Can I let then sell this myself?

thestens

We are in the process of selling my mum's flat in a sheltered housing complex. She is now in care. We may have a private sale by a lady who is at present living in another part of the country and wants to move here immediately as her husband has died and her relatives live here. She has asked if we would rent the flat to her until her house sells, then she would buy it. If we accept this, would it be feasible to avoid letting agents and estate agents and do it all ourselves? If so, what do we need to know - can we set up our own tenancy agreement safely, for example? Any advice welcome.

FelinePrincess

Not sure about the tenancy agreement side of things but something important to consider is what happens if her house takes a long time to sell? Or never sells? You could end up stuck with her as a tenant rather then a buyer. How would you feel if a year after she has moved in she is showing no signs of buying and you are forced to ask her to move out so you can sell your flat?

I'd think about this very carefully before making any agreements

harrys_dad

I would absolutely 100% not do this unless you are happy to become a landlord for what could be a long time.

G_M

Becoming a LL is not to be undertaken lightly.

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FelinePrincess (lovely name!) makes good points too - the sale may never happen and you are then stuck trying to evict a tenant and then sell.

As for an agent, if you do decide to let the property, there is no need for an agent provided you are willing, and able, to undertake all the relevant work.

You also need to look at the Sheltered Housing rules. There may be restrictions, covenants et on who you can/can't sell to, whether permission is needed for leting etc etc. I'm not familiar with SH schemes but you need to check.

thestens

Yes there are rules as to how we let the flat - we are aware of these. We were originally going to let or sell the flat, whichever happened first, but decided we would prefer to sell as the figures for the rental income and interest from putting the money from the sale on 5yr deposit were about the same.
Therefore it wouldn't especially bother us if she rented for a while, a year even, as at least we'd be getting an income on the flat and historically they haven't been selling quickly on the open market, so could be stuck with it anyway, earning nothing and still having to pay the service charge ( high) and ground rent.
We are already landlords of 3 properties, albeit with an agent to manage them, so are aware of the possible downside.
I wonder if we could have something drawn up by a solicitor to give us a right to reclaim the flat if she hadn't sold within a certain time, maybe a year?? Any other ideas on how we could make this work? It sounds like it should be good for us, as we will have a buyer eventually and income while she sells, and also good for her as she can join her family in the flat she wants straight away.

G_M

Once you let you will have tenants, with tenants rights.

If you want to evict, you'll have to do so in accordance with tenancy law.

Drafting "something drawn up by a solicitor to give us a right to reclaim the flat if she hadn't sold within a certain time," would not over-rule those rights (though as an experienced landlord you don't really need to be told that...).

thestens

That's true (although we haven't had to evict a tenant). We will give it more thought - the lady hasn't said for certain that she wants to do this yet, so have got time to think about it.

thestens

Hmm - we were wondering about that too! She doesn't know the area at all and may decide she either doesn't like it or find a better flat once she is here. Also there is one below my mum's which is cheaper, so she may yet go for that one anyway.
She knocked on the door of the complex to ask the housemanager about
ones that are for sale and he knew that we were just about to put the flat on the market and being a nice bloke, he showed it to her.