Renting, but in process of buying house. Best proceedure to leave rental property?

mickym

We have rented for 4 yrs, had a pretty decent landlord and got on well.

We have always paid on time and they have sorted most our probs out reasonably quickly.

However we are in the process of buying our first house (offer has been accepted, mortgage application is in process and solicitors have been appointed).

What would the forum recommend the best practice for leaving the rental property?

Obviously we do not want to give our 1 month notice until we know we have definitely got the house. We dont want to end up homeless should the sale fall through!

Will there be a time during the buying process that we will be able to know we will definitely have the house? Then be able to specify a completion or 'move in date' that we can then notify the landlord of?

We have looked after our rental place very well, but there are the odd scuffs on walls, chips in paint work and carpets are worn in places... but presume as we have been here 4years thats long enough to class it as 'wear n tear'?...rather than having us replace/paint it all?

Be interested in your thoughts.

Thanks

sooz

Speak to your landlord & explain you are trying to buy.

See if s/he is agreeable to you giving 1 months notice on a day other than a rent day, & calculating rent pro rata. Offer to be very flexible about viewings in return. Confirm conversation in writing.

Do not, however, give formal notice until you have exchanged contacts on your puchase.

Tell your solicitor that you need to give notice & ask if the chain is agreeable to 3 weeks between exchange & completion, allowing yourself a 1 week overlap to move stuff & clean.

mickym

My only concern is that if I enter into any sort of discussion saying we are looking to buy they may put the wheels in motion to sell or rent the place out before we have actually had clarification on the sale.

Like you say it may be worth me speaking with my solicitor regards the notice to give.

Regards the cleaning of the place. As we have been here 3yrs + (not 4 as previously mentioned) I presume we would not be expected to have leave the place in the exact same condition we initially rented it at?

Obviously we would get it nice and clean and remove any marks etc that are on walls and on carpets, but what about like of chips in paintwork etc?

sooz

Speak to your landlord & explain. The more time you give them the more reasonable they should be. Explain that you are trying to buy, & will give formal notice once you have exchanged. If you say nothing, & only give notice at exchange, you may have a huge overlap & end up paying a lot of rent not to live there. But if you explain now, you may be able to reach an agreement ( confirm in writing) about a mid rental period move. But don't give notice until exchange, as something may go wrong with your purchase!

The flat should be returned to the same level of cleanliness as when you moved in. Dirt is not wear & tear. So worn carpets are ok, dirty carpets are not. Likewise on the walls, minor chips and scuff should be wear & tear. Big gouges are damage. Usually- it's for the inventory clerk to make the judgement. What does your inventory say the state of the place was when you moved in?

beefturnmail

I was in this situation last year.

Beware, although you landlord may appear decent and you get on with them, so did mine and we had been long-term tenants (c. 6 years), but the relationship soon turned sour when he knew we were moving out (he couldn't care less, started turning up unannounced and letting himself in when we were out, then created a stink about cleaning, and being overly petty. We then had to fight to get our deposit back).

With this in mind, cover yourself, as soon as the landlord knows you're leaving, all he'll care about is getting new tenants in to avoid any void periods. Therefore, I would not formally hand in notice on your rented place until contracts are exchanged. When contracts are exchanged you've 'definitely' (99.99%) got the house. On exchange, request a completion date which ties in with your notice. In rental contracts, 1 month notice means 1 month until the next 'rental period' (so if you pay rent on the 25th, and then hand in notice on the 24th September - you would only be tied until the 25th October, but hand it in on the 26th September and you would be tied to the 25th November.

Estate agents may try to push you to agree an earlier completion date, but resist this - 1 month after exchange is reasonable. Any longer and you may need to negotiate a bit however, depending on the vendors situation, and you may have to end up paying rent for a period after you've completed (although, this has some advantages as you can then move your stuff across at your leisure and perhaps save on removal costs). Obviously timing is key because of my point re rent dates above. I would also harry your solicitor to get things moving. Very early on mention the point about your rental notice and that you need to exchange by a certain date to avoid paying another month's rent, and keep telling them this.

Also, assuming your rental contract names your landlord in person and their address, once you've exchanged, hand your notice to your landlord in person (not the LA, but send them a copy), to avoid any arguments about being delayed in the post.

tyler80

We spoke to the management company to ask to be able to give notice any time and then gave notice on exchange.

