Landlord Wants to Sell - Buy It?

dataleak

Title sums it up really. Been in a rented house for just over a year and am now on a rolling monthly contract. We don't have many issues with the landlord (although the managing agents are a little useless) and I'd hope they are happy with us.

Had a call from the managing agent recently to say the landlord wants to sell. My first thought and question was 'how much?' they went away to ask the landlord the asking price. It is very reasonable for the house. I'm leaning toward putting in an offer as I am happy living in the house and area, but I would be a first time buyer so not sure what to expect, what are the questions that should be asked etc. I also haven't looked into mortgages yet, but from rough online calculators I would probably get the amount I'd need (I'd have a 20% deposit).

I also wonder if this would be an advantage to the landlord having a current tenant buy the house. On one hand the landlord would have rental income up until the point of sale which he wouldn't have if he served my notice now and spent a few months getting a buyer. But if I offer the lower end of the two figures I've been given, would they rather try their luck by giving me notice and getting a few grand more?

Any advice would be appreciated.

somethingcorporate

I'm not sure what you have got to lose.

We've just had an offer (totally out of the blue) from our tenant around what we'd expect for the property and for the reasons you've outlined above have bitten their hand off (we've been thinking of getting rid of for a while).

warehouse

You know the house, area, neighbours etc etc, are happy and are getting it below market value? Buy buy buy.

Don't give the landlord a chance to get an estate agent and ask for a discount on the price for saving those fees. Get moving!

dataleak

Thanks for the replies. From the brief call with the agent I think the landlord wants to sell through the same company (they do lettings and homes to buy) and want to take photos next week for their listing. They have mentioned giving us 'first refusal' though. I just wonder if they're likely to keep their word on that or whether they'll go straight to market.

Our rent isn't a huge amount and I reckon the landlord gets even less once the agent takes their fee so I would assume the landlord wants to get out of the game as somethingcorporate mentions above.

Kastanie

I did this recently and wrote a post on it:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=65540334&postcount=6

Hope it helps!

pmlindyloo

We bought our rented house from our landlord.

Just a few, hopefully helpful, remarks.

1) Do get a mortgage offer in principle asap. Without this the LL may feel that they are wasting their time with you.
2) Do be aware that letting agents often have fees written into their contracts with the landlord if a tenant buys the property. Although this won't affect you the landlord may have to pay fees (our landlord had to pay 1% of the house price) so don't expect a reduction in price because your LL is selling privately to you.
3) If all goes well then do instruct a good conveyancer as things like return of deposit must be written into the contract plus rent payable up to exchange (may have to be pro rata) and furniture/fitting left behind.
4) Do make sure that you have all certificates/planning permission/building regs documentation in place from your landlord. They may try to say that they're not needed because you have been living there and 'know' the place. If the LL agrees to sell to you then it should be conducted as if you were just buying the property and not living there. Remember you might want to sell in the future.

This can work really well not least because there is no moving involved so no packing etc etc

It still can be stressful though. We were cash buyers, had no searches done (the owner had only bought it the year before) and no survey but it still took 3 months (We each blamed the other's solicitor!)

dataleak

pmlindyloo wrote: »

We bought our rented house from our landlord.

Just a few, hopefully helpful, remarks.

1) Do get a mortgage offer in principle asap. Without this the LL may feel that they are wasting their time with you.
2) Do be aware that letting agents often have fees written into their contracts with the landlord if a tenant buys the property. Although this won't affect you the landlord may have to pay fees (our landlord had to pay 1% of the house price) so don't expect a reduction in price because your LL is selling privately to you.
3) If all goes well then do instruct a good conveyancer as things like return of deposit must be written into the contract plus rent payable up to exchange (may have to be pro rata) and furniture/fitting left behind.
4) Do make sure that you have all certificates/planning permission/building regs documentation in place from your landlord. They may try to say that they're not needed because you have been living there and 'know' the place. If the LL agrees to sell to you then it should be conducted as if you were just buying the property and not living there. Remember you might want to sell in the future.

This can work really well not least because there is no moving involved so no packing etc etc

It still can be stressful though. We were cash buyers, had no searches done (the owner had only bought it the year before) and no survey but it still took 3 months (We each blamed the other's solicitor!)

Thanks for that. This is exactly the advise I was looking for - do's and dont's when buying from a landlord!

Some of it makes sense, and some points I wouldn't have thought of before you mentioned it.

I'll research the boards and site for mortgages pronto me thinks.

jamesd

dataleak wrote: »

Had a call from the managing agent recently to say the landlord wants to sell. My first thought and question was 'how much?' they went away to ask the landlord the asking price. It is very reasonable for the house.

What I did in a similar situation was look at what was on the market and buy a different place on the same street that looked like a better deal. The landlord ended up not finding a buyer at a price they were willing to accept.

It's a nice deal for the landlord if the tenant buys the house. Can help a bit with negotiations based on lower cost. I haven't been watching the discount between asking and accepted price but nationally I expect it's around 5-15% depending on area, not so in London though. Do your homework on comparable sales in the area to see what they have been going for.

Better_Days

The first house we bought was the one we were renting. If you like the house and the AP is reasonable then it is well worth considering.

As other posters have said you wont have to move and faff around finding somewhere else to rent.

The biggest advantage for us that we were able to 'try before we buy' We knew the house and area well having lived there for a while.

Only thing I would add is that if you decide to proceed when you offer don't forget to stipulate what is included in the offer. Come completion you don't want the LL rocking up and taking the curtains, white goods and anything else you would prefer to keep.