to another landlord. Thankfully that sale fell through. I said I was interested, they got back to me with a valuation, and it went from there. It's definitely worth asking!

Agents wouldn’t come round if you didn’t own it and any that did would be dodgy.
Put your postcode in rightmove and look at what things are selling for in a 1/4 mile radius.
Be wary of offering more than its worth it will probably get down valued by the mortgage company.

If you really want it I would offer to pay the CGT for them and see what they say.

I sold my flat to my tenant. He mentioned in an email that if I were ever to sell he’d love first dibs. Within a week we’d agreed a price and he now owns it.

Nothing to be lost by just asking.

Good advice from people here.

I'd give thought as to how you actually ask the landlord- you want to stay if the answer was no?

As for the CGT, if any, unless they keep the house forever they will have to pay it one day, and maybe inheritance tax as well.

I'd only pay the market value or average of a few valuations, based on sales in the same road, with the same features and state of refurbishment etc.

Good luck!

I’m an (what some would call) accidental landlord.

If my tenants asked if they could buy, I’d snap their hands off.

The only reason I don’t ask if they want to buy is because they seem to be ok ish tenants and I don’t want them to think I’m actively looking to sell and move out.

Definitely ask. I’m a Landlord (south east) and wouldn’t mind one bit, in fact I’d be delighted. It would save heaps of work getting the property cleaned/repainted etc. Also I think letting relief is being removed after April 2020 which (if I’ve got it right) could mean you save your landlord as much as £40k if you buy before April. Plus you’d pay rent up to the day you complete the sale, which would mean no expensive void period and a chain free purchase. Best of luck.

@ WTCT
Exactly so for me too!

We bought our rented house. Having sold our house we moved into a totally unsuitable rental until we had found something we liked but although the rental was supposed to be short term we just couldn’t find what we wanted.

Decided if we were going to be renting we may as well rent somewhere we would like to live and after moving in, totally fell in love with it.

Offered to buy the property from the landlord if the price was right, but were turned down. 18 months later they approached us and asked if we were still interested in buying as they had found their dream home and needed the cash.

We were delighted and agreed with them that we got a few valuations and agreed a price. Best move ever!

You need to feel them out first, because they might just not have thought about it. Definitely worth a try, saved us and them a fortune and we got our dream home

Thankyou for all your replies, I never realised that my post had actually worked as it had said that it failed to upload. I've now noticed it uploaded about 5 times and have now noticed all these replies. That's brilliant advice from you all.

I know when I first moved in and decorated with their permission I said "I hope you don't decide to sell" as a joke, back then I had no idea how much I would love the house. She then said don't worry it's going to be my pension!

I hardly ever see them now only if something needs repairing but next time I catch them I will drop it into conversation. Can I ask what the CGT means?

Capital gains tax. The owner pays a tax on the increase in value between purchase and sale (minus and building works etc). They have an allowance (around £11k) so depending on value they might not pay any.
First step is to ask your landlady if she’d consider selling. If yes then she has to come up with a price - probably by asking a few agents to come value it.

I completed on the house I'd rented for 10 years last week. It was really easy and stress free. Saved a fortune in moving costs etc.
I asked a while ago if she would be willing to sell, she was but needed to wait a year due to her mortgage. She knew I was looking at other houses and didn't want to loose me as a tenant and if it was going to be sold then for me to have it.
We got two valuations, agreed on a price and it went from there. It was absolutely the best decision!