Trying to buy property from landlord

rach83

Hi

I am trying to buy the property I currently rent. I have written to my landlord just asking whether they would be interested in selling. They have owned the property for 17 years when they bought it brand new. They did put it on the market 2 years ago. They initially put it on the market for £155k and dropped it to £149k from what I can gather it was on the market for 4/5 months and it did not sell.

How much should I offer if they are interested in selling. It hasn't had a lot done to it in 17 years. Needs new kitchen and bathroom although they are serviceable it has been rented out for some considerable time so it needs some tlc.

Thanks

pmlindyloo

We bought our rented property from our landlord.

We looked at similar properties on Rightmove in the same area and actually visited a couple.

We then offered the LL what we thought was about the right figure. He came back with a counter offer and we finished with offering and having accepted in between.

We propably paid slightly 'over the odds' as it was the perfect house for us and having lived there for a year knew all its faults.

Our LL had no intention of selling at first so in the end we knew we would have to pay over the odds.

If the LL agrees to consider it then the things we found useful were:

Looking for sold prices of similar properties.
Asking for valuations from EAs (if LL agrees)
Remembering that if LL is using a letting agent then he will have to pay fees (his was 1% of the price)
Remembering that LL might have to pay Capital Gains Tax.

Good luck!

rach83

Thanks!

I've looked around at similar houses on our estate. There are none for sale at the moment but I have found two that are virtually identical that have sold in the last few years. Of course I don't know what sort of condition they are in but they sold for £138,000 and £139,000 in 2009 and 2010.

I have approached the landlord directly in the hope that he maybe able to save a bit if money not using an agent. I do think that capital gains tax will be an issue for them. I get the impression that they are keeping it as their pension fund and I am led to believe that they are in their late 50's.

Guess I will have to wait and see!

G_M

You need to decide what it's worth.

And what you can afford.

Then make an offer.