Person Wants to Rent then Buy My House

weapon90

Really after some advice please, I own my parents old house (they have moved out and in bungalow), it is on the open market for sale and we have had one really interested viewer but they are just putting their house on to the market shortly, in the mean time an old neighbour of my mothers has contacted us to say her friends parents have had their tennancy notice given and are looking for somewhere urgently, the daughter has said that her parents would be looking to rent straight away with a view to buying and they would be looking to complete the mortgage deal whilst renting.

I am sure it is not an unusual situation but do not really know how to progress, have not discussed figures yet but will do tomorrow. Do I get the estate agent to draw up a short term tennancy agreement ie month by month and then accept an offer and let the solicitor sort? Is there some kind of Let to Buy agreement I can use where we agree the sale price first and let out whilst contracts are exchange? Other questions I can think of are will I still need credit checks and will I still need a bond?

davidmcn

Others have posted here about similar proposals. I would just say no, it's far too much hassle to become a landlord when what you're wanting to do is sell. They can find somewhere else to stay while they get their mortgage sorted.

weapon90

Hi, sorry if my post was confusing. They want to buy my house but want to move in quickly, far quicker than what completion would be so proposing to rent and live in my house whilst the mortgage to buy it completes

Pixie5740

You'd still be their LL with all the responsibilities that come with that. What if they are not accepted for a mortgage and cannot complete? You'd be stuck with them for at least 6 months whilst you try and find a new buyer who's not put off by tenants in-situ.

In your shoes I would say no.

theartfullodger

No:

If they move in you will have great difficultly getting them out quick: Simply say no, if they want to buy then do so vacant property.

They are after some fiddle

weapon90

Can I not give them a month to month tennancy and say to them I want to see a mortgage in principle when they make the offer which I would expect in the first month, if not I will give them notice?

Nobbie1967

The problem is that they can't commit to buy until they have a mortgage in place, so you could end up with tenants that you need to evict before selling your house to someone else.

agrinnall

Most pertinently, your solicitor will say No, so the whole thing is a non-starter. Either rent or sell, but trying to combining both is, to be blunt, a stupid idea.

sidefx

NO NO NO!!!

I know someone who did this ended up the tenants/potentail buyers, living there for nearly 2 years, not paying any rent and the owner had to spend a fortune on solicitor fees to get them evicted!!

They never had any intention of buying the house and were just nasty con artists!!

So no OP don't even contemplate it!!

weapon90

Wow, cheers guys its fantastic having a board like this where sound advice like this can be gleaned. Daft question but hows about if they made an offer with a mortgage in principle and I accept it can they then move in and pay me rent until completion? At least it then proves they have intent and are credit worthy, or am I just totally naive?

MamaMoo_2

If they have had their notice that's two months before the notice expires, and even then they don't have to move until they're physically evicted after a court order, which could take months.
Sounds to me like they have plenty of time to sort out a mortgage in the mean time.