Buying a house from existing LL

JackHill

Hello all,

I'm just looking for some general advice please. My and my wife live are currently renting in Birmingham and our LL has told us they are looking to sell the property for family reasons.

They have valued the property at £150k and asked if we liked to place an offer. We do like the property but are wondering how much to offer? Is our position strengthened as they have to give us at least two month notice? We are currently on a rolling contract as our fixed term finished a while back.

Another consideration is the hassle an cost of moving as well as liking the property. Also in regards to the deposit are we guaranteed to get 100% back if we buy it.

To confirm I work full time and my wife is housewife looking after our two twins :-). We have around 10% deposit and confident we' get a mortgage. This would be our first house purchase, we've always rented and have been here 16 months.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jack

marliepanda

Not sure about your other questions but I cannot see how a landlord could possibly make any deductions from your deposit if it was sold to you whilst you were still living there. (unless you were in rent arrears but that would be a strange situation! )

G_M

The fact that you are tenants there does not affect its value (except that properties with tenants in occupation are not worth as much as owner-occupied properties), so don't let the 'convenience' aspect sway you.

Do your own research on localprices (nearby recent sold prices, maybe get an agent round) and decide what it's worth.

And then decide what it's worth to you.

If the LL really wants to sell, he will either give you notice (2 months so you are not very secure) or try to sell while you are there - which is VERY hard. Selling to you might be more attractive if he's in a hurry.

Old_Git

LL says its worth £150,000 ,how much do you think its worth ?
Is a 10% deposit enough to get a mortgage and can you afford the repayments.

JackHill

Thanks for the responses.

MarliePanda - We're not in arrears so I'm sure we' get the full deposit back.

G_M Would we being in it reduce the value then? They haven't given us 2 months notice and I understand that if we are awkward that it could take 4 months to get rid of us and they may want to avoid the possibility by giving us a decent price. Could this be the case?

In regards to the value I think its worth 140kish but obviously want it is as cheap as possible An opening offer of £124,995?

Thanks again

Jack

JackHill

OldGit Worth 140k. We've got 10% of that and will be good for a mortgage. I do some contracting work as well as my job so repayments are easily affordable. Obviously my contract work isn't taken into my income but my income from my job means I can have a mortgage for a property upt o a value of £190k with a 10% deposit.

Thanks

G_M

JackHill wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

MarliePanda - We're not in arrears so I'm sure we' get the full deposit back.

G_M Would we being in it reduce the value then? They haven't given us 2 months notice and I understand that if we are awkward that it could take 4 months to get rid of us and they may want to avoid the possibility by giving us a decent price. Could this be the case?

In regards to the value I think its worth 140kish but obviously want it is as cheap as possible An opening offer of £124,995?

Thanks again

Jack

No buyer will Exchange contracts while a tenant is in occupation (except another landlord). And most buyers (or their solicitors) know it can take a while to evict a reluctant tenant, so their purchase might be delayed for an unknown period.

So a high % of buyers won't even bother viewing properties with tenants.

That affects the value.

JackHill

Thanks G_M. So just to clarify it will affect the value and cause a reduction in it as we are there? What we would you say the reduction in value is as a %? We also only pay £625 in rent so the rental yield isn't great which may put off a landlord buyers.

Thanks

Jack

pmlindyloo

We bought our house from the LL.

Somewhat different situation as we asked the LL if he would sell to us so because the house was perfect for us we knew we would probably have to pay a little more than if it was put up for sale in the normal way.

If you have done your research and know what the house is worth then just put in an offer you feel comfortable with and then be prepared to negotiate.

The LL may have fees to pay the LA (if he is using one) and possibly CGTax so this may influence the price he is prepared to accept.

On the other hand he has a quick sale if you decide to buy.

A lot depends on how quickly he needs to sell and how much you want the house.

Return of deposit is guaranteed!

If you click on my user name and then statistics you will (eventually) find a thread re:advice about the process if you proceed with this. It was about two years ago!

Good luck.

JackHill

Hello,

Thanks for the information. I wasn't thinking about CGT for the LL so thanks for reminding me. I've had a look at your old thread and it was very useful.

Just to ask you still happy with the decision to buy and did everything run smoothly?

Thanks

Jack

laurel7172

Forget CGT. It isn't your problem. The house is worth what it's worth, and no other buyer is going to offer over the odds to pay somebody else's tax bill.