Would this property be a good buy or a legal nightmare?

[Elakiya]

I found this property on Zoopla:

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/58997653?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api

To summarise what is said in the zoopla description:

• You can’t get an internal viewing of the property (The auctioneers and the sellers solicitors have not had an internal viewing of the property either)
• There are people living in the property. They say they have paid the owner but there was no contract and the solicitors don’t know how much was paid.
• There was a fire in the property which has left the garage severely damaged.

Would this be a legal nightmare?

Post edited by MNHQ at OP's request

Yes. It sounds like a nightmare all round really!

A fire damaged house with squatters who refuse to move. Wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

Well what would you be planning to do with it once you bought it? There are people living there presumably with no intention of either moving or paying rent to any new owner. It's fire damaged. You can't get into it.

Squatters and heaven knows what awaits any buyer.

Legal, expensive nightmare. Cash buyers only = property unmortgageable.

I would imagine there is the potential to make a bit of cash, assuming the London location and the price. But you could spend so much money dragging the "tenants" through the courts.... not worth the hassle.

It sounds like a bad idea all round OP and a potential nightmare. House purchase can be difficult enough at the best of times without adding these problems to the mix. However low the price may be it isn't worth the hassle.

It sounds tricky as usually the vendor would need to provide evidence of the circumstances under which the occupiers took up residence in order to evict.
landlordlawblog.co.uk/2017/06/29/happens-house-buy-people-living-completion/

Plus the phrase 'the tenants' is in quotation marks - this is really bad news.

@Willwebebuyingnumber11

A fire damaged house with squatters who refuse to move. Wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

This! They already been living there for 4 years after owners death… and are not allowing viewings so probably not going to leave easily!

Also, how would you insure this property if you cannot confirm condition. Was the fire related to a previous eviction attempt I wonder?

Arrangements with the 'tenant'? Good god, no. Let's call them what they are - squatters.

The Court of Protection bit is interesting though, anyone know why that might be?

Looks like getting rid of the squatters would be the main problem so it depends if you have the time, money and energy to do that. Someone will.

Is it that they (not sure who has instructed the agents....) are trying to sell it WITH the occupants or without.

If they want to sell it with them, don't just walk away, run!

If they want to sell it with vacant possession, it's fine except that it will take ages and you'd need to view the house before you exchange so you wouldn't want to spend anything much on mortgage fee, valuation etc.

Assume it's the first though and it's a very bad idea, sorry!

Okay I know I shouldn't get sucked down the rabbit hole, but the landlord named on a quick Google seems to have form for derelict properties!

For anyone wondering, I do not have this sort of money so have no intention to buy it. I just saw it when I was looking for flats and was intrigued 😅

The house next door to me was sold by auction. Developers bought it and have done a really decent job of renovating. We did have a few chats regarding fence replacement and a joint issue. They revealed how they had to pay the gas board to reconnect the gas which was £700 and all the unknown associated costs. It’s a lovely house and was there was a horrible divorce of previous owners. I don’t know exactly what happened but it was empty and for almost a decade and had really deteriorated.

The expectation being that you have to give the "tenants" an unspecified lump sum big enough to convince them to move out? Or face a long and protracted legal battle to force them out, which might be expensive and maybe even unsuccessful. BUT £350k starting price for an attractive period semi with room to extend in NW London is not a lot of money - just need a buyer who is prepared to gamble.

The Court of Protection bit is likely to relate to the seller not having mental capacity to sell the property so a decision has been made by a judge in the court that it would be the right thing for the property to be sold.

Very interesting situation.

Another house being sold on behalf of the Court of Protection for the same owner with a similar in situ tenant/cash/verbal agreement which makes it seem more likely to be true: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109428458#/

And if you google the owner's name you can see lots about her own house which was left to fall into decay before it was sold in 2017. She also owned a historic mill in Devon (also left to rot) which was compulsorily purchased last year: honiton.nub.news/n/honiton-history-the-old-mill

As the CoP is involved I suspect she is not deceased but mentally unwell.

I’m amazed the house has a valuation at all.

A similar house to this one in the same road, with an extra bedroom in an old loft conversion but still dated inside and in need of work (but without the fire damage and tenants) sold for nearly £800k earlier this year. The one in the OP will go for a lot more than £350k, mark my words.

Great house, would not touch with a barge pole unless you are a very experienced landlord who is well used to evicting swatters. Otherwise it will ruin your life.

It will be a good deal for someone who, ermm, doesn't really care about squatters rights & will just forcibly have them removed at 2am.

Wow, fascinating.

Yes, Court of Protection means the landlady/owner is alive but deemed unable to make her own decisions. If someone had suffered e.g. a stroke that affected mental capacity, has advanced dementia etc then the CoP evaluates the evidence (to stop unscrupulous relatives etc taking advantage of someone vulnerable) and makes the judgement.

Nice houses she owned - well, nice once upon a time and could be again. But I’d certainly only buy them if I was an investor with a hard head and a plan to deal with the ‘tenancy’ issue.

It's as cheap as chips because there are "tenants" occupying it who will be next to impossible to remove 🤷🏻‍♀️

@NoSquirrels @Ellmau thanks for letting me know she’s actually alive. I think I assumed she’d passed away from seeing some posts about mountfield house. No idea how to edit my original post though.