Living in property after sale

11 replies

BingoFucklinger · 03/09/2022 15:16

Hello, I’m in need of some wisdom…

We are in the process of selling a flat which will fund renovations on our house. We need to move out of our house at the end of this month for around 6-8 months. Short/mid-term rentals are extremely hard to come by where we live so we will most likely move into our flat at the end of this month. The sale will take at least another 8 weeks to complete, if all goes smoothly.

The buyer of our flat is buying it as a BTL. I’m considering asking our buyer if he would be happy to complete his purchase with us as tenants. We’d then agree a date to end the tenancy and he can find new tenants from that date. Obviously this would all be dependent on our buyer being happy, but am I missing anything that makes this more complicated than meets the eye? Our estate agent deals with rentals as well as sales so we would ask them to provide contracts and do an inventory. Is there a catch to my plan??

Thanks so much for reading!

OP posts:

Purplegras3 · 03/09/2022 15:27

The only catch I can see is the new owner preferring to have long term tenants instead of the ball-ache of finding new ones 6 months down the line. But if they're accommodating it could work well. I guess you can only ask..

Original poster

BingoFucklinger · 03/09/2022 15:32

Thanks @Purplegras3 I appreciate your reply. That's my thinking, with the plus side for him being that he gets rent asap and doesn't need to pay a finders' fee for the first few months.

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pastaandpesto · 03/09/2022 15:38

We did this. We sold to a BTL investor and bought a property that needed renovating so stayed on as tenants. It was totally hassle free, in fact I can't even remember how long we were there as owners and how long as tenants.

pastaandpesto · 03/09/2022 15:40

And yes I vaguely remember that the agent we sold with then managed the tenancy, but it all went so smoothly I can't really remember the details!

CrushedPistachios · 03/09/2022 15:48

How long do you think you’ll want to stay for? Do you know what the monthly rental your buyer is hoping for?

Original poster

BingoFucklinger · 03/09/2022 15:50

@pastaandpesto Thank you! Thats just what I wanted to hear!

@CrushedPistachios Probably 4-6 months after completion. We know the market rate and would be happy to pay it.

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Twiglets1 · 04/09/2022 09:56

It sounds a good idea to me.
And if I was the buyer of the flat, I would be reassured that you would want to live there for a few months. It shows that you feel it is a nice flat with no nasty surprises lurking.

Beamur · 04/09/2022 09:58

From a landlords perspective, this gives them guaranteed income from the off. No outlay to renovate immediately either. I'd be happy with that.

JumpinJacques · 04/09/2022 10:26

We are thinking of doing the same thing. I can't see there being any issues, it's guaranteed income for the landlord/buyer, and gives you chance to do the renovations and also gives you a bit longer to pack haha! It's a win win really.

Galliano · 04/09/2022 11:00

I think I’d be nervous as the LL not to get vacant possession!

LarderShrew · 04/09/2022 11:16

The only issue I can think of is that the landlord might wonder about what if your renovations take longer than anticipated. They might be fine keeping you on at market rent for as long as it takes. Or they might not if, for example, they had building works scheduled for the flat before putting it on the open market. Worth discussing.

Flip