Can I sell my property if it's half-way through the lease?

insomniac_ut

Hello,


I have a property that is let out on a 2-year lease with no break clause. It's a standard agreement, though I can't remember whether it explicitly says that I can vacate the apartment if I'm selling or moving back into the property.


A further complication is that the tenant has constantly been one month in arrears since the tenancy started. He claims that the letting agent gave him a faulty bank account/sort code the first time round, so his first monthly payment went somewhere else. The letting agency say that we have no legal grounds to force an eviction because he's not in arrears for 2 consecutive months. I haven't forced the issue either, to be honest.


However, now I want to sell the property. So I was wondering fi I can vacate it given the tenant is about half-way through the lease?


Thank you.

verulamium

You can sell it with a tenant in situ. I've seen it done loads of times and many EAs will have landlords on their books. But you will be limited to selling to buy-to-let landlords only, so be prepared to sell for less than market value.

insomniac_ut

Is that my only option?

00ec25

insomniac_ut wrote: »

Is that my only option?

based on the info you provide yes your only option is sell to another LL. They will price their offer based on a multiple of the rental yield rather than the market value of the property hence you should/will get a low offer

why on earth did you grant a 2 year tenancy agreement without a break clause.

2 years means 2 years so no you cannot simply evict the current tenant, however, if you are prepared to gamble court fees you could issue a S8 on grounds of unpaid rent but it is at the discretion of the court if they accept your story or the tenant's story about payment having gone missing. that is why your LA says no because this would be a discretionary ground and so unlikely to succeed as courts do not like making people homeless and 1 month's missing money is not a good enough reason for the court to do so

AdrianC

insomniac_ut wrote: »

Is that my only option?

That or wait for the second year of the contract to expire, of course. They're not your only options, just the best and most likely ones.

You could ask the tenant if they're happy to end the contract early. Of course, they can always refuse. You freely signed a two year contract with them, after all, and if the shoe was on the other foot you wouldn't be particularly thrilled.

You could apply pressure for them to leave early - always assuming morality and legality were of lower importance to you than getting them out...

insomniac_ut

00ec25 wrote: »

why on earth did you grant a 2 year tenancy agreement without a break clause.

I wonder about that myself. Truth is I was happy to keep letting the property, but now I've found a different property that I'd like to buy (possibly also as a rental), so the need for selling has arisen.


Thanks for the help.

AdrianC

insomniac_ut wrote: »

but now I've found a different property that I'd like to buy (possibly also as a rental), so the need for selling has arisen.

"Need" sounds like a very strong word for those circumstances.

insomniac_ut

AdrianC wrote: »

"Need" sounds like a very strong word for those circumstances.

Not sure what you're implying. Can you clarify?

Guest101

If the tenant agrees to move out be prepared to pay all moving costs, including fees, can hire and quite possibly a sweetener.

Did u protect the deposit?

But like others have said that is realistically your only option. Just to clarify even if u had such a clause, to evict if u wished to sell, it would be unenforceable.

Guest101

insomniac_ut wrote: »

Not sure what you're implying. Can you clarify?

He's saying u want to, not have to

SerialRenter

insomniac_ut wrote: »

Hello,
A further complication is that the tenant has constantly been one month in arrears since the tenancy started. He claims that the letting agent gave him a faulty bank account/sort code the first time round, so his first monthly payment went somewhere else. The letting agency say that we have no legal grounds to force an eviction because he's not in arrears for 2 consecutive months. I haven't forced the issue either, to be honest.

This sounds like it's worth looking into, if the letting agent did give incorrect details and the tenant made a payment to the account he was instructed too, I see no reason why he should be liable for the loss. The letting agents would surely be liable for messing it up.
However, the tenant should have been able to talk to his bank and got it retrieved, and then repaid it.