How should we negotiate an offer to buy our rented home

[coopekid]

Any advice on making an offer on a house we currently rent please. How should we respond to our landlord.

We have lived in our current rental (2 bed new build semi) for past 5 years and are in a position to buy. Before looking at other properties on the same development we first approached our landlord through the managing agent to see if they would consider selling the property to us. (We like where we live, it’s close to DS school and we are realistically unable to afford a mortgage for more than our current rental house).

They have agreed to sell to us for £400k. We are unsure how to respond to this and if we are in a position to negotiate with our landlord. For context similar properties within the development are currently on the market for similar and less. We know one (exact same type) that sold beginning of the year for £375k.

Is it a case of the house being offered to us at a fixed price as it is the landlords investment property? If there is room for negotiation however, how should we start this conversation.

You could go back to the landlord and say that your mortgage offer is £380,000 and so this is all you can afford. If they have no interest in negotiating they will just say no.

I bought the house I’d rented. The landlady got two valuations and we met in the middle. It was a really easy and cheaper way to buy a house. And less of a gamble as I knew the house and any issues.

OP, if you love it and it feels home then I would negotiate much.
The ease of the purchase, you know who you are dealing with, no complexities or curve ball, and no moving costs. This will save 5-10k and your sanity. You also know the maintenance and won’t have any surprises to deal with.

you could offer to pay £380k and then £10k cash for fixtures and fittings. Potentially landlords legal costs too.

I wouldn’t mess about or faff with this. Be fair and kind and easy.

@Tortephant Thanks, this is sort of my feeling as well.

We are keen not to have the stress of an unnecessary move and need to weigh up how much this is worth. We definitely do not want to mess about or faff with this, we were not expecting our Landlord to agree to a sale in the first place. That being said we obviously don’t want to pay over market value.

Do you think a response of ‘Our mortgage offer is £380,000. This is backed by our ability to proceed as a chain-free buyer and with a flexible completion timeline that matches the landlord's as well as a zero void period between the end of our tenancy and sale completion.’… is fair?

@Tortephant Could you explain offering £10k cash for fixtures and fittings? I’m not sure if this would apply to us - the property was let unfurnished and all white goods are integrated appliances.

We are also mindful our landlord bought the property for £371k, 5 years ago and I’m anticipating that they will want a return on their investment in order to make the sale worthwhile.

The property is worth what it’s worth. A mortgage company don’t be happy to loan on a property that is overvalued.

You need to out out the market as it is now. They’ve already had a return in their investment. Prices have dropped recently.

Yes, paying less for the property and more on F&F saves you on stamp duty, sometimes convencying where sales value is the scale but probably not for you, saves vendor on EA commission.

carpet, curtains, light fittings all count as would your integrated applainces