Renting our house off of our buyer whilst we renovate our property?

[Namechanged1800]

Hi all. Interested in a house that needs a full refurb. It isn’t really liveable until some work has been carried out. We have young children and pets so short term let’s aren’t really an option.

Anyone know if it’s possible to sell our house but to remain in it for 2 months or so? We could offer our buyer £10,000 off of the house price or something (worth approx 30% more than the rental value).

Obviously this wouldn’t suit all buyers. But say they are a non chain buyer - would this be a major big ask?

Better off spending a few grand on a caravan and living in that on the driveway or a local site whilst doing the essential work then sell the van and recoop the cost. I lived in a massive refurb as a young kid (+ 2 siblings), we had the first winter with no heating & one electric heater I survived didn’t think much of it until older when others pointed it out. My dad was doing all the work plus working FT so it took years to do.

You’d also have to pay the extra stamp on a second property OP

Youd get it back eventually but you’d need to have it to pay in the first place

Purely because we have 3 kids under 5 including a newborn baby. Plus pets😂! I guess we will have to though.

I'm loving your blithe assumption that you will even be able to find workmen to do the work before you move in. Anyone available at short notice, will be crap.

And the income tax wastage. But the biggest problem is not being to get rid of you

I am currently buying with no chain. I would not be interested in 10k off. But if you gave me 10k I would be happy to let you stay a bit.
No interest on the money being part of the house buying process as mentally that's a separate box.
Absolutely no no no to being temporary landlords

Absolutely no no no to being temporary landlords

But that's exactly what you would be setting yourself up to be, by letting the OP "stay a bit".

They would have to cover insurance for a building site. Who on earth would agree to that.

Most solicitors would advise the buyer against this. And he’d need a BTL mortgage so this would delay exchange and might mean you lose your purchase.

Could you look at a bridging loan so you exchange contracts on sale and purchase on the same day as is usual but delay completion on your sale for a couple of months? That would be expensive and there may be stamp duty considerations but maybe not as expensive as knocking money off your sale price? Or send the pets to live with family, put your furniture in storage and move into an Airbnb for the period?

I think it’s definitely possible in theory, but would most likely make it very difficult to sell your house, unless you significantly dropped the price (like 20-30k). I imagine most buyers would be very put off by this and having just recently gone through both sides of the process myself it felt like a really hard time to sell at the moment, even with a pretty straight forward property. Personally this seems like it would be more a lot more stress than a short term let for a few months with a few suitcases to live out of and the majority of your stuff in a storage unit until you’re ready to move in.

Good luck what ever you decide on. It’s so exhausting, but it feels amazing to be on the other side of it. It’s worth getting through it for your dream home

For 10k you rent airbnb for two months months
Or travelodge 2 rooms
Or caravan
Too much hassle tax etc for your buyer to be a short term landlord

So why not move in straight away if you don't care about the condition of the house?

At least you know you've got a kitchen and bathroom, as opposed to moving in somewhere that could have neither.

I think it would be impossible to find a buyer who wanted to do this.

I don't think you've understood the OP. They want to stay in their current house, once they have sold it, while the house they bought is worked on.

Imo it's a "No" on very, very many levels.

Sell yours and put a caravan in the garden?

I think the only person who would be vaguely interested in this would be someone who wanted the house as a let in the first place. However, selling to landlords only would seriously limit your market and a lot of landlords are selling up rather than expanding their portfolios.
For a normal buyer it’s fraught with risk - the risk of being a landlord and the cost associated with that and the risk that you wouldn’t actually move out. I know that you know you would, but they wouldn’t know that for sureand it’s hugely costly and time-consuming to get a tenant to leave and it’s becoming only more complicated from April. Basically, I would think of another idea.

Ah yes, it would be OP covering the insurance on the building site not their landlords. Sounds expensive.

The we buy any house type buyers would do this as they buy to rent, but it would be for a discount AND they would fully complete and change you rent to live there.

No way would I allow this as a buyer. If you say you’d move in on X date no matter the condition. Just move in anyway ?
Any family you could stay with for a few weeks ?

If the purchase takes place in Spring or summer, then go for a static caravan on site (assuming you have space).
If it is in Autumn, you’ll probably need to go into a hotel or rental, on the 2 months = 3+ months principle.

No matter how lovely you are, under no circumstances as a purchaser would I allow the previous owners to live in my new house. The legal ramifications and financial risks are far too big & complex. Please don’t take that route.

I’m a landlord. There’s no way on earth I’d agree to that. If you decided not to move, damaged the house or stopped paying rent, they’d have to pay thousands, possibly mounting to double figures to get you out. The bill mounted to 13k of lost rent and court fees a few years ago on a tiny 2 bed, plus 2k getting it back into shape as luckily the former tenant hadn’t trashed the place, just never cleaned and broke stuff.

I think you have 4 options:

• Bridging loan: buy the house to be renovated before completing on the old one. Set a completion date for your current house 3 months after you get possession of the new one. Expensive; risky as you cannot guarantee the completion date of your current house.
• Short term rental: rent an AirB&B or similar. Alternatively, you could sell, move into a ‘normal’ rental for 6 months, and buy / renovate your new home during that period. Expensive; AirB&Bs are furnished so furniture storage an issue.
• Caravan on site: small, cold, furniture an issue. Fixed outlay regardless of length of work, can sell on.
• Move in regardless: prioritise somewhere to wash, somewhere to cook at a basic level and one warm room, even if these are a diversion to the long term renovation plan. Cheapest option, robust if renovation takes a long time, can be depressing. May be unsafe for short period if renovation involves eg total rewiring; lacking running water; asbestos.

(If it is of help, we combined 2 and 4 - short term unfurnished rental while the genuinely dangerous stuff was done, then moved in and ‘camped’ in the safe but unmodernised new house, doing the rest of the work in stages while we lived in different bits. Children were 5 and 7)

They would be mad to agree to this given all the risks. Getting a tenant out takes months and thousands of pounds. Far too risky for them. Plus they’d be responsible for all the safety regs- carbon monoxide monitors etc etc- on a house they don’t really know.

Let me get this straight, OP. You are expecting to:

Complete on the new house
Find suitable workmen, who have immediate availability
Have those workemen assess and quote for the work
Agree on quotes, as the work you need will involved different types of workmen (plumber, electrician, plasterer, kitchen fitter, bathroom fitter, tiler etc etc)
Have them all start work
Finish the work

All done within two months????

Do you really think that moving into a habitable house, albeit a bit decrepid, will be worse than having to move into a house with ongoing electrical work, wet plaster (if you're lucky), kitchen undergoing work, etc etc?

I really don't think you've thought this through, even apart from the mad "Let us stay in our current home for a bit" idea.