Tenants won't leave the house I'm buying

AlexMac

Lots of good (albeit depressing) advice above, but while you and your solicitor need to ask a lot more questions, i have experience as a landlord of one issue cited above which migh provide grounds for optimism...

gingercordial wrote: »

...
You mention that they have tried to get a council house. Often it is the case that a council will not house somebody unless they have been properly evicted by a court with baliffs (the council doesn't have enough spare housing to take people earlier than this). In which case you are looking at waiting for the existing owner to navigate the long and complex court process for eviction. As others have said, this could be 40 weeks...

I had a tenant in exactly that position. An unemployed single parent, she had the priority to get a Council place after years on the waiting list, but the Housing Officials (bless 'em) tipped her off that, in practic,e she wouldn't actually get an offer unless she was technically homeless.

She had been a good tenant, so I colluded with the Kafka-esque nonsense of the Council (who are desperately short of homes) having to use the Courts as part of their allocations process,. With her knowledge and encouragement, I served notice and took her to Court for re-possession. That alone wasn't good enough for the Council, so I had to follow through with a Baliff's order, as the Local Authority wouldn't act til they were about to knock on the door!

Armed with that threatening paperwork, she got the offer (and I just rang the baliffs to tell 'em to hold off). Barking mad really, but it worked for her; she's now in well-deserved secure housing, in a job, and in a stable relationship.

So (and because if she or he is any good, your solicitor won't let you exchange, let alone complete, without vacant possession) ask qauestions and find out what the other side are doing and if the vendor actually knows 4r5e from elbow?

Beacuse if the tenat doesn't actually want to leave, and wants to take to to the wire you'd maybe better take Ginger's advice to...

gingercordial wrote: »

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...look for another place to buy unless you are willing to wait that long.

But don't write it off til you have all the facts! Good luck; buying is stressful enough without all this faff.

aneary

BTW you don't have to wait for the baliffs to get a council property.

Yes if you want one right now then yes you do, however if you are in rented then you go on a list and you login each week and bid for properties each week, eventually you get to the top of the list and get a property.

I have two friends one spent 4 years on the list the other spent 18 months on the list both in Surrey so there aren't that many council houses.

AdrianC

silvercar wrote: »

It is for the seller to ensure that the property has vacant possession not the buyer.

And since the vendor can't guarantee that, it's the vendor that would be the idiot to exchange contracts right now - since they cannot complete, and would be left with potentially huge costs.

OP - this is not ending in a hurry. You really have two choices - be very, VERY patient, or start looking for somewhere else.

buggy_boy

Who told you they have been offered a council house... Unfortunately councils these days will not accept that someone is homeless and in need of council accommodation until the bailiffs turn up and physically kick them out.

This can cost the landlord lots of money and can take months... Contrary to popular belief and the corbynista papers, tenants actually have a lot of rights.

For reference this is basically how it would work, presuming tenants are not in a fixed term contract (Cant be evicted until after the fixed term), landlord will need to give 2 months (more if more stated on tenancy agreement) notice, this should be in the form of a correctly completed section 21 form (Judges can and will kick out cases for the tiniest of mistakes, can hire an expert to increase your chance (costs money)), once the two months is up if the tenant has not vacated then the landlord can apply to the courts for the Section 21 notice to be enforced (costs money) You have to wait maybe a few months to get a court date, at which time the tenant can make all sorts of allegations or hardships, case is then adjured for a month or two for both parties to provide proof, if and when the case is accepted the judge will give normally 60 days or so (can be more if they have kids) for the tenants to leave... This basically is just confirming the Section 21 notice is valid and enforceable, tenant still is not breaking any laws if they do not leave. Once the time given by the judge is up the landlord can then apply to bailiffs to enforce the judges decision (costs money), this can take another couple of months. On the day the bailiffs come round if the tenant refuses to leave the bailiffs have power of entry so can lawfully break into the property, they then have possession of the property, if the tenants refuse to leave they are then breaking the law (its at this point councils will accept someone is homeless and needs a accommodation (providing they meet the criteria)).. You can then end up with a load of the tenants stuff in the property which can take a few more weeks to sort...

Its a crazy system but sounds like you could be in it for the long haul, you dont really have any power, you need to buy the property with vacant possession so all you can do is ask at what stage the landlord is at in the process and put an ultimatum. Landlords have often paid tenants to move out but sounds like these want a council house so probably wont budge till they are physically kicked out, the current landlord sounds like he is trying to avoid the cost and hastle by moving it on to you. But for the reasons above and the fact you really dont want the stress dont sign until you confirm its vacant.

[Deleted User]

With my council, as an ex private tenant, I wasn't offered a property until AFTER the bailiffs had been round to remove me from the private rental.

Not sure where you are getting the information from as to a council place being offered.., but it may not have been unless they got lucky and were offered one purely due to being on a waiting list for donkeys years (possible but not likely as with the shortage of social housing normally more priority is needed like from actually being evicted and actually being on the streets).

Like I said, I was on the streets at 10am, wasn't offered a place until 15pm that day. In spite of giving the council all the possession order and bailiffs warrant paperwork as it was served to me (well in advance of bailiffs knocking on the door). That seems to be the usual rather than the exception. Councils are 'supposed' to not make it go that far, but a lot of them do. Once you are 28 days from the bailiffs warrant/from being officially evicted, legally, you are homeless. But councils make you wait that extra time til the knock at the door comes. Believe you me its not a happy time for tenants! Only an insane person would enjoy or deliberately cause themselves to go through this drawn out process when being evicted.

kazwookie

I would be walking away and looking for another property

It is likely to take ages to sort out

What ever you do, do NOT sign any more legal paper work.

pretamang

Get out there and start looking at other properties to buy. You don't have to pull out of this one to do so, but you might be waiting a long time and miss out on something that is actually ready for a sale.

Call the same estate agent that is working on this sale and ask what else they have that you can view. They might then get involved and do a bit more to help the seller get the tenants out, at the same time they know you are a serious buyer and will probably put you first in the queue to view anything else coming on.

theartfullodger

silvercar wrote: »

Your missing out that the new owner will b buying with vacant possession and a mortgage offer that is for an owner occupier not a buy-to-let mortgage.

It is for the seller to ensure that the property has vacant possession not the buyer.



Probably hoping for a payout from the landlord to go quietly. You don't know they have foregone the council house, they could have moved in and left one or two family members in their old home.

That's fine but it doesn't change rights of tenants to remain

Davesnave

pretamang wrote: »

Call the same estate agent that is working on this sale and ask what else they have that you can view. They might then get involved and do a bit more to help the seller get the tenants out,

How does that work, then?

Are you implying that the EA has a bunch of heavies they use for this on an occasional basis?

If not, what are you implying?

Murphybear

theartfullodger wrote: »

Just because there is a change of ownership does not mean tenancy ends nor that tenants have to leave. Even if new owner is outside with huge removal van, 3 bonkers kids & a screaming deranged hubbie.

If it's worth buying, buy it. You will then be a landlord with a lovely income stream of regular rent payments, paying way over any bank account. What's not to like eh?

What’s not to like? Nowhere to live:rotfl: