Buying a house that has tenants in it

franklee

kwmlondon wrote: »

2. I'm selling my flat so that's not a problem.

kwmlondon wrote: »

I am absolutely going through with this. The main risk, as I see it, is that the whole process gets drawn out. I can live with this as I'm secure in my property.

That raises the question, do your buyers know they are in a chain dependant on a tenant leaving? Most of the problems a delay could cause could equally well happen to your buyers, are they braced and organised for things to take a while? Chains do of course collapse often enough but I reckon the longer the wait for it all to come together the higher the chance of someone dropping out. Are your buyers FTB, I hope there isn't more chain below them as things start to get even more complicated.

Angie_B

kwmlondon wrote: »

Well, I'm going to add another reality check to this (all interesting points by the way, thanks) which is this is London. It's not that great a house (needs quite a bit of work doing). They'll be able to find another property without too much trouble.

On the subject of 'reality check', I have just bought a flat in London, which needed quite a bit of work doing. Tenants were given notice to move out prior to exchange. They didn't. 6 months later, the seller finally got the court order to get them out. They still didn't leave. A couple more weeks waiting on bailiffs and finally we get vacant possession.

The same situation has happened to a number of people I know buying in London.

Yes, there are lots of properties for rent in London; however, rental prices have risen to almost ridiculous levels in the past few years, as people cannot afford to buy. As a result, when tenants are asked to leave their current property, they look around and find out that the money they are currently paying now doesn't go as far. Shelter tells them to stay put and force a court eviction so that the local council will help with housing.

So please do not assume because it is in London the tenants will leave. The costs of rent here actually make it more likely they will stay and seek help through council housing.

kwmlondon

fc123 wrote: »

Hope your sale goes through OK.

We have a similar problem as our exchange has been delayed as turns out the tenant hasn't moved out.

The LL is not the brightest button and we thought the house was an HMO...however the search didn't show up that is was a licensed HMO. It was 5 rooms with 4 tenants in situ. 3 have left.

The last tenant has extreme drug dependency issues and doesn't want to move out unless LL gives him a wad of cash and a letter saying the house is sold.

The vendor has told us that the tenant will leave next Tuesday as he will give him his letter and his wad.....so we will go down, check he has left, oversee locks being changed and then exchange.

I have a feeling that the vendor has proably not done things as they should be done and now it's bitten him on the a**. He is desperate to sell, there is no mortgage involved...and we are being very very tolerant in the circumstances.

This LL owns a further 8 HMO's and rehoused the other tenants but refused to rehouse this one as 'he's trouble' (so he said). Not the smartest move on his part. He also said about the months notice which I thought was dodgy but could be if it's an HMO?

Oh, that sounds like a total pain. However, I'm guessing that you've thought it out and are dealing with the hassle as it will get you what you want in the end. You seem to be in a position to be able to be tolerant so that's a small blessing.

Thanks for letting me know about this, I get the feeling that the seller/LL of the place I'm getting is a tad more on the ball, but I can't be sure. It should be a fairly straight forward case of giving the family notice and then waiting for them to leave on his part, but I'll definitely be monitoring the situation closely. Once we've progressed a bit further and I have an itinerary from him I can begin to impose some conditions, but until that's in place the situation's a bit fluid.

DRP

fc123 wrote: »

Hope your sale goes through OK.

We have a similar problem as our exchange has been delayed as turns out the tenant hasn't moved out.

The LL is not the brightest button and we thought the house was an HMO...however the search didn't show up that is was a licensed HMO. It was 5 rooms with 4 tenants in situ. 3 have left.

The last tenant has extreme drug dependency issues and doesn't want to move out unless LL gives him a wad of cash and a letter saying the house is sold.

The vendor has told us that the tenant will leave next Tuesday as he will give him his letter and his wad.....so we will go down, check he has left, oversee locks being changed and then exchange.

I have a feeling that the vendor has proably not done things as they should be done and now it's bitten him on the a**. He is desperate to sell, there is no mortgage involved...and we are being very very tolerant in the circumstances.

This LL owns a further 8 HMO's and rehoused the other tenants but refused to rehouse this one as 'he's trouble' (so he said). Not the smartest move on his part. He also said about the months notice which I thought was dodgy but could be if it's an HMO?

that sounds very sensible!

what a nightmare though...

kwmlondon

franklee wrote: »

That raises the question, do your buyers know they are in a chain dependant on a tenant leaving? Most of the problems a delay could cause could equally well happen to your buyers, are they braced and organised for things to take a while? Chains do of course collapse often enough but I reckon the longer the wait for it all to come together the higher the chance of someone dropping out. Are your buyers FTB, I hope there isn't more chain below them as things start to get even more complicated.

