Would you buy a rented house with the tenants still there (to live in yourself)

[Zapzep]

I requested a viewing and the estate agent mentioned that there were tenants in the property, and that they had asked that they are always there for the viewings. Many of the properties here on the low end of the market are ex rental but the tenants have already left.

I tried to enquire about the situation and the estate agent simply told me that the landlord had “had enough”. Is it reasonable to put an offer in and for the landlord to give them notice to leave (if my offer is accepted)?

I have worries about potentially buying this house and then finding that the tenants are still there so I that have nowhere to live. I also feel like a bit of a sh*t for potentially having them kicked out but I have a very small budget and all of my options are going to have major drawbacks.

I wouldn't buy a house with tenants if I wanted to live in it, unless I'd heard from the tenant's directly that they already have a new place to go and a moving out date. With everything going on they might have very few options themselves and need to stay till theyre evicted by the court so they can qualify for public housing.

Has the landlord already given them notice to leave? Surely you’ll complete with vacant possession so it’s the sellers problem to worry about, not yours

Don't exchange until the property is vacant. Ask for proof that the tenants have been given notice to leave before you put in any offer.

My friend did this and it took absolutely ages as they had to get a court order or something to evict the tenants. She was renting so there was no "chain" and her landlord was very relaxed and she was allowed to pay monthly rent whilst it all dragged out. If that had not been the case and she hadn't had family or something to stay with she'd have been stuck.
She also felt really bad for the family who were being evicted. It kind of ruined buying the house for her and she still thinks about them. Although if she hadn't bought someone else would've!

How long did it take? When you say she would have been stuck for somewhere to live I don’t understand how that would be the case as surely she didn’t exchange until the tenants were gone? Or did sale go through and she then had to wait for the court order so wouldn’t have had anywhere to live herself?

Unless the house is amazing or incredibly cheap, why put yourself in a position where it may take an unknown amount of time for the sale to go through?
What if the tenants go through the eviction process? Or trash the place?
Sounds like the landlord is an amateur and not serious about selling, or inept, otherwise the house would be vacant.

I think the law has changed, so that if a landlord sells tenants have the right to see out their contract. If the lamdlord has had enough thats a red flag to definitely stay away from the property.

I bought a rental to live in. Had no problems and sale went through quickly.

Nope. I would run a million miles.
You absolutely don't exchange until it is empty - so when the house is yours you can live in it - bit there is no telling how long it will take to get to that point. I'd be even more dubious if the rental market was hot where you are, or the rental price is way above the current rent paid.

I sold a flat whilst the tenants were still there. However they had already told me that they were planning to leave at the end of their fixed term tenancy. They were 20 months into their 2 year fixed contract and were happy to accommodate viewings otherwise I would have waited until they moved out. I got 3 offers in the end though it took a while and a price reduction. They moved out over a month before exchange.
I was lucky in that they were lovely and we had a good relationship.
They wanted to be there at the viewings but were positive about the flat at viewings, told potential buyers that they had loved living there but needed to move to somewhere bigger.
I would view and see if you can gauge their intentions and walk away if you have any doubts.

The tenants refused to leave the property I was trying to buy - which is quite logical for them to do as they needed to be evicted to count as unintentionally homeless to the council and be more likely to get housed. So if they are likely to be seeking council accommodation, you should expect them to wait until eviction.

Don't exchange until they are gone. I went round in person with estate agent to confirm house was empty of tenants and their belongings (and locks had been changed) before exchanging.
It took about six months.

If you are buying with a mortgage, the mortgage company's solicitor will not allow the transaction to progress until the tenants have left. Your solicitor is under an obligation to inform the mortgagors if this is the case. The company doesn't want all the hassle, delays, possible court action and heartache involved in trying to remove tenants unwilling to leave and neither should you.

@Phoenix1Arisen is spot on.

There will be no mortgage.

As I said all of my other options are also likely to have major drawbacks, and that includes where I live at the moment.

If the current landlord has “had enough” that’s a bit of a red flag.
Had enough of renting out in general or does the property have issues which you don’t know about ?
Are they constantly having to carry out repairs etc ?
I know of a rental property that constantly has problems with the sewar pipes out in the garden but if you went to view it you wouldn’t know about it. If you bought it, you’d end up with a huge headache and /or a large bill.

If I were you I’d steer clear of this one.There must be others to choose from.

Legally the tenant is entitled to await a PO from the court and even a bailiffs warrant before having to leave the property. If they are relying on the local authority to house them they will have to do that or might be found to be intentionally homeless. In an ideal situation the owner should have issued notice and repossessed the property prior to trying to sell, but lots don't want to miss out on getting rent. I would not be interested under these circumstances as unless the tenant has made arrangements you could be waiting for some time to move in.

@Plantgeumstoday

I think the “had enough” statement was referring to being a landlord rather than the
house itself, as I did enquire about the welfare of the tenants and questioned why it wasn’t being marketed as for investors only.

The estate agent also told me that it had, had lots of viewings with people giving feedback that they didn’t like it because it is near a railway line and a pub - those aspects don’t concern me at all.

This is not true. Any landlord can evict any tenant at any point after 6 months as long as they do it properly.

Landlord must legally evict the tenants and purchaser should not exchange until there is vacant possession. The eviction process from service of Notice to bailiffs entering can take anything from 8-12 months.

OP up to you if you potentially want to wait that long. I wouldn’t be wasting any money on solicitors/surveys etc unless and until the property is vacant

And the EA left ‘and has sitting tenants’ off the end of that sentence.

They are Estate Agents!! And they work for the vendor, not you.

OP, go and view, and see what you think. But you cannot exchange contracts until the property is actually vacant. It would be madness. They could take months to be evicted, as PP say. Some tenants do a lot of damage on their way out.

If you are interested, I would tell the EA you will make an offer once the flat is vacant.

Be careful OP, I know it’s tough being desperate can often lead to decisions that make things worse down the line.

We bought a rental naively for our first house, all went absolutely fine (except the dickhead landlord who expected us to pay council tax and other bills when his tenants moved out because the sale was taking "too long" took about 10 weeks!) however, knowing what I know now I would be very apprehensive, it can be a long drawn out legal process to get the house empty, if the tenants require assistance from the council they have to exhaust the legal eviction process.