Should we rent from the Prospective Vendor?

leedshatter

We find ourselves in a quandary. We have sold our house to first time buyers who are pressing for a early completion. Our vendor doesn't want to complete for another 3 months and has suggested we rent from him after exchange of contract for 2 months till he is ready to complete. Has anybody any advice, good or bad. :money:

olly300

I wouldn't do it in case his chain breaks.

I also suggest you talk to your solicitor about the offer and see what they tell you.

The estate agent also won't be happy with him taking that long to complete as they don't get paid.

Ulfar

If the property is empty what is the reason for not completing ?

I could understand it if they were living there waiting for their new property to be ready.

DVardysShadow

leedshatter wrote: »

We find ourselves in a quandary. We have sold our house to first time buyers who are pressing for a early completion. Our vendor doesn't want to complete for another 3 months and has suggested we rent from him after exchange of contract for 2 months till he is ready to complete. Has anybody any advice, good or bad.

Avoid this. If he can give you vacant possession good enough for you to rent, then he can give it to you to complete a sale. SO the question is why does he want do do this? My feeling is that he does not want to sell and is looking at this as a 'clever' way to get some tenants in - so he can [in his mind] put it back on the market for a higher price later. I think I might be tempted to take it up for a really nominal rent if I was in your position - if he ends up not selling to you, then you will at least have freed yourself from being in the middle of a chain. But you need to understand why he is doing this. Not what he tells you, but really understand.

Fire_Fox

A long time between exchange and completion is a risky strategy - your mortgage offer may expire, you may get made redundant, fall or or injured and can no longer work, the lender may ask for another valuation which falls short ... and you will still be legally obligated to complete. Many off plan buyers have fallen foul of change of personal circumstances or a falling market.

Doozergirl

On the other hand, it's a nice negotiation tool when the heating doesn't work properly or you find something you didn't know about. A proper 'try before you buy' if you don't exchange before you move in.

Ulfar

Doozergirl wrote: »

On the other hand, it's a nice negotiation tool when the heating doesn't work properly or you find something you didn't know about. A proper 'try before you buy' if you don't exchange before you move in.

In theory, what happens when he blames you for the damage.

It just doesn't add up, if the property is empty why not complete.

bitsandpieces

Hard to know why the seller would want to do this - are they suggesting that you exchange contracts and then rent for a couple of months? Odd.

Could the seller be having financial problems - and need the extra time to try to raise funds for their move? If so, there could be risks even after exchanging - if the seller ends up broke, suing them for compensation wouldn't get you far

PasturesNew

He probably wants this because he's discovered there's an early redemption charge on his mortgage. It might be worth finding out how much this is, or if he's just !!!!ing about for £500 or so.

His solicitor will advise him strongly NOT to rent it to you as there's a lot of risk.

There's risk to you too if you lose your job, split up, lose a leg, etc, etc between exchange/completion.

Overall: Avoid.

cake21

I posted when my sister was in a similar situation, worked out in the end but was very stressful for those concerned. Personally I wouldn't take the risk.

Doozergirl

Ulfar wrote: »

In theory, what happens when he blames you for the damage.

It just doesn't add up, if the property is empty why not complete.

A proper inventory will list the condition when they move in. If he wants to play silly beggars then they move on.

I suspect there is an early redemption penalty. It's obviously worth asking exactly why they want this scenariobut mostwould have a valid reason. Don't exchange contracts until the time that he is ready to complete and the risk is that

The idea that it's a sneaky way of getting tenants is obscene. There are more renters out there who are more easy to please than buyers, plus if your tenants actually want to buy then they will move on very quickly. People either want to rent or buy - if he tricks a buyer into renting then they willbe moving on very quickly - notthe ideal tenants!

Ultimately, I think you just need to be prepared to move out of it if you aren't buying it at the moment you move in if he tries to hold you to ransom but I think you have much more power as tenants to make his life hell and renegotiate. As long as you haven't exchanged then the risks of losing jobs etc makes no difference to any other situation in which it might happen - renting or owning, losing your job is tough! Do all the homework required before moving in but hold off on exchange to suit you.