Asking my Landlor to "Buy" me out??

stretch295

Hi everyone. I'm currnetly three and a half months into an assured short term tenancy (6 mths), in a lovely cottage which was renovated by an old (ish) couple to retire into. I knew when I let it that they were in the process of trying to sell their farmhouse, and that if they did they'd want the cottage back, but I assumed in this market they'd take a long time to sell. But they have accepted an offer and are ready to exchange contracts, and their buyer want to complete on the 29th June. My six months run until the 4th September. I know I will have to move out then anyway, but if the landlord wants to agree to the proposed completion date and I agree to leave early so as to lessen the risk that their sale falls through, I guess I could reasonably ask them to pay for me to leave? is this fair enough? Could I, say, ask to live rent free through July (rent is due on the 4th)? I get on well with them and don't want to annoy them, but equally it will cost a fair bit to move again in terms of time, stress and money, and whilst I'll only be doing it a month earlier than I'd have to anyway, surely if I help them out by going early I could be compensated? Does this sound fair?!? Any legal implications (rent paid through letting agent who also hold deposit? I'm seeing my landlord this evening to discuss, so any thoughts welcome...

charliee_3

i think this sounds more than fair. if they want you to leave before your tenancy is up they either have to give you proper notice to quit which is 2 months from a rent date, or you can come to an adult arranagement that will leave both sides happy.. i dont think compensating you for having to move out early is too much to ask, after all you are doing them a favour as i doubt their buyer will want to wait until september for completion and their only other alternative is to go and rent somewhere themselves until you move out in september.

charliee_3

you are going to have to get a move on though.. do you have somewhere to go..you'll have to be out by next week???!!! did you mean 29th July??

stretch295

My mistake - I did mean the 29th July! That would have been pushing it...!

theartfullodger

Lemmee guess:

They want to sell Farmhouse (?£200k ?) and to ensure they can get that sale will either have to sell & rent somewhere (if they can find anywhere) or persuade you to leave early.

So: They risk losing sale of £200k-ish (more/less??)
To rent anywhere else is either stay in hotel during peak summer months for 6 weeks or rent on open market a place which will be minimum 6 months: I'm guessing £3k minimum.

Depends how hard nosed you are. It would be entirely legitimate to ask for several £k to move out early and see what they say. Your real lever should they argue is to point out that if they have to evict you (possession order then wait for bailiffs) there will probably be another 6-8 week delay...

Mind you I doubt you'd get a good reference after that conversation.

Maybe the gentler way of approaching matters is say you'd like to be flexible, but what were they thinking of offerring you? If the answer is £0 you know they are tight selfish a******s who want their cake & eat it. If they offer something interesting.., take it from there.

What, someone think I'm suggesting an unfair approach: it's only "free-enterprise"....


Cheers!

Lodger

stretch295

It's actually more like £450K... They haven't actually approached me to ask me to leave - I found their house wasn't "Under Offer" on Rightmove any more - it had been taken off. So guessed they'd either agreed the sale or had had the offer taken off the table and had got p!!!!!d off with the whole thing and decided to take it off the market. So I phoned them to find out, and he told me the buyers were pushing for a quick complete and they'd told them it'd have to be later on account of me. And whilst I love this cottage and really don't want to move (although it'll happen in a couple of months anyway if the sale goes through), I know how stressful the whole waiting to complete thing is and how the longer buyers have to get cold feet the worse it is, so suggested we have a chat to see if we can arrange something to help them sell their house a little faster.... Obviously there needs to be something in it for me, though. I'm just wondering how much....

GDB2222

I would try and come up with a reason why you want one month rent-free, eg putting down a deposit on the new place.

Are you sure that you can find somewhere else?

theartfullodger

a reason why you want one month rent-free,

- err.. so the Landlord can get his £450k. Landlord cares about himself, not about what the tenant wants/needs....




Cheers!

Lodger

silvercar

he told me the buyers were pushing for a quick complete and they'd told them it'd have to be later on account of me.

-

err.. so the Landlord can get his £450k. Landlord cares about himself, not about what the tenant wants/needs....

Looks like a caring landlord to me.

GDB2222

theartfullodger wrote: »

- err.. so the Landlord can get his £450k. Landlord cares about himself, not about what the tenant wants/needs....

Actually, the LL has not asked the tenant to leave. The tenant approached the LL. In any case, it's always kinder and nicer, and usually more effective, to dress things up a bit.

bitsandpieces

stretch295 wrote: »

Obviously there needs to be something in it for me, though. I'm just wondering how much....

Work out how much you'll be out of pocket (based on fairly pessimistic assumptions). Then you might look to negotiate something on top of that to compensate for the hassle.