Inherited property with tenant - selling

jcgalliard

I have recently inherited a property that belonged to my late aunt. When she was alive she never mentioned the property to me and obviously no mention of tenant. So all a bit of a surprise when I was told about it all by the executors.

I have not intention of keeping the property as I now live and work in Spain and therefore looking to sell asap.

I made contact with the tenant who claimed to have lived in the property for around 18 years. He told me he is an Assured Tenant and was paying my aunt £900 per month. I asked him for a copy of his tenancy agreement or any other agreement confirming details of his tenancy. He told me no tenancy agreement existed as it was a verbal agreement between himself and my aunt (apparently they were friends). Since I made contact with him (which was 3 months ago) he has been paying me the rent without fail. I asked him if he was interested in buying the property; but he is not in a position to do so.

I have asked him to sign an agreement with me and that I am happy to keep the rent as is despite similar properties that are renting for £1300 per month. He has refused to do this. In fact he is being awkward since I mentioned I was looking to sell the property. I have only ever spoke to him via phone and have attempted to meet with him at the property but he is refusing me access or wanting to meet.

The only access he has allowed is for a gas safety inspection to be carried out and an EPC which were both done when I first contacted him.

I do not want to get into a war of landlord vs tenant over agreements or rent. However, I am mindful that it would be difficult for me to achieve market valuation should I sell the property under such circumstances. The bottom line is I want to sell asap.

What would be the best route to sell the property with tenant in situ under these circumstances?

Auction?
Open market?

Do I need to tell the tenant once I start marketing the property?

What can I do if he refuses viewings?

Apologise for all the questions - just want to cover all options.

Any advice would be appreciated?

Thank you in advance.

Rambosmum

He has an agreement, it just isn't in writing. Having transferred rent to you now he has also formed a tenancy with you. So he has the rights of a tenant, and you the responsibilities of a landlord.

Serve him notice- someone will be along shortly to tell you the correct way to do this, but it involves writing to him in a very specific format.

Keep all correspondence from and to him as written now.

lewishardwick

You have no hope of selling to anything but BTL, and even then, many wouldn't take an Assured Tenant.

xylophone

In your position I would see a solicitor.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/11445/138295.pdf
may be worth a look.

Guest101

Basically you can't evict him

davidmcn

Rambosmum wrote: »

Serve him notice- someone will be along shortly to tell you the correct way to do this

Or to point out that if it is an assured tenancy, the OP can't just "serve notice".

If so then auction would seem the best way to go.

Pixie5740

Assuming this is England or Wales then if the tenant has been living there for 18 years then he can't have an Assured Tenancy because this tenancy will have started after 27th February 1997. Unless the tenant has got his dates mixed up and 18 years is a woolly figure.

If there is a chance he really does have an Assured Tenancy them I'm not surprised he doesn't want to sign a new Assured Shorthold Tenancy with you as he would lose a lot of rights and protections.

So your first step is to establish exactly what kind of tenancy he has so that you can either evict him and sell or sell with him in-situ. A property with an Assured Tenant in-situ will be worth a lot less than one with an Assured Shorthold Tenant.

anselld

Rambosmum wrote: »

Serve him notice- someone will be along shortly to tell you the correct way to do this, but it involves writing to him in a very specific format.

If it is an Assured Tenancy there is no correct way to serve notice unless he has breached the terms somehow. Hence why he has been careful to continue paying rent on time, allow essential access, etc.

However in the absence of any written agreement it would be good to actually verify if he is indeed an Assured Tenant.

I think to be an Assured Tenant he would have to have started before Feb 1997, i.e. at least 19.5 years.

Marktheshark

His agreement could pre-dated the legislation and by accepting rent you have created a new one.
He could be there some time.

Why sell ? No other investment can even get close to the return this will bring in.

You have been gifted a free retirement pension and a damned good one at that.

Selling and you will regret it when you are still grafting at 70.

jcgalliard

I think I will just auction the property.

G_M

1) you are a landlord.
You need to learn fast about your responsibilities and liabilities (for starters you need to declare the rent to HMRC for tax!)

This post will give you an idea.........:
* New landlords: advice, information & links

2) next you need to establish what kind of tenancy this is.
* if an AST you can evict without too much difficulty
* if an Assured Tenancy, you're stuck with him unless you sell at auction (at reduced price) with him in situ.
* you only have his word for when the tenancy started, and it's a vague date anyway
* if you can get in writing a start date from him, you'll know what's what, BUT
* asking him for it may set off alarm bells with him.....
* ask the neighbours how long he's been there?
* does the Executer know?
* does the executer have bank records going back that far showing when the rent payment started?
* check with the Land Registry here, or ask the Executer, for the date your aunt bought the property
* if she previously lived in it, can you establish when she moved out? Council tax records etc?
* see the Shelter Tenancy checker here. 18 years ago = 1998. You'll see that Feb 1997 is a critical date so he may claim it was before that if pressed.