Long story short, I am in the process of selling my house. Exchanged a few weeks ago, due to complete next week. Buyers were planning to rent it out for a year before moving in so, since my onward purchase probably won't go through until the new year, we came to an arrangement that I would stay in the house and rent it from them for a bit.
I suggested a fixed term of 4 months (best guess until my onward house is available) and then rolling one month contract. They checked with Letting/ Estate Agent (same firm is doing both) and were told I could just have a one month rolling contract. I asked buyers to double check this with agents, they did, same answer came back. Great.
Today, one week before completion, buyers get in touch to say LA had got it wrong (they explained the mix up, I won't go into detail here) and the only option was a 6 month contract (I do trust the buyers, they've been on the level so far). Can anyone help me identify what my/our options are for a shorter term rental that is legally watertight for both parties?
• Buyers have suggested pushing completion back by a month - is that possible once contracts are exchanged and a completion date has been set? But even so, I don't think that would be long enough for new house to be ready.
• Is there any alternative to a six month minimum tenancy term? LA have mentioned the Housing Act, but surely sometimes people make arrangements to rent for shorter periods? Could a solicitor draw something up for us?
• Could we both sign up to the six month tenancy but have a some kind of legally binding agreement that only commits me to 3 or 4 months and we agree I can then move on to the originally proposed rolling one month contract?
Any suggestions? Or ideas of where else I could look for advice? I know it's not the end of the world but it's quite an expensive house to rent (2x what i was paying on the mortgage!) Many thanks.