Messy tenants impacting sale

[catwithwhiskers]

We own a property and are letting it out as we are working in another city due to DH work. We are set to return in September and are wanting to sell our property (2 bed apartment) to a family starter home. We have tenants currently living in the apartment (a couple) and they are due to vacate at the end of August. Of course sale would need to go through after the tenants have vacated.

A letting agent has been to the property to do a valuation and they have said that the property is very very untidy and there are some small maintenance issues which should be addressed before going to market (no problem getting these fixed). We haven't been informed of the maintenance issues by the tenant or agent and it looks like it's been an ongoing issue for a while. I realised that I missed an inspection report from October last year (went into spam) where they said everything was fine but you can see in the photos that the property is not kept very clean or tidy (crumbs and bits on the side, unmade beds etc).

My concern is that our messy tenant could impact our sale. The type of buyer we would have is most likely a first time buyer and some may not be able to see past this mess. What do I do? I don't want marketing photos being taken where the property isn't well presented and it puts people off or people come and view and it's a mess too.

Would appreciate any advice! TIA

I think you need to wait until you get vacant possession then do the work etc and then sell.
Its unlikely to sell as is and you probably wont get the optimim price even if people manage to see past the mess. Plus your Tenants are under no obligation to facilitate viewings so that could limit them.
As a buyer I would be worried about them leaving too sh would be unlikley to be serious about a property until I knew for certain it was empty

give your tennants notice and prepare the flat for sale after they have left the property.

We sold a house with tenants and it just didn’t look as sales-ready as if we had been living there. I think it affected the price we got (although impossible to know) so with hindsight I’d suggest waiting till your tenants have moved out and market it empty but furnished/styled.

Yes, you need to wait until the property is vacant before putting it on the market. Once vacant, do the work then list it.

When you say the tenants are due to vacate, do you mean this is when the AST ends? That doesn't mean they are due to vacate, just that they go on to a rolling contract. The tenants may have been expecting to stay in the property long term- they're probably a bit upset knowing that you're planning to sell and they're potentially going to need to look for another property.

It's also worth bearing in mind that even issuing an S.21 can't force tenants to leave on time, and you could face a lengthy eviction process- you won't necessarily have vacant possession at the end of August.

You can't really force them to keep the property tidy- you could perhaps offer them money off the rent to do so and facilitate viewings (worth bearing in mind they don't have to do this) and allow access and so on.

It's much easier to sell a property without tenants in it, unless you're hoping to sell to another landlord.

A lot of buyers (including FTB) know that having tenants in the property could delay the sale, that's far more likely to cause an issue than mess!

If I was buying it would be the presence of tenants that would stop me looking at a place, not minor maintenance issues or messy rooms. Vacant possession is all!

Wait until the property is vacant before photos are taken? You can’t force tenants to be tidy and they have no obligation to enable viewings while they are living there and paying rent.

I went to view a property this weekend with a sitting tenant. Woke up 6am on a Saturday morning, travelled 3hrs to get there only to be told at the door the tenant is now refusing access for any more viewings.
I was livid to say the least but somehow managed to beg the tenant to let me come in for a minute.
There was honestly no point coming in as it was literally a walk in walk out viewing. Didn’t spend more than a minute in before I was chased out.

From the little I saw of the house, it was in a bad state.
If I were to look past it’s condition I will be looking at offering 10-15% less than asking and nothing more but I wouldn’t as I was really put off by everything.

Just like previous posters have said it will be better to sell empty. The tenants can make it difficult for viewings to happen, it’s in a bad state which is off putting, the tenants could refuse to leave once their tenancy has ended.

Except you are open to selling less than market value to a cash buyer/investor I don’t see your flat selling.
You wouldn’t be able to sell to FTB’s who plan on living in as the process will take way too long waiting on your tenant to move out.

The tenants don't have to let viewers in

I would give them notice and market it once they have vacated. You will then have time to clean it, do the maintenance, etc

Sorry I have no idea how to reply to comments.

End of August is when AST ends. We text exchange with the tenants every now and then, they will let us know if something needs doing and it's all very cordial.

We told them at the beginning of the tenancy that we will be returning in September 2024 and we let them know a few weeks ago that we would be returning and wanted to give them plenty of notice as we will not extend the lease. We also said that we will likely be selling the property and they seemed fine.

It's good to know that tenants will put off buyers more than anything else. The market seems to be good at the moment and I worry that waiting until August it could change for the worse.

I checked out tenancy agreement and we don't have a break clause in there (although that would be last resort)

You'll need to wait until they go before getting it ready to sell.

Have you actually given them notice?

even if the agreement ends you need to give formal written notice.

Can we give notice even if we don't have a break clause? Looking online it seemed like we could only do that if that hadn't paid rent or hadn't held up terms in the lease

You need to serve them formal notice, and prepare yourself for the fact that they still may not leave on the date agreed (no matter how cordial they are on text).

When the AST ends they don’t need to leave; the tenancy becomes a rolling periodic one. You need to look into giving them proper notice or you’ll be fucked come August.

We tried selling our house with tenants. We failed.
Once we had moved back in it sold.
Our tenants weren't particularly messy I don't think but obviously they don't care if the house sells.
I would sell it once they have left, you can clean it up and dress it properly.

You need to issue notice. If it's a fixed term you can time it so the notice expires at the end of the fixed term, otherwise the tenancy rolls on until ended by the tenant or the court (a landlord cannot end a tenancy).

No, give them notice for August, issue it in June. Notice that you intend to take possession of the property as of [date of the end of the AST], the notice needs to be received two months before.

You do also need to issue them notice.

Why do people decide to rent out their properties seemingly without a clue of their legal obligations, rights and responsibilities?

You need to issue them a section 21, anything else is invalid.

It’s baffling.

And no you can't give notice for sooner than end of AST if there's no break clause. Presumably you had your reasons for wanting an AST of longer than six months.

You have been ridiculously naive about this.

issue them with a section 21 eviction notice, properly and legally. Be prepared that they don’t have to leave at that point and you may need to to take them to court.

Thanks everyone, will ensure we issue notice in June!

We tried selling the property at the tail end of 2021, found a buyer but their finances changed so they could no longer afford it. It took us a long time to find that buyer and I'm worried we won't be able to sell when the time comes and I can't face moving back in for a long time as we have outgrown it.