Buying a house with a tenant in situ

[TheLordJohn]

Hi all.

I went to view two houses for sale (due to retirement) by the same elderly gent yesterday.
One has a tenant who left 4 weeks ago, so vacant possession.
The second property has been tenanted by the same bloke for the past 12 years. He has no will to leave any time soon.
Aside from this (potentially) being a large positive, how does it affect the sale of the property?

Thanks in advance, Stuart.

PS - Feel free to move to 'Homes' etc if deemed appropriate.

[13m]

TheLordJohn said:

Hi all.

I went to view two houses for sale (due to retirement) by the same elderly gent yesterday.
One has a tenant who left 4 weeks ago, so vacant possession.
The second property has been tenanted by the same bloke for the past 12 years. He has no will to leave any time soon.
Aside from this (potentially) being a large positive, how does it affect the sale of the property?

Thanks in advance, Stuart.

PS - Feel free to move to 'Homes' etc if deemed appropriate.

I am not a solicitor, but....It doesn't really. If you want the tenant out he needs to be party to the contract, saying he'll leave. If you want to keep him and he wants to stay, you need to contract with him for a tenancy or a licence.

You'll probably use a solicitor for the purchase, won't you. Choose one whose practice has the necessary skills to assign the tenancy or end it and create a new one.

But on a practical level, I would first speak to the tenant and establish whether you both want to continue a tenancy and discuss with him where you seeing rents being set.

[TheLordJohn]

Thanks for the reply.
Now I've viewed both houses, and certain I'll be putting an offer in on at least 1 of them, I think the next thing is to speak with the current tenant, as you've advised.
Via the current landlord, he has said he wishes to stay for the forseeable.

Thanks, Stuart.

[beko1987]

The old owner of the house we rent sold up, and it was bought with us in situ. The new owners havent come round at all, never met them, not sure if they have even seen the house. I know they sent their surveyor round.

Did them no favours though, as all the niggles that the old owner was dealing with weren't mentioned, so when the niggles turned into actual problems, and we got more vocal (they put the rent up so I made sure we got our moneys worth, was quite cheap before and we lived with the small issues/fixed them myself) they suddenly had a list of stuff to spend out for within 2 months of buying it.

If they had come round and had a chat, I could have told them what issues there were, what was urgent, what was ok and what I fixed.

If I bought a house, I'd want to know who was living in it. Is this normal to not go and look at it/chat to the current tenants?

[Billsnemesis]

Also be wary of tenant deposits

If the proper procedure was not followed at the grant of the tenancy the tenant can claim the full deposit back and up to three times that amount in recompense. If it is proven that the landlord did not provide all relevant information on the tenancy deposit then the minimum penalty is full refund plus 100% uplift

I no longer take deposits as it is not worth the risk

When we act on the purchase of a property with a tenant we insist the seller hands back the deposit in full before completion

[mach1]

Be aware that a lot of mortgage companies stipulate that the property must be empty on exchange otherwise they won't release funds for completion.

One way round this could be to end the tenancy a day before exchange & have a new agreement signed to start on the day after completion. With a BTL there's no reason why you shouldn't exchange / complete same day.

[TheLordJohn]

mach1 said:

Be aware that a lot of mortgage companies stipulate that the property must be empty on exchange otherwise they won't release funds for completion.

One way round this could be to end the tenancy a day before exchange & have a new agreement signed to start on the day after completion. With a BTL there's no reason why you shouldn't exchange / complete same day.

There's no mortgage companies going to be involved, so that should keep them out of the way.

Thanks for the replies so far, folks.

[BoRED S2upid]

mach1 said:

Be aware that a lot of mortgage companies stipulate that the property must be empty on exchange otherwise they won't release funds for completion.

One way round this could be to end the tenancy a day before exchange & have a new agreement signed to start on the day after completion. With a BTL there's no reason why you shouldn't exchange / complete same day.

This. I couldn't complete without the tenant "moving out " and moving back in a day after. Legal nonsense insisted by the mortgage company. Of course if your buying without a mortgage it's not an issue.

[Johnniem]

OP, your Lawyer will obviously check what type of tenancy the chap has wont he?! He may well have a protected tenancy which will allow him to 'abitate there until such time as he shuffles off this mortal coil, no? That'll make a difference in asking price for the house purchase (unless he is ninety thirteen of course!)

[TheLordJohn]

Thanks for the continued replies, keep them coming, thanks.