Rented flat being sold

Mark_Hewitt

clutton wrote: »

many solicitors have a free half hour surgery .... you could take aunty to one then she may take notice of what "proper" advice you get

When put up for sale, long term assured tenanted properties often only attract half of the current market value

That's pretty much the assumption I was going off too. Make an offer of around £20k, take it or leave it! But cannot say without proper advice of course.

aunty cannot be made to pay a bill which is not in her name. Hopefully she is not going to phone the water board and ask for a new supply/bill .....

That's a good point, I'll have to ask that. I don't know what the new landlords have done.

does she pay her own council tax ?

Yes, I believe so. As I understand it the property was built as, and always has been two flats, not a converted house, but I could be wrong.

franklee

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

Whereas I'm trying to get through to her that her being a tenant in there changes things massively. The flat upstairs just sold for £66k, her flat is unrefurbished so I reckon on the open market is worth around £50k, but the fact is that it has a protected tenant in there, which I assume will have a significant bearing on the 'market' price, but how much I have no idea.

My aunty is 62 years old btw and retired. So getting on, but I wouldn't say she's elderly, so she's more than up to doing all this for herself.

You'd need the property professionally valued. In a similar position a family member of mine got a valuation from a surveyor who gave the value empty and with the tenancy (which in that case was a right to live there for life). The tenancy made a significant difference to the value. As already said you'd need a solicitor specialising in the right area of law to untangle what type of tenancy it is and then you can get it professionally valued. There are probably tens of thousands at stake here, your aunty could easily be living there for another 30 odd years which will have a significant affect on value.

Fire_Fox

If aunty tends to go with the flow, then I'd be inclined to frogmarch her (nicely) out for lunch, via the CAB or a solicitor who specialises in this areas of law. Once the ball is rolling hopefully she will keep going.

Mark_Hewitt

Fire_Fox wrote: »

If aunty tends to go with the flow, then I'd be inclined to frogmarch her (nicely) out for lunch, via the CAB or a solicitor who specialises in this areas of law. Once the ball is rolling hopefully she will keep going.

Yes, I think that's what it will take! Although I'm hoping my Mum (her older sister) will do that!

Actually I think I might get my Mum to ring up CAB as I think they like you do to that to make an appointment with appropriate person. She's more likely to make the (short) trip into town if the appointment has already been made

clutton_2

i strongly suspect that this is outside the remit of CAB - i wouldn't bother with them, as they will almost certainly refer you to a specialist solicitor.... - phone round a few local solicitors and ask to speak to a senior partner who is au fait with assured tenancies......

Mark_Hewitt

It is increasingly looking like this is the case. But knowing my aunty she'll need to be told that first by someone other than me!

I assume, if she buys the house from the current owners she will then become the landlord of the property, with my gran still being the legal owner of the lease upon it?

Presumably my Gran will then have to pay rent to my aunty, resulting in practice my aunty paying herself rent . Although I suppose she could fail to pay the rent then reposses the house from herself

Jowo_2

The landlordzone private rental forum has a housing solicitor as a member - Jeffrey. Post a brief summary of the issues there, including the date and succession of the tenancy and the changes demanded by the landlords. They hate long posts there so make it short and sweet.

Still no substitute for steering your relatives to a solicitor to outline their rights and defend their interests.