Selling and moving into rented question

[KimGa]

Unfortunately we were forced to pull out of purchasing our onward property this week (cost of survey repairs too high, seller wouldn’t drop price). We have a keen first time buyer buying ours, their surveys and searches are done.

We weren’t really considering moving into rented as so few family homes come up to rent around here, all student properties with no parking. However something perfect came on today saying available in August.

If I enquire about it, is it a no-no because we haven’t exchanged yet and so too risky to sign a rental agreement which presumably we would need to do? Is there any way of ‘holding’ a rental property under these circumstances when it’s not vacant until summer anyway? Sorry rental novice here.

The rental market is fast moving. You’d view the property then submit an application if you wanted to rent it. If your application is accepted, you pay a holding deposit (usually 1 weeks rent) and go through referencing. If you fail referencing or pull out, you lose your holding deposit. If the property is available in August, that’s when they will expect you to start your tenancy. They’re not going to delay the tenancy for you unless you pay rent from August even if you are not moved out of your old home. Usually it’s 30-60days from viewing to moving in, that’s how fast the process is.

So you might want to wait until you have a completion date for the sale of your home?

You'd be asked to pay a holding deposit (which is then deducted from the deposit), apply to rent it, then go through various checks/referencing that you can afford it. We found this quite intrusive (we're currently renting to break the chain). You'll lose the holding deposit if you pull out.

You'll probably also be competing against other potential tenants so may need to prove you're the better choice - it was clear when we were looking that pet-owning or smoking households wouldn't be considered. They also wouldn't consider anything shorter than a 12 month tenancy without a break clause, whereas 6 months is more common. And you'd be competing against people who want to longterm rent it, which is less hassle for the landlord.

Feel free to ask any Qs though as we're doing this at the moment. We didn't really have any choice though as it was a 200 mile relocation for work and there wasn't time to sell and buy in one go.

The only way to "hold" it is to pay rent - so there is no way you should sign up to a rental before you've exchanged. If your sale falls through and you don't need a rental, you'll be stuck with paying rent (usually).

A "holding" deposit usually reserves the property whilst you go through all the checks but that is usually just a matter of days and then you'll have to sign the rental agreement.

When we did it, we built in 2 weeks I think between exchange and completion and started looking (seriously) for a rental about a month before completion. As it turned out, we found something, and it all aligned, but we had a Plan B of renting a cheap AirBnB for a couple of weeks / staying with relatives for a few nights (most of our stuff was going into storage anyway) whilst we waited for a rental to come up.

Realistically you need to make the decision that you will be moving into the rented accommodation on x date and will have the house for 12 months or whatever the minimum term is.

Then you can give an exchange date to your buyer and so they should be able to proceed. If it falls through you will be in a better position for a quick sale as the house will be empty - this should be an advantage if you are selling to first time buyers. Unless you are very lucky its inevitable that you will be paying rent and mortgage at least for a short period.

The advantage of being in rented is that you are more desirable buyers and so it should be easier to find somewhere. It also makes it easier to move to the new house as you will be able to do it over a few days/weeks if you overlap.

In the scheme of things a few months rent isnt a great deal if it enable you to complete your sale and purchase efficiently.

The rental market moves fast! I found the apartment, said there and then I wanted it. I was told references take 2 weeks so I needed to start my rental by then. We moved in and I paid rent and mortgage for 6 weeks. But it was worth it to not be stressed about having somewhere.

But because it moves fast something else might come along.

We’re in the same boat, our rental market is flipping awful. Hardly anything is coming on and then there’s a massive waiting list of prospective tenants so landlord can be picky and chose those looking to rent long term. Gutted we decided not to risk renting a perfect house two weeks ago, as we hadn’t exchanged so it felt too soon. Two days later we heard through our agents that our buyers, buyers (FTBs) needed to complete by end of June to keep their mortgage deal. We’d have happily both paid rent and mortgage for 2 months to secure the property. Grrrrrr

hope you find something soon. Thankfully our buyers are keen on our place and given we haven’t found anything we’re happy to let them find another buyer if there’s decides to pull out.

I’ve rented to break a chain twice and I do recommend it because, when you find a property you want to buy, it is very easy to get your offer accepted. My thoughts are:

• go view the rental but don’t get super attached to it (if it’s lovely then it won’t be around for long);


• ask your solicitor how fast exchange could happen IF you need it to happen urgently. Some people make an offer and exchange within days, but it all depends on your buyer and if they need a mortgage/ if so, how efficient their lender and solicitor are;


• some posters will tell you that you can’t have a rental with pets/kids/a 6 month break clause. Well I’ve rented with all 3, twice. It depends on the state of the market, your negotiation skills (charm the estate agent!) and how much money you are prepared to throw at the landlord.


• If you do decide to rent and are ready to exchange, but this rental falls through and you can’t find another quickly, you can still exchange with the completion date to be “on 4 weeks notice from seller” or something like that.

Good luck!