house we are renting put on market without us knowing

LGDNUFC

i am currently renting property through a letting agency on a month by month lease with my husband and daughter.we are currently looking to purchase a house so we have been looking at loads of property.
i was browsing the internet and went onto an estate agents website and found the house we are currently renting, up for sale!!!i was really shocked as we knew nothing about this.i rang the estate agents to get the full address and she gave me my address!
i rang the letting agency and they knew nothing abut it to.they made some checks and have comfirmed that it is on the market.and will speak to the owners.eventually they got back to me after 2 days waiting and said the owners have put it on the market.no sorry or anything.am i over reacting???
i am not bothered that they are selling the property, it is the way the owners have done it. we still havent heard anything regarding our lease.
where do we stand and what can we do, if anything???

roswell

As far as im aware they dont have to inform you but it would have been nice of them to, You can expect that the new owner will be a land lord or someoen who wants the property for themselves but either way it will be sold as sitting tenants you will then be given a new lease by the new owner.

it maybe they just want an investment and will not give you notice but if the new owner has purchased for them selves (eg there family to live in) they could give you notice.

rachnbri

This is horrible, it happened to me with 3 houses in a row. Serves as a massive wake up call that the house you may feel is your family home isn't yours at all. Thankfully the last time this happened to me, last year, I was able to buy a house for me and my children to call home. I don't care about all this 'is it the right time to buy' stuff or how much money I could potentially make. My house is not a 'property' it's my home and that's all that matters to me.
Yes your landlord can do this and all they have to do is serve you with the correct period of notice. Personally I wouldn't even look at a house with sitting tenants though, both through my own ethical standpoint and from the point of view that it could be a whole load of hassle. My last house had been on the market for 5 months when I moved out and not 1 viewing!

pingua

here here!!! Very well said.

mrstinchcombe

Did you inform your landlord that you are actively searching for a property to buy?

Its swings and roundabouts

advent1122

Look at it from your landlords point of view.
If he told you he was selling you would leave as soon as you find somewhere suitable.
If the house then takes another 6 months to sell he will be left with an empty house earning him nothing.
As it is he only has to give you a months notice which he could do once he has got an offer.

david29dpo

what happens when there is a queue of viewers at the door?

roswell

mrstinchcombe wrote:

Did you inform your landlord that you are actively searching for a property to buy?

Its swings and roundabouts

Thats a good point I missed, if your looking to buy and your current property is up for sale if it fits your need why not talk to the land lord possibly a good result all round with out even the hassle of moving.

rachnbri

roswell wrote:

Thats a good point I missed, if your looking to buy and your current property is up for sale if it fits your need why not talk to the land lord possibly a good result all round with out even the hassle of moving.

I did inform my landlord, through the letting agent, that we may be interested in buying the house. The only communication we got back was that he would accept an offer at full asking price if we wanted to make one. IMO the asking price was, ahem, rather ambitious and because I'd lived in the house I knew exactly what was wrong with it and had a good idea of the work it needed. After 4 months of it being on the market without a single viewing I started getting grovelly phone calls from the estate agent - were we still interested, would we consider making an offer of this much? Well how about 5 grand lower then?
By then we'd already found the house we bought, which is 100 times nicer!

leh1980

When the property is sold make sure that the new owners/landlords serve you with a Section 48 Notice (under Landlord and Tenant Act) giving you details of their name/address. If they fail to provide you with a Section 48 Notice, you do not legally have to pay them rent until they do (although the rent is still owing).

LGDNUFC

thanks for all your views.
we didnt tell the owners or the letting agency that we were looking for property to buy.if the owners had informed us that they were selling, we would have probably considered putting in an offer.not now!!! all it would have taken was a short letter to let us know, not do it the way they have.
since i posted the original post we have viewed 7 houses. we hope to make an offer on a house on monday am after viewing 3 more tomorrow.
the sooner we get out the better, i hope the house sits empty and they are out of pocket. (there is currently 2 houses exactly the same up for sale
and have been for 5 months and what they are asking for it you can buy a brand new house for the same)
i will never rent again!!!!
do you think im bitter?