Advice - Hesitant about Purchase of Tenanted House

Reggie256

I am curious to know what others might do in the situation I am currently in.
To start at the beginning, we had a house purchase fall through late February – I won’t elaborate too much on why other than saying that we pulled out due to the house being advertised as having no chain there was one and the vendor didn’t have anywhere else to live.
So a few weeks ago we decided to bite the proverbial bullet and viewed another house. We loved it, and decided to put in an offer which was quickly accepted. However, it is tenanted and we were initially hesitant to proceed too far with, for example, instructing our solicitor and revising the approved mortgage (from the purchase that fell through). The EA claims that the Vendor served the Tenants notice to vacate by 8th May. We were also still feeling a little ‘stung’ from the purchase that fell through.

We arranged a second viewing and at that time there were signs of the tenants packing/boxing items and the EA advised that they had made a note of some of the items that would be left in the property subsequent to their moving out.

However, my wife and I have been receiving telephone calls from the Estate agent stating that the Vendor is concerned that the sale is making no progress. In fact, the EA was pushy and borderline rude on the last call, basically saying that our slow progress wasn’t good enough.

To be clear, knowing the risks (and with the fact that there was some evidence of the tenants packing their belongings in mind) we subsequently decided to get the proverbial ball rolling and contacted our financial advisor and our solicitor, asking them to proceed with what they need to do. Today received another voicemail from the EA stating that the Vendor has called again and to call to discuss the situation and is concerned that “nothing is happening”.

My concerns, however, remain. The EA may claim that the tenants are moving out on the 8th May, and whilst there were signs of them packing we have no real evidence or guarantee of that. And we’ve taken a big risk instructing our solicitor/financial advisor to proceed – so what would others do in this situation?

marksoton

I'd be slapping the EA down and stating i'd proceeded even though HIS client can't currently offer vacant possession.

Dan-Dan

Some landlords just love having their cake and eating it dont they

Person_one

Reggie256 wrote: »

My concerns, however, remain. The EA may claim that the tenants are moving out on the 8th May, and whilst there were signs of them packing we have no real evidence or guarantee of that. And we’ve taken a big risk instructing our solicitor/financial advisor to proceed – so what would others do in this situation?

Tell the agent exactly that!

dc197

I'd ask to see copies of the notice supposedly served, along with details of the tenants' contract, to check that the notice is valid according to the tenancy type & date.

Guest101

dc197 wrote: »

I'd ask to see copies of the notice supposedly served, along with details of the tenants' contract, to check that the notice is valid according to the tenancy type & date.

Even then, notice can mean squat if tenants don't choose to move.


I'd not do anything further until the property is totally vacant.

HamburgerHilll

I'd suggest asking the seller to indemnify you against any costs incurred if the tenants are still in-situ at either exchange/completion of contracts....that should focus their minds a little.

Notice may have been served but it's far from certain that the tenants will have moved on by exchange/completion.

Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware!

franklee

I'd buy a nice bottle of wine and box of chocolates and try and find some way to talk to the tenants. It's a bit naughty but maybe knock on the door offer the wine/chocs and ask them most politely how firm their moving plans are making clear you're not there expecting to go in as if moving they will be extremely busy and possibly stressed. If no answer maybe have a card written with your mobile phone number to pop through letterbox. Alternatively you could try asking neighbours who may know if the tenant has found somewhere new.

Some solicitors do a no sale no fee arrangement so perhaps look for that.

Surveyors can have a lead time of a couple of weeks so if you instruct them now, find out when the appointment is, you can ask about cancellation terms.

Find out how long the local searches take. Ours took weeks, other areas take days, your solicitor if local should know so you may be able to delay starting those depending on how quickly they are done in your area.

Ultimately it's hope for the best. At least the landlord has actually served notice, we see plenty here who won't do that until after exchange of contacts.

nakiwala123

I would proceed with the buying process but NOT exchange contracts until the tenants are out. Get your solicitor to pass information on and have it as part of the contract.

Guest101

nakiwala123 wrote: »

I would proceed with the buying process but NOT exchange contracts until the tenants are out. Get your solicitor to pass information on and have it as part of the contract.

TBH that's the least of the OP worries, if the vendor is willing to exchange and then doesn't deliver they're in line to lose tens of thousands.

Reggie256

franklee wrote: »

I'd buy a nice bottle of wine and box of chocolates and try and find some way to talk to the tenants. It's a bit naughty but maybe knock on the door offer the wine/chocs and ask them most politely how firm their moving plans are making clear you're not there expecting to go in as if moving they will be extremely busy and possibly stressed. If no answer maybe have a card written with your mobile phone number to pop through letterbox. Alternatively you could try asking neighbours who may know if the tenant has found somewhere new.

Some solicitors do a no sale no fee arrangement so perhaps look for that.

Surveyors can have a lead time of a couple of weeks so if you instruct them now, find out when the appointment is, you can ask about cancellation terms.

Find out how long the local searches take. Ours took weeks, other areas take days, your solicitor if local should know so you may be able to delay starting those depending on how quickly they are done in your area.

Ultimately it's hope for the best. At least the landlord has actually served notice, we see plenty here who won't do that until after exchange of contacts.

Thanks for the reply.

Not sure about approaching the tenants, but I did briefly meet one of them as we were leaving the second viewing. Seemed very pleasant and since he pulled up on the drive in a nice Subaru, managed strike up a very short conversation about cars with him although didn't touch on the subject of when he and his family intend to vacate the property. He and his partner also clearly have two children - hopefully they'll be motivated to find somewhere else under the circumstances.

Surveyors and local searches - neither of these took very long with regard to the property that we eventually 'pulled out' on. And the house we are currently looking to purchase is, basically, in the same immediate area. So for as the surveyor goes - our financial advisor knows one who acts pretty quickly, so they only real issue there is how soon he'll be able to gain access to the property whilst the tenants are still living there.

So whilst I know we're taking a risk, we haven't gone into this completely blind; the primary issue is pushy estate agent and a vendor who is aledgely being impatient - and I say aledgeldy as we only really have the estate agent's word on that and I don't trust a word that she says.