Looking to buy the house we rent

Manchee

So we got a section 21 through the post yesterday for our house we rent, called the letting agent to ask why - the Landlord wants to sell up. Anyway, we're now thinking of making him an offer, but there's only so far googling can take you in respects to a valuation. Is there a way I can get some estate agents to come and value the house? I'm assuming if we told a bit of a fib and said it was our house they would find out somehow? Any ideas how we proceed with coming to a figure we feel comfortable offering?

G_M

Worth a try.

Jojo55

See if you can get in touch with the landlord and ask him what he wants. Usually your agreement has there name and address on it so write him a letter? The EA will try and steal some commission if you mention it to them!

DaftyDuck

Or contact a surveyor for a valuation survey. It will cost, but will give you a better guide to what you should pay. You should get one for 100 - 200 quid.

Campervanman

I had a BTL property that when I came to sell the tenant wanted to buy. The first conversation I would suggest is with the landlord. When I sold this particular property I worked with the tenant, I got three valuations, we agreed a price etc. It worked for them as they didnt have to move and for me as it was a simple process.

Kastanie

I've just bought a house this way. I really recommend it if you can do it!

My LL knew I'd started viewing other properties and gave me the option of buying the house I rented. He arranged for 3 EAs to come round and value the place. The valuations were 40k apart! Luckily we both knew the EA offering the top valuation was a complete shyster who always lowered the asking price once he'd hooked a seller.

Personally I wouldn't have felt comfortable pretending to be the seller to get valuations (I'm no good at fibbing) and also they rang and wrote to him loads afterwards to persuade him to sell through them.

I did lots of research into sold prices of houses of a similar age and size in the area and viewed other similar houses to get an idea of how their condition/price compared. This was really valuable. I also ignored the Zoopla "valuation".

I made the LL an offer based on the condition of the property, comparisons with sold prices of similar properties in the area, and the savings and advantages both for him and for me if selling privately.

After a bit of friendly discussion the offer was accepted

The advantages for me were obvious (love the house and area, get on with neighbours etc). The main advantages for the LL were:

- saving EA fees (and EA hassle) - BUT bear in mind yours could be asked to pay commission to the letting agent as an "introduction fee" even if you've lived there years. The letting agent waived this fee for my LL because he still rents out other houses through them.

- he did not have to spend even £1 on upgrading to sell (I accepted the house "sold as seen")

- I was unlikely to pull out as a result of any problems shown up by a survey. I knew the house inside out, far better than him. I knew all the things that needed upgrading and replacing. They didn't freak me out and I wasn't going to try and lower my offer because of them.

If I was to think of anything negative about the process, I would say it took longer than I expected considering it was a private sale with no chain. There was no EA to push the process along and give the seller a kick (I had everything in place quickly, he dallied a bit). However, this is a VERY VERY minor negative point and was far outweighed by not having EAs involved at all!! And also I never lost the roof over my head, never had to coordinate end of tenancy and moving, and never had rental deposit/inventory hassles.

The key to agreeing a price is to do your homework on sold prices, view other places, be realistic about the condition of yours, get 3 valuations, and have a sensible discussion about it