We've withdrawn our offer!

johnswife · 27 June 2014 at 6:15PM

Just spoke to my sister who does conveyancing and definitely do not exchange contracts with tenants in.

Good luck hope it works out for you.

ognum · 27 June 2014 at 6:16PM

Eejay wrote: »

Not sure, that is something we will have to look into but I have mentioned it to my husband so he is aware it may be an issue (see, I did take notice of advice! ).

The tenants are in the process of buying somewhere - the man told us that himself when we went for the viewing. He said the property wasn't big enough for his family any more and they'd been planning on going anyway. The EA told me yesterday that the first place they had lined up fell through since then, but they've found somewhere new. I said to the EA I'd rather not 'kick them out' until they are ready to go but she said two months is all they'll need - and they might even give their notice first.

I am sure the tenants have every intention of leaving BUt the issue with tenants who are buying is they do not want to take another tenancy and sign up for 6/12 months somewhere else and they do not need another reference so essentially there is no unsentimental for them to move before they are ready.

So they will stay until there ready, the EA is talking nonsense if they say two months is enough, they simply don't know and what if they need three or four months until they are ready to move. The vendor is not going to get them out quickly if their rent is paid to date and they just don't want to go. So you are waiting for the tenants to be ready to go.

ognum · 27 June 2014 at 6:17PM

Yorkie1 wrote: »

OP, given that you refuse to take on board any of the advice given on here, I wonder why you continue to post. And I wonder why others continue to offer opinions which will be ignored.

I'm beginning to agree with this OP seems to be enjoying the drama and creating more, I think she is bored!!!,

Eejay · 27 June 2014 at 6:26PM

Not bored but believe what you want. Just really want the house. If it makes people happier then I will leave the forum (I can't read responses and then not defend myself), but I reply to people because I feel it's rude not to. However there are some pretty rude people posting on here anyway (certainly not all, but some of the comments are unnecessary!) so maybe it'd be better if I did just leave it.

ETA: Actually, I've changed my mind. I can and will ignore this thread, because I quite enjoy the forum and responding to other people's threads.

If anyone wants to know the outcome of our situation then feel free to PM me in about a year's time lol

Eejay · 27 June 2014 at 6:28PM

johnswife wrote: »

Just spoke to my sister who does conveyancing and definitely do not exchange contracts with tenants in.

Good luck hope it works out for you.

I will bear this in mind, thanks. Despite the conclusions people are beginning to reach, I do appreciate the advice people have been giving and have taken the useful bits on board!

densol_2 · 28 June 2014 at 8:05AM

I think it's a question of you pays your money you take your risk ! For example for devils advocate - let's say you are buying a standard house off a family with adult children and one child decides he isn't going to move out on completion and stays put - unlikely but possible - it's a risk.

We were renting years ago and the purchaser exchanged on the house with us in it - we are professionals - we moved out on the day we said etc and he moved in a few days later.

What I would want to know in your situation is ( even though I personally wouldn't necessarily take the risk )

1. What type of tenancy does this individual have on the house
2. What is the rent
3. How long has he lived there
4. Has he ever missed a payment
5. Has he ever made a complaint - been difficult
6. What does he do for a living
7. Are any children in the house ?

The above would give me an indication of the likely risk ( if you are prepared to take the risk - despite the advice given )

If for example - chap on own - professional, always paid rent, good as gold , had an excellent credit rating, has indicated already looking at other places, market rent etc - less risk.

Other scenario - family - 2 young kids go to local school, very cheap rent as lived there for ages, always complaining, always late with rent despite HB..... I'd run a mile as the risk outweighs the benefits

Just my personal opinion

Eejay · 26 September 2014 at 1:40PM

Our 'stupidity' paid off! The tenants handed their notice in in July and were out by early August. We completed at the end of August and are in the process of doing it up.

We stripped all of the walls off and realised the plaster was not in great condition - and absolutely terrible in some parts. The ceilings are sagging in places so we're having those boarded over. We've had the wall between the kitchen and dining room taken out and an RSJ put in, the cupboard under the stairs opened up (the bigger section was accessed via the kitchen so with it closed off from that side we can have more kitchen units - and there was a window in there which was a waste so now we have a small cupboard under the window hiding the gas/electric bits and pieces), and the wall between the bathroom and toilet taken out and the door moved to make the 'new' bathroom square.

When we went to view the under house storage we met the tenants and they told us loads about the house. They pointed out that there was only one plug socket in most rooms, so we'd probably want to add more. We decided we might as well rewire everything whilst we were at it. They also said the boiler was fine, but it's fairly old and inefficient so we're getting a new one.

We found that the original Victorian style four panel doors were hidden by ugly plain panels, and someone had boarded over the original banister - so it's got more 'character' than we thought.

There's plenty more to do on the house once we have more money, but that's one of the things I love about it. We'll need to replace the garden wall at some point for example as the surveyor discovered it could be pushed over if someone leans on it, so we've propped it up a bit for now. We've made absolutely sure it's not dangerous though - I've heard some tragic stories in the past. We will also need to do something with the drive eventually as it has a stupidly thin layer of tarmac which is actually causing damp issues inside the front door. We've pulled up a channel down the length of the drive as a temporary measure but it looks too silly to be a permanent fix.

Can't wait to enjoy the garden - we've been advised to chop all of the trees down to give us more light (just by family and neighbours - the trees aren't near enough to the house to be a real problem!) but we love them. The tenants said that they've even seen woodpeckers!

I can't wait to get on with decorating in the next few weeks, although I don't suppose I'll have much time - Jasmine was born on 2nd August and it's often an effort to find time for lunch now, let alone painting! I've had a few people offer to keep her entertained between feeds though so I'll get to do a little at least. And I can always pick the colours

Anyway, thanks again for all of the advice! At least it made us a little more wary and we knew it probably wouldn't be as simple as we'd first imagined. But we got there eventually!