Our landlord is a large national company though so we were aware that they weren't going to worry too much about void periods etc so wouldn't rush to get us out if we let them know we were moving.

penguingirl

We chatted to our LLs when we were buying our house- they were very reasonable and supportive. The discussion came about because we originally had a 12 month AST so they had asked us what our intentions were at the end of the contract. In the end we stayed an extra month (and our exchange was the week before our rental day and our competion date a month later so we didn't need to negotiate mid-month leaving).

I think it depends on your relationship with your LL- we were happy for our LL to have EAs value the flat for sale and rental before we handed in our notice and were flexible with viewings, and in return when we left the property they did things like hold on to a few bits of mail for us. The only downside was our LL was keen to sell us the flat when it looked like our purchase had fallen through!

TrickyDicky

When we moved, we just gave the LL the usual 1 month notice after we exchanged. This meant we had a 3 week overlap, but it meant we could take our time moving stuff in, use the washing machine and fridge freezer (unfurnished, but included white goods) at the old flat while we bought new ones. And then watch for any post.

For us we only moved 3 miles away from the flat, so your milage may vary.

mickym

our worry is that if we give any more notice than necessary (i.e before we know we have defnately got our new house) than it may mean that the LL may decide to sell property which if our deal falls through, they may wish to continue with their own sale thus leaving us with a housing dilemma.

I think ill be waiting until everything is signed off on the house purchase and that we have a move in date that fits in with our 4 weeks notice period.

pinkteapot

Exchange of contracts is the point at which the sale is definite (99.99% definite anyway - the seller can pull out after exchange but you can legally force a sale, sue them for costs etc). When you exchange contracts the contracts will specify a completion date, which is the date on which the house is yours and you get the keys.

The gap between exchange and completion is up to all parties in the chain to agree. They can take place on the same day or there can be a gap of months. Most people like a bit of a gap as you shouldn't book your removal company or make other arrangements until contracts have been exchanged, and people need a couple of weeks to do these things normally.

Your notice period for your rental will be one month but will have to coincide with the date you pay rent. For example, if you pay rent on the 12th of the month it pays for the period from the 12th of that month to the 11th of the following month. You can't give notice mid-period. I.e. if you give notice on 25th September, it would take effect from the rental month beginning 12th October and you would lose the rental property from 11th November.

The upshot of all this is you're quite likely to have an overlap period where you have both properties. It can be difficult to get everyone else in the chain to agree to a specific date that you want to move because of your rent date.

I've gone from rented to purchased accommodation twice and each time have had an overlap period of 2-3 weeks. I actually love doing this as there's no pressure to move on completion day. You can get carpets cleaned and do a bit of decorating if you want before moving in. Very civilised.

mickym

pinkteapot wrote: »

Exchange of contracts is the point at which the sale is definite (99.99% definite anyway - the seller can pull out after exchange but you can legally force a sale, sue them for costs etc). When you exchange contracts the contracts will specify a completion date, which is the date on which the house is yours and you get the keys.

The gap between exchange and completion is up to all parties in the chain to agree. They can take place on the same day or there can be a gap of months. Most people like a bit of a gap as you shouldn't book your removal company or make other arrangements until contracts have been exchanged, and people need a couple of weeks to do these things normally.

Your notice period for your rental will be one month but will have to coincide with the date you pay rent. For example, if you pay rent on the 12th of the month it pays for the period from the 12th of that month to the 11th of the following month. You can't give notice mid-period. I.e. if you give notice on 25th September, it would take effect from the rental month beginning 12th October and you would lose the rental property from 11th November.

The upshot of all this is you're quite likely to have an overlap period where you have both properties. It can be difficult to get everyone else in the chain to agree to a specific date that you want to move because of your rent date.

I've gone from rented to purchased accommodation twice and each time have had an overlap period of 2-3 weeks. I actually love doing this as there's no pressure to move on completion day. You can get carpets cleaned and do a bit of decorating if you want before moving in. Very civilised.

Great post.

I think you are right.

Will wait for contracts to be exchanged. Will then manage the dates to which to complete.

The seller will be out of the property before completion as they have accomodation ready to move into.

They are happy we are buyers as we can move in reasonably quick...Im sure a few weeks notice wont be a problem for them.

Thanks for all your advice