Rent to Own / Rent to Buy

jammy_mammy

Im currently renting a 3 bed property in an area that my husband and I would eventually like to settle in. We rent privately and have done for a year, and our credit rating is good. We have been accepted for 90% mortgages but unfortunately, due to having just had a baby and still paying off our wedding, we cannot save for a deposit AND rent at the same time.

I have heard of the Rent to Own / Rent to Buy scheme that is currently available, but it always seems to be for new housing developments. I have never heard of someone actually using this scheme to buy from a private landlord. I know from passing conversations that my LL would be keen to sell to me should I be in a position to buy.

My question is: Can you rent to buy /own from a private landlord? If so, how does it work and are there any major downsides to it?

Thanks,
jammy mammy.

poppysarah

My advice would be to pay off your debt and save up a deposit.

coolsaka

poppysarah wrote: »

My advice would be to pay off your debt and save up a deposit.

good advice ...:money:

jammy_mammy

Thanks for the advice, but our debts are almost paid off. In actual fact they'll be paid off at Christmas. I just wanted to know if we could rent to buy from a private landlord or not?

Any information on this would be helpful.

poppysarah

jammy_mammy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, but our debts are almost paid off. In actual fact they'll be paid off at Christmas. I just wanted to know if we could rent to buy from a private landlord or not?

Any information on this would be helpful.

Not unless the landlord wanted to.

you would need a deposit for a mortgage still.

Save up. Come back when you have 10% of the value of the property you live in.

jammy_mammy

I thought that the point of the rent to buy scheme was that your rent turns into a deposit after an agreed length of time? My husband and I figured that this would be a way of turning what would otherwise be dead rent money into a deposit for a house that we're already settled in, rather than spending money on rent for a year and also putting a pot of money together for a deposit.

The point of my original post was to find out about the nuts and bolts of the scheme, as there seems to be nothing on the web in relation to private landlords.

poppysarah

jammy_mammy wrote: »

I thought that the point of the rent to buy scheme was that your rent turns into a deposit after an agreed length of time? My husband and I figured that this would be a way of turning what would otherwise be dead rent money into a deposit for a house that we're already settled in, rather than spending money on rent for a year and also putting a pot of money together for a deposit.

The point of my original post was to find out about the nuts and bolts of the scheme, as there seems to be nothing on the web in relation to private landlords.

I have read about some "schemes" but they're really rather scammy. Save up. Pick the house you want and buy it.

[Deleted User]

I am sorry but think u need to research things before posting lol. As far as I can tell, rent to buy is something that is offered by (usually an organisation like Barrats or some HA's) someone who has one or more properties they want to sell. Its not really used to allow a private landlord sell a property .., but I am sure he/she could make an agreement with you that part of the rent you pay could form a deposit if she was willing. However, if you can't afford to pay extra, this would mean she'd lose out in the short term (i.e. reduced rent). See http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=22730.

I googled 'what are rent to buy schemes'. I leave you to do the same and hopefully come up with some useful links.

jammy_mammy

deannatrois wrote: »

I am sorry but think u need to research things before posting lol. As far as I can tell, rent to buy is something that is offered by (usually an organisation like Barrats or some HA's) someone who has one or more properties they want to sell. Its not really used to allow a private landlord sell a property .., but I am sure he/she could make an agreement with you that part of the rent you pay could form a deposit if she was willing. However, if you can't afford to pay extra, this would mean she'd lose out in the short term (i.e. reduced rent).

I googled 'what are rent to buy schemes'. I leave you to do the same and hopefully come up with some useful links.

I DID research online, but was still unsure of how the scheme worked, HENCE the question to the forum.

Annisele

Any "scheme" involving a private landlord will be arranged by that landlord - there's no national scheme for it that I'm aware of. So, we can't tell you how it would work because it would have to be mutually agreed between the two of you.

However, IMHO a private landlord would be mad to agree to something like that. He either wants to be a LL - in which case he lets - or he wants to sell - in which case he sells to somebody who can afford to buy.

I think that the "rent to buy" schemes for new housing developments only happened because the developers couldn't sell all the houses / couldn't find enough people who could get mortgages to buy the houses. The developers would rather let the houses and have the chance of selling them in the future than have them sit empty.