Buying house with Tenants in ?

miggiwoo

We viewed a house in early December and knew it had been refurbished and were told , as we saw an unmade bed and clothes in a bedroom , that there was a single guy living there who would need 4 to 6 weeks notice ( words used by Estate agent).
We really liked the place and put in an offer that was accepted.As the house is on a street where people know us , my wife had a call a few days later ( after the sold sign had gone up) to say had we moved in because there were chrismas decorations up and a couple of cars in the drive.We said no and spoke to the (prospective) neighbours who said there was now a family moved in and they had a six-month lease.
We spoke to the Estate agents and asked them what was going on and finally spoke to the Vendor ( who only lives across from the house) and he said it had been empty for a while and a few days before we had our bid accepted , he had advertised and got this tenant in.Estate agents knew that there were a family moving in short term but told us it was a single guy.
The vendor has assured us that he had to give them a 6 month lease as its the minimum and a months notice and that he would get them to move out before we want to move in.We said that as there isnt much of a chain in our house sale we would like to move in as soon as.Our solicitor seems to think early March would be a fair date to aim for so am about to speak to the Vendor to say we would like the house vacant by end od Feb. to remedy any issues ie new kitchen and carpets , as this was what sold the house to us.
He has shown us his tenancy agreements and all the paperwork but we still have it at the back of our minds that we will about to exchange and they will still be in the house.
I wonder if the tenants could refuse to move or say that they will stay for the whole six months ?

Thanks for any replies/views:money:

Tixy

It does depend on the tenancy agreement but most likely the tenant could refuse to move and decide to stay for the whole of the 6months.

And if they still didn't move out after the 6months it could take the owner easily another 2 months to evict them.

Personally I would say you are not prepared to exchange until the property is vacant.
Or if you are prepared to exchange on it as a tenanted property then you would likely want to revise your offer and get a full understanding of your obligations once you become a landlord and potential problems you could have.

Your vendor may be prepared to pay the tenant to leave early rather than lose the sale to you.

AlexMac

Your solicitor will advise, and in our experience, she/he will advise you not to exchange unless you have assurances of vacant posession on completion. When we bought, the place had been tenanted for a few years. The tenant had moved out and was overseas, but as there were still a few months of her AST extant, our solicitor insisted the vendor's solicitor get her to sign some kind of formal agreement to terminate the tenancy early, because technically, she had the right to stay there til the end of her tenancy (usually a minimum of 6 months). Some hassle, as she was in Dubai! But done

So take your solicitor's advice- that's what you're paying them for.

thenewbee

A bank would not be willing to lend on a house that isn't vacant at exchange. We're buying a house that's rented by the current owner and the bank have asked us to visit pre exchange to ensure they have vacated.

tBagpuss_2

yes, if they have a tenancy agreement they are legally wentitled to remain until the end of the tenancy, and even then, evicting them could take months if they don't go voluntarily. Plus if you buy while they are still there you become a landlord with all the legal obligations that caries.

Speak to your solicitor, but you will need to make clear that this is your vendors problem, not yours. I would not be prepared to exchange until the tenants had vacated and there was prof that they had surrendered the tenancy.

kwmlondon

Your solicitors will advise you on this. I went through the process of buying a place with tenants in place and while it wasn't as bad as people warned me (they left on time and didn't cause me any grief) the people posting above are absolutely right when they say you could be looking at at least 6 months waiting to move in and then a couple more months if the tenants decide not to vacate (which isn't likely as they'll lose their deposit and be unable to obtain references.

Once you've told your solicitors they'll advise you on the process but as they are the people who take legal responsibility for the contractual process on behalf of the lenders they will not let you move into the property until it's empty. They would be unlikely to move on your instruction to exchange contracts without knowing it's vacant and certainly not let you complete, unless you have this agreed with your lenders and - trust me - you don't want to become landlords.

As it is the owner may not have an agreement from his/her mortgage company to let out the property, sounds like a pill*ck to be honest.

There are routes your vendor could take, e.g. offer the tenants some money to move out now, but why would he/she do this? There's money coming in and if you pull out he/she can sell to someone else.

