Exchanged on a property and the Tenant won't leave.....

Exchanged on a property and the Tenant won't leave.....

Author
Discussion

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
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?

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
yes, they were fully aware there was a tenant in there and that they were given the section 21 when the property exchanged.

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Tuesday 1st September 2015
quotequote all
legally i don't think you can do that!!

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Wednesday 2nd September 2015
quotequote all
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!

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Friday 4th September 2015
quotequote all
Ok, quick update. The tenant moved out after blackmailing us for £3000 which now means completion can take place as planned today.

As many have said, the solicitors have dropped a huge clanger by not advising us that you'd be nuts to exchange contracts without vacant possession incase this very situation arose. As a result, we intend to complain to the solicitors for negligence and ask for them to cover the £3k which i think is the least they can do considering they put us in a situation which could have cost us (and them) a lot more.

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Friday 4th September 2015
quotequote all
Thats why i used a solicitor as i'm not an expert in this area, their job was to protect me and advise accordingly.

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Friday 4th September 2015
quotequote all
Paying 3k was cheaper than not being able to complete with vacant possession, that would have forfeited the deposit of approx 40k and then we are liable for costs for the rest of the chain not being able to complete. So yes, 3k was the cheapest route!

batmanreturns

Original Poster:

536 posts

269 months

Monday 7th September 2015
quotequote all
The tenant stopped paying the rent when the section 21 was served so as well as 3k we also lost 2 months rent.