To rent a property then buy it?

[Thatsnotappropriate]

Hello :)

I have a question and I’m hoping somebody may be able to help!

My husband and I have sold our house, and moved into my parents. We had purchased a house - we had been trying to exchange since jan, but thanks to feckless solictors and Covid it was delayed and finally our mortgage lender washed their hand of us today.

Obviously living with my parents (whilst generous of them) isn’t ideal. So we may need to rent whilst we apply for a new mortgage.

Which brings me onto my question - I saw a lovely house, that is up as a rental AND to buy. So... if we were to rent it, and decided we wanted to buy it too - can any agreement be put in place to take into account the rent we’ve already paid?

My husband thinks I’m nuts but we’re both very new to this, and I just thought it’s worth exploring all avenues.

Would love anyone’s thoughts on this :)

We sold our house to tenants who had rented it for 4 years. The rent covered our mortgage while we were paying rent elsewhere. When we sold it, the tenants paid a fair price, possibly less than we might have received if we had sold it in the open market but only slightly, certainly not the 4 years worth of rent, more like the amount it might have cost us to sell it with vacant possession.

I imagine the owners will be paying for mortgage, insurance and maintenance. I’m not sure there would be a huge amount left after that.

We bought a house after renting it for 5 years in an area where very few houses ever come up for sale. The reasons for the landlords to sell were that repairs were necessary. We payed the market price. It wouldn't make sense from a seller's point of view to discount the rent payed from the price (unless they were desperate to sell it).

Thanks you all :)

Friends want to buy the house they rent. They were on a 6 month rent contract but the owners seemed to change their minds. Not only that but they refused to renew to a rolling tenancy so they could go and find something else to buy (this allows tenants to give just a months notice) so they are stuck on another 6 month fixed which ties them in a bit more. OH and they put the rent up

No. You can't 'hire purchase' a house. What's in it for the landlord? The most you can ask for is first refusal should the house eventually be put up for sale.

you can ask.

if Loveydovey's friends are in England they are a classic case of clueless tenants being shafted by dodgy landlord/agent. There is no way to stop a periodic tenancy arising if the tenants are still in occupation at the end of a fixed term, it's not a matter of the landlord refusing. The landlord could of course issue a section 21, currently 3 months notice and probably a year to actual eviction.

minimum practical rental term is six months. As I said, you can ask. As someone else points out, unless it is a London property on £££ per month the landlord won't see much return on the short let so no reason to discount. And the landlord contract with the agent will also ensure that the sale fee is paid to the agent so forget that one too.