Sold house to tenants, are they due a rent refund?

Brb123

I have sold my house to my tenants, we completed half way through the monthly rental period and they have asked for a refund for the remaining 15 days of the rental period. Should I pay this? Their solicitor caused a weeks delay on completion which meant I had to pay the mortgage for the month and additional rent in the house I lived in, so cannot understand why they would be due a refund on their rent. Does anyone know the law on this?

need_an_answer

What does 15 days rent payment equate to in real terms?

Really this is an area that should have been clarified prior to exchange and completion but clearly neither party thought to raise the subject.

You cannot take rent from a tenant that overlaps another tenant in the property within the same period.
The fact is the tenant probably paid you rent for the period and a sum of money to you on completion of the sale of the property to them. Laterally thinking it could be seen that they have paid twice.

My guess is its a few hundred pounds,only you can work out if its worth the hassle of further action which may end up costing you more

In my mind you either get completion funds or rent,but not both.

marliepanda

Brb123 wrote: »

I have sold my house to my tenants, we completed half way through the monthly rental period and they have asked for a refund for the remaining 15 days of the rental period. Should I pay this? Their solicitor caused a weeks delay on completion which meant I had to pay the mortgage for the month and additional rent in the house I lived in, so cannot understand why they would be due a refund on their rent. Does anyone know the law on this?

1. What agreement did you have with your tenants about how the rent would work when they bought the property from you

2. How did your tenants not buying your house mean you had to pay extra rent?

3. Surely your mortgage payment affected your mortgage redemption balance so you did not 'lose' the payment?

Carrot007

And paying again means there was less to pay off the mortgage on completion so you did not lose it.


No idea where the law stands but how can you charge them rent for something you cannot give? You no longer own the home to rent it to them! A refund seems reasonable.

pmlindyloo

We bought our house from our landlord and our solicitor sorted this all out for us - deducting the rent owed and the deposit from the sale price.

Did your or their solicitor factor this into the negotiations? What happened about your tenants' deposit.

I don't know about the 'law' but it is something that your solicitor should have dealt with (or theirs)

Logic tells me that that they shouldn't be paying rent to you when they own the house!

Perhaps go back to the solicitor and ask?

Delays etc are not really relevant - annoying but part of the house selling process.

davidmcn

As above - logically/morally you should be refunding them, and in any event it ought to have been covered by the contract unless both solicitors were asleep on the job.

tacpot12

The law as such is that rent is due until the end of the tenancy. This tenancy ended (by mutual agreement) at the point of completion. The fact that their solicitor caused a delay in completion will mean that they own you an additional week's rent because their tenancy has continued for an additional week. So I think you should pay them back the rent they have paid to you for the period after they completed on the property.

You have not lost any of the additional mortgage you paid because your solicitor will have had to pay less to the mortgage company as a result of you making the extra payment so you will get back what you have paid via your solicitor.

I don't see how any of this would affect the rent for the house you actually live in. Perhaps you could explain some more...

Red-Squirrel_2

Brb123 wrote: »

I have sold my house to my tenants, we completed half way through the monthly rental period and they have asked for a refund for the remaining 15 days of the rental period. Should I pay this? Their solicitor caused a weeks delay on completion which meant I had to pay the mortgage for the month and additional rent in the house I lived in, so cannot understand why they would be due a refund on their rent. Does anyone know the law on this?

Yes. You need to pro rata the rent so that they are only paying up until the day of completion.

Rent isn't due to you from them once they own the house and you don't, surely that's obvious?

need_an_answer

Would you have gone round and fixed any problem for the tenant/newhomeowner during the overlap period that they were paying rent.....


Presumably the answer to that would have been "no,you own the property now"

You cant have cake and eat it

[Deleted User]

On the day they bought the property they weren't renting it anymore. Of course they are due a refund. They aren't responsible for any delays between solicitors, even if they were, your personal circumstances don't make any difference. These things happen when exchanging/completing.

Its not like they moved out to another property in the middle of a rental period which is when a continued rent liability would arise.

After all, they have taken the property off your hands which presumably you wanted to have happen?

franklee

Unless agreed otherwise (and the solicitors should have included sorting the rent payments as part of the sale process) rental periods are not divisible. So stay one day into the new period and you owe rent for the whole period. So unless there was agreement to the contrary or a section 21 ending part way through the period then you do not owe them a refund. What does your solicitor say?