You're basically at the seller's mercy on this and they've lied to you already. Goodness knows what state the place may be in by the time you actually get in there. When I bought my place with tenants in place I was prepared for a drawn-out process, and I knew that when I got in I'd need to refurbish it, are you prepared for the same? And being messed about a heck of a lot because your vendor sounds as nasty as mine was...

G_M

Personally I wouldnot even risk wasting my money on searches, survey, mortgage application etc until the tenant had left and I'd re-viewed to confirm.

Tenants can stay a long time ....

Never take seriously anything the agent says
a) he is not an expert in leting law
b) he just wants to persuade a buyer to make an offer. That's his sole purpose in life.

miggiwoo

Thanks for the replies.Am planning to ring the Vendor and say that he needs to give them notice to vacate for end of February.When we spoke to him just after Christmas , like I said , he seemed to know all about tenancy and renting.He showed us all of his paperwork for this property and mentioned that the tenant had signed the 4 week termination form and that he would guarantee that he would get the tenant out before we exchanged.He said that it would be his problem to get the tenant out.
He said that the tenants were fair and respected that it was a short term lease.However , we now feel that he should be giving them notice to leave and it isnt our problem if he loses a months rent if it takes slightly longer to exchange.

princeofpounds

planning to ring the Vendor and say that he needs to give them notice to vacate for end of February.

He cannot.

If they moved in around the time of the viewing (you are not clear on this but I think this is what you meant) then the landlord cannot use a Section 21 notice route to terminate the tenancy until around May-time.

Under law a landlord cannot terminate a tenancy for at least 6 months unless there are special grounds like non-payment of rent.

If the family do not want to move (and they may well not!) then you might be looking at 2-4 months after that before the house is actually vacant.

There is no such thing as a '4-week notice form'.

Maybe they really do understand and will leave as asked, or the LL might pay them to leave early (as they can agree to end the tenancy mutually) but you cannot know that and more importantly it cannot be enforced.

paddedjohn

Unless you are prepared to wait for a few months for this house then you might be better advised to start looking elsewhere.

miggiwoo

kwmlondon wrote: »

Your solicitors will advise you on this. I went through the process of buying a place with tenants in place and while it wasn't as bad as people warned me (they left on time and didn't cause me any grief) the people posting above are absolutely right when they say you could be looking at at least 6 months waiting to move in and then a couple more months if the tenants decide not to vacate (which isn't likely as they'll lose their deposit and be unable to obtain references.

Once you've told your solicitors they'll advise you on the process but as they are the people who take legal responsibility for the contractual process on behalf of the lenders they will not let you move into the property until it's empty. They would be unlikely to move on your instruction to exchange contracts without knowing it's vacant and certainly not let you complete, unless you have this agreed with your lenders and - trust me - you don't want to become landlords.

As it is the owner may not have an agreement from his/her mortgage company to let out the property, sounds like a pill*ck to be honest.

There are routes your vendor could take, e.g. offer the tenants some money to move out now, but why would he/she do this? There's money coming in and if you pull out he/she can sell to someone else.

You're basically at the seller's mercy on this and they've lied to you already. Goodness knows what state the place may be in by the time you actually get in there. When I bought my place with tenants in place I was prepared for a drawn-out process, and I knew that when I got in I'd need to refurbish it, are you prepared for the same? And being messed about a heck of a lot because your vendor sounds as nasty as mine was...

Thanks , as the vendor lives on the same street and we only live 5 minutes away he said we would be welcome to accompany him when he does his monthly inspection ( anytime now) and we could also measure up etc.
I wonder if it is worth speaking to the tenant also and ask what plans they have in place to move as we would be looking to move in early March.
When we viewed the house it had new kitchen/bathroom/carpets and was a big plus for us.The vendor said it would be back to this standard before we exchanged.I feel the vendor is being honest with us and know he has a lot of experience in renting and selling properties but as we are in receipt of solicitors letters and requests for disbursements we want to be sure we don't go too far down the road if the tenants won't/refuse to vacate.