Have sold house, but cannot find another. Should we rent?

Jenka123

We have a buyer for our property and do not want to lose them as they have offered the asking price and there is only a very short chain. However, after having lost two properties we liked because we were not in a position to go ahead, we now cannot find another suitable house to purchase as there has not been much coming onto the market. We are thinking of going into rented for the time being. Can anyone give me their thoughts on this please.

Many thanks

Pixie5740

Unless house prices are rocketing in your area I think it might be quite a good idea. A 6 month AST is quite common and it could easily take 6 months from searching to completion. You could even give yourself a bit of overlap between ending the tenancy and completing which makes moving a lot easier in my experience.

DanJKelly

You may risk losing your buyers if you wait too long we recently pulled out of a property because she was taking forever to find an onward purchase and wasn't willing to go into temporary accommodation. We did however wait 6 months before giving up.

Jenka123

Many thanks for your reply. I haven't enquired about the possibility of a 6 month tenancy yet, but someone told me that they normally require you to sign for 12 months. We are not restricted to area though so hopefully we should be able to find something.

walwyn1978

Yes. Be explicit with the letting agency that you want a 6 month contract to begin with - it can always be extended.

If the LL is aware up front that you want 6 months with a possible extension and assuming everything else checks out, you should be ok. A few agencies may not do 12 months, but some will and/or some LL will be flexible as it may suit them.

Davesnave

An AST for 6 months and rolling contract thereafter is common enough. There are also holiday lets available over winter months in some places.

We rented after selling for similar reasons, but also because as cash buyers, we were hopeful of finding someone with a genuine need to sell fast at an attractive price.

Being property-free enabled the purchase of something we'd have had little hope of securing had we been encumbered. It also made the move between areas 100 miles apart much easier.

We were in the rental for a total of 9 months, which was large enough to hold everything we had, so we saved a little on storage costs too. It wasn't a very attractive house, but it was a means to an end.

PasturesNew

Yes, rent, but don't relax. Christmas is a big time for houses being put on the market....

Maybe get a "winter let", which is summer holiday accommodation let out during the winter months for flexible and varying amounts of time - and put all your stuff into storage. They're fully furnished and doing without your own stuff focusses your mind on cracking on and doing viewings etc.

Hoploz

We were in your position 2 years ago, but it was a rising market, so we knew if we lost our buyer before we found we could resell for more so it would be irritating but we wouldn't have minded. Likewise our buyer knew they wouldn't find a house as good as ours at that price, so they stuck with us for 6 months until we found.

If the local market is not rising, or you think you would struggle to sell again, then sell up and rent.

In my experience many tenancy agreements are 12 month contracts but with a 6 month break clause, meaning you can leave after the first 6 months with 2 months notice. (So you could give 2 months notice 4 months in)

However, bear in mind it is unwise to give notice on your rental until you exchange contracts on your new property as there is always a chance it could fall through up to that point. So there is likely to be a bit of an overlap which you'd need to pay rent for after you've completed on the new property. On the bright side, this overlap can be ideal if your new place needs renovating - you can stay in the rental property while you work on the new place

glasgowdan

Yes, absolutely rent. It's great to have a buyer and know for a fact your house is sold before you go in looking for a new one, and as said above the buying process may well take 6 months, even if you have an offer on a house accepted tomorrow!

michelle09

We pulled out of a house purchase because after three months the sellers hadn't even had an offer accepted. We only had seven months to complete a purchase and so we asked if they'd rent, they wouldn't so we pulled out. We made our seven month deadline (with four days to spare), their house was still on the market 10 months later.

So if you don't, you could well lose your buyer. Do you think being chain free will help you buy a new house when something you like does come on the market? You don't want to regret the decision.

Mickygg

PasturesNew wrote: »

Yes, rent, but don't relax. Christmas is a big time for houses being put on the market....

Maybe get a "winter let", which is summer holiday accommodation let out during the winter months for flexible and varying amounts of time - and put all your stuff into storage. They're fully furnished and doing without your own stuff focusses your mind on cracking on and doing viewings etc.

Really? I always thought Christmas was dead for houses?