Yes, they know that there's a chain. If he drops out then I will simply put the place back on the market. This is where I'm in a good position in that my flat is in a very hot area and has a lot going for it, when I put it on sale it had 3 viewings the day it went online and sold within a week. If this buyer pulls out (and he's getting it a good price, is a first time buyer and so would be daft to) then that won't be too much of a problem.

kwmlondon

Angie_B wrote: »

On the subject of 'reality check', I have just bought a flat in London, which needed quite a bit of work doing. Tenants were given notice to move out prior to exchange. They didn't. 6 months later, the seller finally got the court order to get them out. They still didn't leave. A couple more weeks waiting on bailiffs and finally we get vacant possession.

The same situation has happened to a number of people I know buying in London.

Yes, there are lots of properties for rent in London; however, rental prices have risen to almost ridiculous levels in the past few years, as people cannot afford to buy. As a result, when tenants are asked to leave their current property, they look around and find out that the money they are currently paying now doesn't go as far. Shelter tells them to stay put and force a court eviction so that the local council will help with housing.

So please do not assume because it is in London the tenants will leave. The costs of rent here actually make it more likely they will stay and seek help through council housing.

Fair point, thanks for letting me know. However, I'm not too worried about it. If I'm being honest in some ways I'm happy for the sale to drag on as long as it takes as I would be able to save up more money for the refurbishment of the new house so if it drags on over the summer then I can live with that. Again, if I lose the buyer for my flat then so be it, I'll just put it back on the market. I would be very annoyed if the whole thing fell through and the structural survey I had done for the place I'm buying was wasted, but I accept that risk and it's one any buyer has to take onboard.

fc123

DRP wrote: »

that sounds very sensible!

what a nightmare though...

it is...and we wanted to (and were ready to) complete 6 weeks ago however we are getting a good deal partly because very few buyers ever got to view it as the problem tenant always refused access.....well ....he said they could view and would then be out.

We visited 3 times and only got to view by a pure fluke on the 4th visit.

By this time the house had been on the market 6 months and he took a low offer. I don't think he knew the tenant blocked so many potential buyers seeing it and I know the EA's dreaded going there as this tenant was a bit violent as well.

He physically attacked the surveyor who had to flee then make a 2nd inspection with an 'escort'.

I don't want to sound a 'do-gooder' but I actually have a lot of sympathy for the guy. We met him, chatted, he was off his head, his room stunk so bad I couldn't go in it...but I do feel bad for him as he is in a very bad place in his life.

I will let you know the outcome as this isn't a normal/regular tenant IYKWIM.

kwmlondon

fc123 wrote: »

it is...and we wanted to (and were ready to) complete 6 weeks ago however we are getting a good deal partly because very few buyers ever got to view it as the problem tenant always refused access.....well ....he said they could view and would then be out.

We visited 3 times and only got to view by a pure fluke on the 4th visit.

By this time the house had been on the market 6 months and he took a low offer. I don't think he knew the tenant blocked so many potential buyers seeing it and I know the EA's dreaded going there as this tenant was a bit violent as well.

He physically attacked the surveyor who had to flee then make a 2nd inspection with an 'escort'.

I don't want to sound a 'do-gooder' but I actually have a lot of sympathy for the guy. We met him, chatted, he was off his head, his room stunk so bad I couldn't go in it...but I do feel bad for him as he is in a very bad place in his life.

I will let you know the outcome as this isn't a normal/regular tenant IYKWIM.

I really admire your serenity in the situation!

While what you're going through sounds like a rare problem it's useful to know about it. Please share updates if you get the chance.

By the way, I did a google search on tenants not vacating property being purchased (or similar words) in google and this thread popped up on the page!

This does make me think that it's a fairly rare situation to find yourself in, though clearly not impossible.

kwmlondon

Morning. I thought you may find it interesting to know that the survey has come back with the following general remark (after a few observations about the property that are all fine):

"...The property was tenanted at time of inspection and the valuation assumes full vacant possession will be granted upon completion but legal advisors must confirm"

Doesn't make any difference to the situation but it's interesting that this puts the responsibility for the property being vacated on the conveyancers. I will still be wanting to ensure the place is vacant myself before exchanging, but it's worth noting who has ultimate responsibility.

grifferz

kwmlondon wrote: »

survey has come back with the following general remark:

"...The property was tenanted at time of inspection and the valuation assumes full vacant possession will be granted upon completion but legal advisors must confirm"

Doesn't make any difference to the situation but it's interesting that this puts the responsibility for the property being vacated on the conveyancers.

No it doesn't. It says that the valuation provided is on the assumption that the property will be vacant, not tenanted, but your legal advisors need to confirm that it will be vacant.

It doesn't make your legal advisors responsible for assuring the other party's tenants move out; they cannot assure you of this, only the other party can.

kwmlondon wrote: »

I will still be wanting to ensure the place is vacant myself before exchanging

..and so will your lender. Hence this comment on the valuation.