Advice on selling home with or without tenants insitu

speedycat

Hi kind people

Just looking for a bit of advice.

Our mortgage redemption penalty ends at the end of the year and this is when we plan to finally put our house on the market and get it sold.

We have lovely tenants in there at the moment - but as lovely as they are - are tenants usually really off putting to potential buyers? (they are 3 single guys as well, so probably a bit worse looking than, say, a family)

But then if we wait until they have moved out after their 2 month notice to start viewing the house we would have a mortgage payment and a rent payment to find each month until it was sold :eek:

(Moving back not an option - live miles and miles away from the house)

Any advice greatly appreciated

paint

I had a flat which I let to tenants (due to working away most of the time) and then decided I wanted to sell (priced it low to get a sale).

I informed the tenants (via the letting agent) I was putting the flat on the market, and offered to half their rent whilst it was on the market, in return for them keeping it reasonably tidy for viewings, and to account for the disruption caused by any viewings. They accepted. I thought that was reasonably fair on both sides.

The fact that they turned out to be filthy scumbags aside (I've never seen such a disgusting mess in my life as when they moved out - I'm surprised it sold given the condition it was in), could that be a fair compromise if you trust them?

The downside is that, if they're unscrupulous, it's in their interests to keep it filthy in order to put prospective buyers off and remain paying half rent.

If I had my time again, I'd put it on the market, and serve them notice straight away.

It really depends on if you have a relationship with your tenants, and you trust them.

G_M

You can't have your cake and eat it. Either rent or sell.

No buyer (except another lanlord) will take you seriously while there are tenants in place.

No sensible buyer will ever Exchange Contracts till the tenants are out.

Remember, in law tenants do not have to leave when you ask them to. Not even if you give them the requisit notice. They can stay till you go to court. And then stay till you persuade the court to send bailiffs in. Now, I'm sure your 'lovely tenants' would not do this, but the buyer does not know this.

So as far as the buyer is concerned, there's no guarantee the tenants will be gone when the Completion date arrives. OK - if you fail to hand over 'vacant possession' the buyer can sue the seller, but that's poor consolation if they are homeless, and have all the stress of a legal battle.

Annisele

Sorry, agree with G_M - unless you're aiming to sell to a BTL landlord, you either let the place or sell it, not both.

If your potential buyer intends to live in your house, then tenants are really offputting. They can't (sensibly) exchange until your tenants have gone, so that makes your house far less attractive than one without tenants.

property.advert

I rented a property whilst mine was being fixed after pipes burst and that flat, which had been on the market for sale only and which I had managed to convince the owner to rent to me, was sold with me as a short term but sitting tenant, with an AST. It was bought by a barrister as an investment property.

So it is possible but the options are limited.

neverdespairgirl

We are buying a place with tenants in it.

But, a big but, the tenants are mates of the owner, and have agreed to sign the contract for vacant possession.

speedycat

Thanks for the advice.

GM - my question wasn't about 'having my cake and eating it' - it was about trying to sell my house without going bankrupt in the process. Thought that was quite a reasonable concern to have ?

I'm not a profit making landlord - we had to put tenants in our house and move because we struggled through the recession being self employed.

The time is coming to put our house on the market and break free of the ball and chain and I'm anxious!

tbs624

speedycat wrote: »

GM - my question wasn't about 'having my cake and eating it'

Wanting to sell the property, presumably for the best price, but not wanting to go without rent from the current Ts in order to make the property more attractive to potential buyers generally appears that way.

RAS

Talk to your tenants. Talk to your mortgage provider.

In an ideal world, agree limited viewings with the tenants in exchange for a reduction in rent; serve 2 months notice when it goes on the market. Arrange a payment holiday to start when the tenants move out. Get offer, tenants move out, exchange and complete before payment holiday runs out.

You would be really lucky if that works.

You could find, and folk here have found, that the tenants refuse (as they are entitled to by law) or disrupt viewing and fail to move out untiil the legal process runs out.

To start with make sure you have your gas safety cert up to date, deposit protected etc, so there are no loop-holes in your legal situation.

speedycat

tbs624 wrote: »

Wanting to sell the property, presumably for the best price, but not wanting to go without rent from the current Ts in order to make the property more attractive to potential buyers generally appears that way.

eh?

worrying about selling an empty house while paying the mortgage on it, while paying rent in another property at the same time is a worry....not some greedy little money making plan thanks all the same :mad:

I don't care about profit - I care about the thing not sitting on the market for months and months and us clearing the mortgage when we sell it.

thequant

speedycat wrote: »

eh?

worrying about selling an empty house while paying the mortgage on it, while paying rent in another property at the same time is a worry....not some greedy little money making plan thanks all the same :mad:

I don't care about profit - I care about the thing not sitting on the market for months and months and us clearing the mortgage when we sell it.

As you have been told, you can't have both. Stop being greedy and start being realistic. Likewise you will only have the property on for "months and months" if you get greedy with the price expecting to sell it for what you could of had at the peak.