Selling a House with Tenants

pandy12

Dear all

I am wondering if someone would mind offering me some advice. I bought my house back in 1997 in a village in the north of England and for the last 18 months have been renting it out through a letting agency that is let only, as i moved to the South West. I am currently renting a house in the a city in the South West but am considering selling my house in the North as i want to try to buy a flat down here as this would be better for me financially, the current tenants are quite happy to stay in the house and i was going to look into the different options of selling if the tenants want to stay in there and other options and i was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice. Its the first and only house i have ever bought so and information about selling would be useful. The letting agent is a let only company,

Any information on where to start would be useful.
many thanks
kind regards
pandy

Guest101

The letting company have nowt to do with sellign anyway. You can let with one and sell with another even if they offred you the services, so dont worry about that.

As for selling, you are selling to the Buy to Let (BTL) market. Assuming you have maintained the house to the lettings standard (including safety, eg fire alarms etc) - most landlords have no problems buying without vacant possession.

Your tenants have no guarantees past their current lease, but again, assuming they pay the rent most landlords are happy to keep good tenants.

You do lose a % of the market for people looking for residential properties. Is the area popular for rentals?

The process is similar to just selling a house, and who know by the time you come to selling the lease may be up and the tenants want to move on.

Building_Surveyor

Why not sell to your tenants? Have you asked them if their in a position to buy?

pandy12

thanks for both of your replies, I really appreciate your help. On 'right move' there were more properties for sale than rent in the area. I have not lived there for a couple of years so i presume this is still the same.
Currently i have heard that the tenants want to stay in the house, i am wondering whether they should sign another 6 month contract or whether i should put it on the market unoccupied as 4 years ago my neighbour's bigger semi was on the market for a couple of years and he had hardly any viewings. So this is why i was considering the 'buy to let' option as financially it would be better to have them still in there. I have not asked the tenants if they would like to buy as i have no direct contact with them, my only contact with them is via the letting agency. They have paid their rent on time as far as i can tell its the agency who i have had to chase on a couple of occasions as they haven't always been that great with communication and paying me the rent on time. I may give a couple of property agencies a call the ask them for their advice on the BTL market, many thanks for your help once again and have a nice weekend.

G_M

pandy12 wrote: »

Dear all

....have been renting it out through a letting agency that is let only, as i moved to the South West.

So who is managing the tenancy? With respect you sound as if you are not only far away, but also somewhat lacking in knowledge - not a good combination!

the current tenants are quite happy to stay in the house and i was going to look into the different options of selling if the tenants want to stay in there and other options and i was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice

You can:
* sell to the tenants (& perhaps have to pay a fee to the agent-read you contract)
* sell to an investor (at below market value)
* evict the tenants & then sell on the open market