Buying a house that has tenants in it

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

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 guess you're on the train right now ....

At least if it doesn't go to plan you can buy some chips and have a nice walk around

PasturesNew

kwmlondon wrote: »

"...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.

No, the responsibility is yours. YOU need to ensure that the property is vacant before exchange. Your conveyancer will take your instructions. It is up to YOU to make the necessary checks.

You can only do this by [a] being there/seeing it yourself, or, employing somebody to ensure it has happened.

Conveyancers advise - with the ultimate decision being yours.

kwmlondon

PasturesNew wrote: »

No, the responsibility is yours. YOU need to ensure that the property is vacant before exchange. Your conveyancer will take your instructions. It is up to YOU to make the necessary checks.

You can only do this by [a] being there/seeing it yourself, or, employing somebody to ensure it has happened.

Conveyancers advise - with the ultimate decision being yours.

I agree - I will do exactly that. I've no intention of getting into a nightmare situation. However, it looks like the responsibility in law falls with the conveyancers. You are totally right in that you'd not want to find yourself trying to move into a house that had tenants in it, but purely from a legal perspective it seems like the conveyancers has the obligation to ensure the property is vacant. This is what I heard from the mortgage company too - they were relying on the conveyancers, legally.

I will keep updating as I hear more.

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

.... I guess you're on the train right now ....

At least if it doesn't go to plan you can buy some chips and have a nice walk around

:rotfl:
You must be psychic PN...I rarely log @ work but thought I would to check out some ins quotes, saw this on the front page....and so here I am sneaking 5 mins for a gossip

OK, today is 'Exchange Day' supposedly.
Don't want to hijack KWM's thread but Owner is meant to be dealing with tenant leaving today, messaging us and sols so they can do the deal.

I think I wouldn't be calm and serene is this wasn't a 2nd home (*ducks* as rotten vegetables are thrown at me for buying a 2nd one).

I wouldn't be calm if there was a mortgage involved as the offer could expire, we had to sell and vacate the one we are in by a certain date and we had to move in straight away (as tenant could do something not nice like wee on the carpets).

I have an old thread on here that is locked that I could update instead about wanting to buy a 2nd place 3 years ago but it's locked (as it's old, there wasn't any trouble on it).
How do I get a thread unlocked?

The house we are hoping to exchange on today is a few doors down from the 'dream' one I linked to on it and I had forgotten completely that I had actually chosen one back then

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2352937

Angie_B

kwmlondon wrote: »

I agree - I will do exactly that. I've no intention of getting into a nightmare situation. However, it looks like the responsibility in law falls with the conveyancers. You are totally right in that you'd not want to find yourself trying to move into a house that had tenants in it, but purely from a legal perspective it seems like the conveyancers has the obligation to ensure the property is vacant. This is what I heard from the mortgage company too - they were relying on the conveyancers, legally.

I will keep updating as I hear more.

The mortgage company may well be relying on the conveyancers, but the conveyancers are relying on you. Your conveyancer is not going to pop over to the flat/house on exchange day and check that it is empty. That is up to you to do that and confirm back to the solicitor.

On the day of exchange the solicitor will phone you up, ask you if you are happy and ready to exchange. It is your responsibility to check the property is empty and confirm that to the solicitor. I don't know how many more ways people can explain this to you.

The solicitors' "obligation" as you put it, is to check with you that you have confirmed vacant possession. If you don't don't do the check but do instruct the solicitor to exchange/complete, I don't see you getting very far in your complaint to the solicitor.

kwmlondon

Angie_B wrote: »

The mortgage company may well be relying on the conveyancers, but the conveyancers are relying on you. Your conveyancer is not going to pop over to the flat/house on exchange day and check that it is empty. That is up to you to do that and confirm back to the solicitor.

On the day of exchange the solicitor will phone you up, ask you if you are happy and ready to exchange. It is your responsibility to check the property is empty and confirm that to the solicitor. I don't know how many more ways people can explain this to you.

The solicitors' "obligation" as you put it, is to check with you that you have confirmed vacant possession. If you don't don't do the check but do instruct the solicitor to exchange/complete, I don't see you getting very far in your complaint to the solicitor.

Yes, yes - I will do this!

I have no intention of letting my solicitor go ahead with the exchange until I've seen the property empty.

However.... The information I'm getting as I go along makes interesting reading. I am not prepared to rely on the the solicitor - I know they can't do this - but the information I have at hand indicates that in law they are ultimately responsible. I will check all the documents as they come into my possession and post it on this thread.

Forgive me if I am putting all the information on the table and not relying on one source alone, but I think it's worth sharing what I'm being told.

I repeat, before someone else jumps down my throat what I've said on every single page:

I am not going to exchange until I see the place empty!

Dan-Dan

Nobody is saying you are , what you dont seem able to grasp is that it will be DOWN TO YOU , not anyone else if completion happens and theres people still living in your house

You wont have any recourse to your convenyancer

sinbad182

Everyone appreciates that.

The fact you're not getting is that the solicitor is only responsible for acting correctly on your instructions.

If you check the place is empty and instruct him to exchange, but then find the tenants were actually hiding under the floorboards or moved back in before completion its not suddenly down to the solicitor. You seem to be trying to convince yourself that your solicitor's presence will absolve you of any responsibility or risk in the transaction.

He will act in your interests when resolving the issue and ensuring you're properly compensated, but he wont suddenly be ultimately responsible for a hugely unlikely and unpredictable turn of bad luck.

StuC75

Do consider that the vendor may be hesitant to remove the tenants prior to exchange - since at that time he has nothing that binds you to completing the sale - he could tell you theyve moved out - and you then say 'dont want to proceed'.. (hes then left with an empty property!)...

Is it not normally the case the completion cannot occur without vacant possesion being provided. which is then the vendors problem if they are unable to provide that in time?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

If the curtains are all drawn, how would you know the property is definitely empty?