House Selling advice needed

BonesMa

Hi I currently rent out a house which has had tenants living there for well over 18 months. This house used to be my main residence but I now live in rented accomodation as I am living in a different area now.

My wife and myself have been thinking its time to settle down in this area. We could just about afford to sell our house and rent at the same time with no rental income coming from our old house but my question is this....

As we have had the same tenants for over 18 months and there is a good record of the payments and they have never been any trouble or late payers would it be more easy to sell the flat as a going concern ie an investment propety? What are the rules about this?

If not and we have to sell the normal way do we have to wait until the tenants have left the property to sell or can we come up with some arrangment with them to stay in situe until it is sold? The tenants are now out of contract for sometime and have been on a 1 month basis. We have to give them 2 months leaving notice.

We are trying to see all sides here as we are fairly happy with renting and renting out our old property.

Thanks for your replies and sorry for my questions.

Philip

Grogged

The simple answer is that you can sell it either as an investment (with the tenants) or as a house (without the tenants).

If you sell as a house, you won't be able to complete the sale of the property with the tenants still there. They will have to leave between exchange and completion. Ideally before exchange.

The reality though is that you will have a very limited market with tenants still in the property. You should also be aware that a tenant does not have to give consent for viewings. Whilst it's your property, it's their home and they are entitled to "quite enjoyment" of it.

Maybe offer them first refusal on purchasing it?
Get it valued as if for sale and knock off the estate agents fees as a starting point.

Good luck with your plans.

BonesMa

Thanks for your reply.