First Time Buyer Woes-

GREY**

Hello everyone, I would be very grateful for any thoughts or comments on my situation.
I placed an offer on a property, which was on the market for £220,000. My offer of £200,000 was accepted on the condition that the vendor would not negotiate further on the price. There is no chain as such, but there is a tenant currently living in the property. I was informed by the estate agent, that it would take 3-4 weeks for the tenant to vacate the property.

My mortgage lender has completed the valuation, as a result the price of the price has been down valued by £2000 and a retention fee has also been requested. The vendor will not reduce the price or complete the works stated in the valuation. The next step for me is to obtain quotes for the building work to determine how I proceed.
In the meantime, I have now been informed; the vendor will only ask the tenant to vacate the property after exchange of contracts has occurred, and there will be no fixed completion date. This sounds very confusing to me, as I am worried that there will be a long delay between exchange and completion. Also that the tenant may damage the property prior to leaving and I will be committed to go ahead.
Thank you

G_M

GREY** wrote: »

.... the vendor will only ask the tenant to vacate the property after exchange of contracts has occurred, and there will be no fixed completion date.

Run away!

Putting aside the mortgage retention, and the works required, you cannot Exchange
a) without a fixed Completion date AND
b) without a vacant property.

The tenant might resist eviction via the courts and be in occupation for another 6 months!

Fire_Fox

Welcome! By law the tenant must be served two months notice to quit (section 21) coinciding with a rent period so could in practice be closer to three months. If the tenant refuses to leave the landlord may have to go to court to evict. It will only take a few weeks to remove the tenant if they are evicted illegally or are bribed financially.

If this occurs as G_M says your lender may well refuse to release the funds because you do not have vacant possession, so you cannot complete and will be in breach of contract which is a serious matter ..... Really your conveyancer should be explaining this to you.

Reiterate your offer to purchase to the vendor in writing clearly stating the conditions as you should have done at the start. The new offer price based on your lender's valuation, vacant possession at exchange of contracts and so on.

You do not want the vendor to complete the works, you want to do them yourself to a high standard with tradesmen you trust. The vendor has no inventive to complete the works to your standard, he doesn't live there and is selling up!

geoffky

You are being taken for a mug....this is a disaster waiting to happen...run away..

angelsmomma

I agree with G_M I bought one with a tenant in who the vendor said was leaving.

The tenant then did not want to leave, my mortgage company wouldn't lend until he did, it took 6 months to get him out and he moved in a few doors away from the house and badmouthed me to all my new neighbours saying I had evicted him.

They then in turn hated me and I had 6 months of hell, including saying my front garden was the local goal post for all the kids on the streets football matches and previous tenant had allowed it.

I left and rented while I sold it on.

Run as fast as you can.

Angie_B

I have been in a similar situation to you, FTB purchasing a flat that was tenanted. Vendor and EA assured me that the tenants were prepared and willing to move out once their notice was served. Notice was served. Low and behold, tenants refused to move.

My offer was placed at the end of Jan, so I should have been in prior to the FTB stamp duty holiday ending. That deadline passed. Vendor had to go to court to evict. 6 months later, they finally get the possession order. Tenants still will not move out. Wait more weeks for bailiffs to go round and remove them. It will be November before we exchange and complete - 10 months since I put in the offer.

By this time, of course, my mortgage offer has expired, I have to go through the entire application, re-valuation etc, more money, plus stamp duty now being in effect.

Your solicitor in no way should allow you to exchange contracts without vacant possession. And I highly doubt your mortgage lender will allow it either. In truth, you need to point out to the vendor/EA that the vendor is actually in no position to sell the property at the moment. Not until they get rid of their tenants are they actually in the position to be calling any of the shots. Do not let them try to claim it is "chain free" and will be a quick and easy sale. Until the tenants are out, it's not.

If I knew then what I know now, I would never have even bothered looking at a property with tenants. Trust me, it is not worth it.

Th1984

I Agree - Run Away.

I was the tenant of a flat where the LA had promised the buyers that I was willing to move and promised me that the new owners were willing for me to stay as long as I liked.

In the end it came about that the new buyers were showing some friends the view from the communal gardens whilst I was washing my car and we got chatting. It cost somebody a lot of money as for me to go quietly, quickly and with no fuss I wanted my deposit back 4 weeks before I had o vacate plus I didn't fancy being charged rent those 4 weeks.

All agreed but someone paid in the end for the LA's lies

Lavendyr

As everyone else has said, RUN AWAY NOW. They are taking the mickey. Apart from anything else, I can't believe any good solicitor would let you exchange on those terms and your mortgage lender would be unlikely to accept it either.

From your perspective an open completion date would leave you hanging yet committed to buying or losing your deposit. You cannot accept that. Please, please do not go along with this - and if you want to continue with the purchase, at the very least, do NOT exchange until the house is vacant.

Lizling

I'd like to echo what everyone else has said, but also as one FTB to another, are you sure you've done enough research about all the things you should be looking out for? It worries me a little that you'd even think about exchanging without vacant possession, so I'm concerned that there are other important things you might have missed. The seller and the EA appear to be walking all over you at the moment.

Lavendyr

Lizling wrote: »

I'd like to echo what everyone else has said, but also as one FTB to another, are you sure you've done enough research about all the things you should be looking out for? It worries me a little that you'd even think about exchanging without vacant possession, so I'm concerned that there are other important things you might have missed. The seller and the EA appear to be walking all over you at the moment.

Absolutely this - and also doesn't seem clear that your solicitor/conveyancer is doing his/her job properly in explaining to you what the implications of these things would be. As I said in my previous post, no solicitor worth their salt would allow you to exchange under such terms - and would be very happy to explain the whys and wherefores to you.