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Lvl_chg
Posts: 17 Forumite
I received notice from my lettings agent that the landlord intends to sell the property I am currently renting. They've said that the landlord would offer me first refusal if I wanted to buy the property.
I would be a first time buyer. I was not intending to buy right now but my wife and myself are really happy here and actually perhaps buying the property is a good idea. We should be able to cobble together enough for a minimum deposit. I have booked an appointment with a local mortgage broker to discuss my options and of course determine if I can even get a mortgage, full stop!
I'll run through a few numbers.
The landlady purchased the property in 2014 for £154,000 leasehold with 76 years remaining on the lease.
The agent has said the landlord has recently purchased the freehold and they would be looking for £199,950 IF the property were to go into the open market. No formal valuation has obviously taken place and she said this was a value based on similar properties for sale in the area.
I have done a couple of quick valuation (Zoopla) etc and they have suggested its value to be between £186,000-£194,000.
Would you suggest I get a proper estate agents valuation for myself?
Can I do this as just a tenant in a property? If so what's a ball park figure cost for this?
Do I have a good bargaining chip being the current tenant? Can I use this to my advantage in terms of an offer? I guess I would be saving the landlord certain fees etc right?
I'm hoping I'll know more after seeing the broker later in the week but I thought I would put this out to the good people of MSE forums who might be able to shed a bit of light on this situation for this unsuspecting tenant!
Many thanks in advance!
I would be a first time buyer. I was not intending to buy right now but my wife and myself are really happy here and actually perhaps buying the property is a good idea. We should be able to cobble together enough for a minimum deposit. I have booked an appointment with a local mortgage broker to discuss my options and of course determine if I can even get a mortgage, full stop!
I'll run through a few numbers.
The landlady purchased the property in 2014 for £154,000 leasehold with 76 years remaining on the lease.
The agent has said the landlord has recently purchased the freehold and they would be looking for £199,950 IF the property were to go into the open market. No formal valuation has obviously taken place and she said this was a value based on similar properties for sale in the area.
I have done a couple of quick valuation (Zoopla) etc and they have suggested its value to be between £186,000-£194,000.
Would you suggest I get a proper estate agents valuation for myself?
Can I do this as just a tenant in a property? If so what's a ball park figure cost for this?
Do I have a good bargaining chip being the current tenant? Can I use this to my advantage in terms of an offer? I guess I would be saving the landlord certain fees etc right?
I'm hoping I'll know more after seeing the broker later in the week but I thought I would put this out to the good people of MSE forums who might be able to shed a bit of light on this situation for this unsuspecting tenant!
Many thanks in advance!
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Comments
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I don't see why you could not ask an Estate Agent (EA) to come out and give you a valuation. I just would not tell them you are a tenant; pretend you are looking to sell it.
Getting a valuation should be free; it is not something anyone trying to sell a house would pay for. When doing so, it is usual (advisable) to get at least three valuations just as you would get three quotes for any work you wanted doing.
Once a seller signs up with an EA to sell their property, they will pay typically 1-3%+ of the selling price in fees so that is how much you could save your LL and therefore knock off your offer price.
It is a lucky seller who receives the asking price for their property. If you have ever bought a second hand car, you will know how to negotiate on price. Buying a house is just the same, only more expensive and probably scarier.
Good luck and welcome to the forum. HTH.0 -
Google postcode and sold prices and see what similar properties have sold for on rightmove / land registry0
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I received notice from my lettings agent that the landlord intends to sell the property I am currently renting. They've said that the landlord would offer me first refusal if I wanted to buy the property.
I would be a first time buyer. I was not intending to buy right now but my wife and myself are really happy here and actually perhaps buying the property is a good idea. We should be able to cobble together enough for a minimum deposit. I have booked an appointment with a local mortgage broker to discuss my options and of course determine if I can even get a mortgage, full stop!
I'll run through a few numbers.
The landlady purchased the property in 2014 for £154,000 leasehold with 76 years remaining on the lease.
The agent has said the landlord has recently purchased the freehold and they would be looking for £199,950 IF the property were to go into the open market. No formal valuation has obviously taken place and she said this was a value based on similar properties for sale in the area.
I have done a couple of quick valuation (Zoopla) etc and they have suggested its value to be between £186,000-£194,000.
Would you suggest I get a proper estate agents valuation for myself?
Can I do this as just a tenant in a property? If so what's a ball park figure cost for this?
Do I have a good bargaining chip being the current tenant? Can I use this to my advantage in terms of an offer? I guess I would be saving the landlord certain fees etc right?
I'm hoping I'll know more after seeing the broker later in the week but I thought I would put this out to the good people of MSE forums who might be able to shed a bit of light on this situation for this unsuspecting tenant!
Many thanks in advance!
Freehold or leasehold?0 -
The landlord has recently purchased the freehold0
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The letting agent probably had a clause in the contract with the landlord that says that they will get paid commission if the landlord sells the property to the tenant. This means that selling to you probably won't make any difference to the selling costs. What it will save is having to evict you before selling.0
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Apparently so. The price Zoopla quotes is with freehold.0
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The letting agent probably had a clause in the contract with the landlord that says that they will get paid commission if the landlord sells the property to the tenant.
The High Court has ruled that those types of clauses are unfair and unenforceable.
But I suspect that some letting agents might have still have them in their contracts - and will try to get people to pay them.
If that happens to your landlord, you could point your landlord towards this article (and/or other similar ones):
https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/documents/media-articles/property-drum-sept-12.pdf0 -
I would take the Zoopla 'valuation' with a pinch of salt. As an example, I looked at my house and my neighbours. Both identical, but Zoopla thinks one is worth £15k more than the other. And neither are at the price that 2 different houses (also same layout etc) a few doors down have sold for in the last 4 months.
Far better to look at other similar properties in the area and see what they have sold for to give you a better idea, or as said, get an EA or 3 round to value.0 -
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Is this a house or a flat?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If its a flat, how many in block?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If say 10 flats in block then having purchased the freehold would mean a 74 year lease on the flat and a 1/10th share of the freehold. So your flat still only has 74 years to go after which you hand it back to yourself and 9 other people. Ie you still need to be concerned about the lease term[/FONT]0
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