Exchanged on a property and the Tenant won't leave.....
Discussion
Lots of people put places on the market with tenants in place. Sometimes the buyer is happy with a tenant in place as it means no void. Others want vacant possession in which case once a survey is done and the seller knows they have a serious buyer then a S21 is served. If buying Vacant then a seller would be plain f
king stupid to allow exchange with tenants still in place. You have fked up. Yes, your solicitor may have fked up also.
Eviction through the courts will take at least 3 months (but up to 6) and will cost £K's.
Unless you want to be paying out big money for your buyers to stay in a hotel then you need to have a chat to your tenant and ask how much they want to move out. Agree an amount, turn up with cash, and pay them when they vacant.
king stupid to allow exchange with tenants still in place. You have fked up. Yes, your solicitor may have fked up also.batmanreturns said:
The Tenant has turned around and basically said she's not going anywhere and is now a month in arrears on her rent as well.
Oh dear.batmanreturns said:
Clearly we need vacant possession to complete on the sale for our buyers to be able to move in. The issue is that as the property has exchanged what options do we have as landlords?
When is completion set for?Eviction through the courts will take at least 3 months (but up to 6) and will cost £K's.
Unless you want to be paying out big money for your buyers to stay in a hotel then you need to have a chat to your tenant and ask how much they want to move out. Agree an amount, turn up with cash, and pay them when they vacant.
Edited by Sir Bagalot on Tuesday 1st September 19:13
batmanreturns said:
They have already been asking for cash to go but i'm looking at that as some form of blackmail which i'm sure the police would be interested to hear about!
Its not blackmail though really, there is a court process which you need to short circuit because you or your solicitor messed up.Unless you passed the vacant possession risk to the buyer in the contract, then you look like you will fail to meet your completion obligations. I suspect your buyer could look for costs from you.....
Edited by blueg33 on Wednesday 2nd September 09:50
blueg33 said:
Its not blackmail though really, thee is a court process which you need to short circuit because you or your solicitor messed up.
Unless you passed the vacant possession risk to the buyer in the contract, then you look like you will fail to meet your completion obligations. I suspect your buyer could look for costs from you.....
Exactly.Unless you passed the vacant possession risk to the buyer in the contract, then you look like you will fail to meet your completion obligations. I suspect your buyer could look for costs from you.....
This is why you never exchange until the tenant has physically left.
Tiggers said:
batmanreturns said:
Hi guys. I'm after some constructive advice if i may.
My partner exchanged on a property we had rented out last month. The tenant was given the usual section 21 notice and the property is due to complete shortly. The Tenant has turned around and basically said she's not going anywhere and is now a month in arrears on her rent as well.
Clearly we need vacant possession to complete on the sale for our buyers to be able to move in. The issue is that as the property has exchanged what options do we have as landlords? I know we have to go through the usual channels in order to evict her but i wanted to see if anyone had been in a similar situation before and what the outcome was? Clearly we all know we can get the tenant out and that it just takes time, i just don't understand the mentality of these people-they'll end up going via courts and bail lifts so why not just go gracefully?
Should the solicitors have warned us that in the ideal world you should exchange with vacant possession?
Help appreciated?
You have mail! My partner exchanged on a property we had rented out last month. The tenant was given the usual section 21 notice and the property is due to complete shortly. The Tenant has turned around and basically said she's not going anywhere and is now a month in arrears on her rent as well.
Clearly we need vacant possession to complete on the sale for our buyers to be able to move in. The issue is that as the property has exchanged what options do we have as landlords? I know we have to go through the usual channels in order to evict her but i wanted to see if anyone had been in a similar situation before and what the outcome was? Clearly we all know we can get the tenant out and that it just takes time, i just don't understand the mentality of these people-they'll end up going via courts and bail lifts so why not just go gracefully?
Should the solicitors have warned us that in the ideal world you should exchange with vacant possession?
Help appreciated?
batmanreturns said:
They have already been asking for cash to go but i'm looking at that as some form of blackmail which i'm sure the police would be interested to hear about!
No they won't.The are using commercial leverage.
Blackmail
Here's the scoop.
1. Unless your solicitor advised you of this risk they have royally f cked this up.
2. Pay off the tenant and seek redress from your idiot solicitor.
Alex@POD said:
I've been on the tenant side of this situation recently (although not being awkward!), doesn't section 21 give her 2 months to vacate the property? We were given a section 21 well before the landlord was due to complete on the purchase.
No. A Section 21 is a REQUEST to leave the property - nothing more. If it is ignored by the tenant then the LL has to follow the right procedures which can take months to evict the tenant.I had the exact above situation happen to me. Found an investor who wanted to buy my flat with tenant in situ. Then found out some rental payments had been late, so asked me to get rid of the tenant, and we would exchange/complete with vacant possession. I issued a section 21, and the tenant said I would have to evict her, and also stopped paying rent, despite being in receipt of housing benefit. You can't start court proceedings until 2 months have passed after the section 21 being issued. You're then looking at probably another 3 months until the court order comes through, and if the tenant ignores that, it can take a further month to get bailiffs to enforce the course order, and evict.
You're in for a rough and expensive ride. Unfortunately you can't just change the locks, or cut off utilities as you will then lose all your rights, and end up in deep st.
My advice would be to talk to these guys, and do it quickly:
http://www.landlordaction.co.uk/site.php/0333-240-...
As I guide I issued a section 21 in June 2013. The tenant left in January 2014.
Good luck, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.
You're in for a rough and expensive ride. Unfortunately you can't just change the locks, or cut off utilities as you will then lose all your rights, and end up in deep s
t.My advice would be to talk to these guys, and do it quickly:
http://www.landlordaction.co.uk/site.php/0333-240-...
As I guide I issued a section 21 in June 2013. The tenant left in January 2014.
Good luck, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.
Edited by tomsugden on Wednesday 2nd September 15:10
Edited by tomsugden on Wednesday 2nd September 15:12
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