Almost ready to make an offer, but rent agr till august. Seen ideal home too early?

Manchester-Man

Hi,

Me and my partner are private renting and have signed to be here until August. We have been saving up alot as we want to buy our own home, and at the moment have £13,500 saved. We have been looking at what we like, and what we dont, and reading up on the process of buying being first time buyers without a clue, we have a bit more of an idea now. We have had an agreement in principle off our bank of 110,000. We've been to see about 25 houses and to be honest started to worry that we was expecting too much for our money as didnt like any of them, and finally we've found one we both love. Its up for £115,000 though.

The owners of it want to move due to a growing family and space (theres more than enough for us) and as the owners were there during viewing i could see it was a valid reason for them. They told us they've been to see a few themselves, but not found anywhere yet and was waiting on offers for their own before they take their own viewings more seriously.

My question is, we are only in January, Me and partner have signed to be here until August paying £500 a month rent. We could afford if being very tight on money to pay maybe one or two months that werent needed, but if everything happened really quickly, how many months could we end up paying both a mortgage and rent? And when would you say is a more appropriate month to be making an offer? Part of us feels like we have found it too early, but the other part of us thinks we wont find one we both agree on again with a large garden like this that was a big priority for us. Whats the best thing to do? Obviously, they might not even accept our offer anyway as it will be less than the asking price as its up for 115,00. Its only been up for sale three weeks, but there is work that needs doing to it too, the edge of the windows on the outside the 'mastic'? has come away in some windows, the porch is timber and has rotted away on the outside, the back garden fence has been destroyed by the wind etc so i would think/hope they are prepared to move on the asking price a little. Its certainly not perfect and does require some work doing, when i say its ideal for us, it is for 'us'.

Thanks for reading

dirty_magic

If you can't afford more than a couple of months rent it probably is a little too early. It's difficult to know when to start looking though because if you leave it too late you might not find anywhere you like.

You could put an offer in and speak to your landlord to see if they'll agree an early surrender, but there's no guarantees and they could say no, in which case you might have to pull out.

We offered on a chain free house almost 7 months into our 12 month contract then moved in after 9 weeks, so we had to pay rent and mortgage for 4 months. We did get our deposit back, so that paid for one of the months.

We also didn't realise at the time, but some councils also make you pay council tax for a rental property you're not living in until the tenancy expires. Apparently some will waive it, but our council wouldn't so we had to pay 2 lots of council tax to the same borough. :mad:

Manchester-Man

Thank you for that, very helpful. Didnt think about two council taxes !!!!!!.

Doozergirl

I've been in a 7 month chain, so you never know what's going to happen!

It looks like you will be in a chain and the vendors haven't found anywhere, so I'd expect at least the average 3 months.

If you leave a tenancy early, the landlord should mitigate your losses, but you may have to pay some of their costs in finding a new tenant earlier than planned, although not the rent after the new tenant moves in. Why not speak to your landlord and see what they say?

dgtazzman

Why not make an offer on the understanding that you can't move till July/August? As the sellers haven't found a place to buy themselves yet, they might actually look favorably on it as it means they don't need to rush to find a new place themselves, but they have the security of a buyer in place. It would certainly put them in a better position when they eventually put an offer in on a new place. It could well take them several month to find a place they like and after that the whole process will likely take at least another 12 weeks.

Other than that, as mentioned, talk to your landlord if he/she will allow and early termination, perhaps offer to pay his fees for finding a new tenant of offer to keep paying the rent till a new tenant is found, though it sounds that runs the risk of stretching your finances.

Emmylou_2

It took six months for my (cash) purchase of an empty (probate) house. If there was a chain, I hate to think how long it would've taken.

I'd be looking now, and if there's anything you like the look of, you can say that you'd be looking to move in July (which gives you time to move at your leisure and do a proper post-move out clean so you get your tenancy deposit back).

big_trev

Start now. vendors don't have a house to go to. It could take monthes. You can always drag your completion date out if it progresses quickly.

G_M

Have you spoken to your landlord? If kept informed from an early stage of a tenant's plans, I'd be flexible about ending a tenancy early when the time came.

Not all LLs do though.

and agents tend to be less flexible still.

MoneyEM

I am in pretty much the same position. I have just signed a new tenancy agreement with a 2 month notice break clause after 6 months so I can't leave until August either. I'm currently paying £710 rent in London, and just put an offer in on a house in Kent. The vendor has already completed their chain and I'm FTB so if it gets accepted it could go through pretty quick...

I think I could cover the mortgage & rent if the mortgage is around £600... But after paying for all the essentials and 2 council tax payments means I would only have £270 a month to live on and feed myself.. which I guess is okay. I am wondering if my landlord would be open to us leaving early though, it is in East London in a now very popular area so he would have no problem renting it out, and for at least an extra £200 a month if he wanted, but he's always made it clear that good tenants are more valuable then getting market rate for his property.