Vendor’s tenants refusing to leave

[Plancina]

Just posting for a rant/wild hope of any advice. We have been in process of buying a really lovely house that we totally fell in love with and have laid over £1000 for survey fees, solicitor fees and a survey. It was marketed as no chain but has a private tenant in it who was supposed to move out on the 5th July. The tenant is now refusing to leave - they own their own home but it is having work done on it and they aren’t willing to move into alternative rental accommodation until their home is finished. They are ignoring all requests from their landlord to leave and insisting they will stay there until their house is ready, they won’t give a timeline for this.
Our lease is up in two months and we’d have to commit to a 6 month lease at least to stay here. We are so upset and annoyed - can’t believe how selfish these people are being. The vendor is also annoyed as they don’t want to lose the sale and they had promised their son a portion of the proceeds to buy his first home and now he is going to lose that house also.
Our solicitor says it could take a year to evict them.

@SpartacusAutisticus just summed it up really. And if there hasn't been an S21 issued, then there is no end of tenancy. And the vendor could indeed have issued the notice also, but the notice would've been 3 rather than 2 months... the only people messing you around here are the vendor and the agent. The tenants have done nothing wrong.

The tenants are not being selfish, FFS.

They are refusing to leave at the end of their tenancy. Selfish, cheeky fuckers.

What a nightmare for you all. Including the tenant! the vendor needs to market it again when empty it seems. You could try asking the vendor to drop the price to allow you to pay for the extended rental If you are prepared to wait but I can’t see what you can do otherwise.

And I'm posting as a former landlord. We wanted to sell our house that we rented, but didn't until our tenants had gone. Because it's the most sensible risk free thing to do.

The likelihood of you finding somewhere else and being completed in 2 months is slim to zero so you will likely still have to stay in rented for a bit longer . Have you asked your LL about a monthly agreement ? I would also be asking the vendor of the house if they are prepared to pay at least 1/2 of your rental costs for the extra time you need to rent .

The tenants have genuinely done nothing wrong if the vendor hasn’t issues their s21 notice. Covid didn’t stop them being issued it just delayed further action being taken for a month. So the blame lies squarely with the vendor. They’re the selfish arsehole for not issuing the s.21

Issued*

@ComDummings we were told by the agent that the landlord had refused to renew the lease and told the tenants to leave in July and that they had agreed to this. I have just emailed the agent to clarify if they issued an S21 or not.

the fault here lies with the vendor, and the estate agent, for marketing a property without vacant possession, and your solicitor for not advising you about the likely problems.
this is a predictable scenario.
it is unreasonable to blame the tenants.
the vendor should have had a vacant property before marketing it.

Definitely double check that they’ve issued it, because if he has they can start the eviction proceedings quite soon and it may take a few months but it definitely won’t take a year. Best of luck, hopefully it will all resolve soon.

Landlord totally to blame on this.
S21 should have been issued.
Should not have even marketed the property till tenants have left or leaving

He absolutely should have given a section 21 notice and you can still evict tenants even in covid. It's just you have to give them just you have to give three months notice not 2 and the courts aren't out to force the eviction. But if they don't move after a section 21 notice it could affect future credit ratings etc and so they'd be more likely to move. The estate agent should have advised him that. See if you can agree a deal that hell pay for some of your rent if he issues the s21 notice today.

@BigRedBoat

You could reduce your offer by the amount the extra rent will cost you, they might not accept it but you've got nothing to lose if you're going to pull out anyway.

Good idea, but I'd do some research first on when the tenant's house is likely to be finished so they can move.

Last resort, contact the tenants in a calm manner and ask what bribe would persuade them to leave ASAP (cost of furniture storage, for example). Then tell vendor, you will reduce your offer by that sum, he pays it to tenants, everybody happy.

Does your purchase contract include any compensation interest figures to cover late completion?

We’ve found an empty property we like - viewing on Tuesday, if it is good in RL we will go for that. I’m not prepared to be messed about by agent/vendor/tenants whoever’s fault it is!! Thanks for advice all

What arsehole does that!?

And yet so many threads telling tenants they don’t need to leave till the bailiffs turn up and evict them.

I’d also pull out op . You’ve no idea when they will leave and you’ve no idea the state the house will be in when they do. Sadly I think you need to walk away.

@Plancina

The difficulty is that although the tenants "lease" may have run out or the landlord has served a Section 21 notice this does not legally mean that the tenant will [or has to] leave. The only way that the owner can proceed is to go to court and the court will - no doubt - order possession on a set day. Even that is pretty meaningless as untel the High Court Enforcement Officers can physically evict them they can still stay in possession. There are a couple of things you could try. It is not necessary to sign up for a new tenancy agreement [6 months] for you; tenancy can simply continue [if agreed with your landlord] on a monthly basis and you can give one month's notice on a rent payment day. That is the basis that our two properties go on. The other way forward is to sign a six month agreement if you can agree a price reduction on the purchase say 3 months rent that you are paying.

You should look into your lease. If it's a standard ast, regardless of what the landlord has said, at the end of your 6m contract, it will become a rolling month to month contract legally by default.

I know this because in a similar situation, I had the same answer from my landlord. I sought legal advice and advice from shelter, who confirmed that the landlord was not able to force me to sign a new lease, even though this was what he had said when I asked. Seek advice from shelter - they are experts, can quote the relevant laws for you to then pass on to the LL should you wish. I donate to them every month now because of how much they helped me.

Well you could ask the estate agent handling the sale if they have someone on their books who might be prepared to rent to you to cover the period until the tenant moves out and deduct the cost from the purchase price.

Maybe if the estate agents/ vendor offered to pay for a removal company to take the stress out of their move?
I can see why they wouldn’t tenant to love twice in such a short space of time. I can also see how shitty this is for you too xx

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

Maybe if the estate agents/ vendor offered to pay for a removal company to take the stress out of their move? I can see why they wouldn’t tenant to love twice in such a short space of time. I can also see how shitty this is for you too xx

Wouldn’t want to move*

Once the lease has expired then they are in the property illegally. I assume they won’t be paying rent to the landlord then?

Can’t he just get a locksmith to change the locks when they are out? Surely the tenants wouldn’t have any legal recourse to counter that considering there is no lease and they shouldn’t be there?

Okay so section 21 was issued on 29 March. Not sure that helps us!