How long does to take for a house to 'sell' and for us to have to move out?

blue_monkey_2

Hi all,

I wonder if you experienced house sellers could tell me, if the house was sold, how long it would be before we would have to leave the house. If, for example, someone bought this house tomorrow, when would we have to leave?

The situation is that we live in my mums house, we pay the mortgage and everything for her and she lives with her boyfriend. She has now said she is selling as she is worried she might lose it. I can't think of any other reason why she would think this other than she has not paid the mortgage as we pay it into her bank account. Another story really but she has taken up with a couple (family who until recently have not really shown interest) who have already taken them for a weekend away with them and have promised to take them on a cruise with them and they are around them all the time inviting themselves to family do's and the like.

Whatever the reason we need to find somewhere else to live and don't have enough money to rent privately or buy ourselves. I am off to see the council on Wednesday - we have been on the list for 8 years, but we have a house full of furniture, the prospect of having to keep it in storage if we end up in a hostel for a year is daunting and sounds expensive - can someone also advise on how much this would cost us, please and where we go about finding someone to take it.

I have so many questions. How long would it be before we had to leave if the house sold? For example, to a first time buyer. They go quite quickly around here - and should we finish off the odd jobs we have to do around here or should we leave them and save our money for when we move out incase we have to furnish out own house. When we moved into the house it was ae empty rotting shell and hubby has done it all up and everything in here is ours. We just have nowhere else to put the stuff we have.

Apologies for all the questions, mum has always lead us to believe we were here indefinately, at least until she retires (in another 10 years time) and I don;t know what else to do or who else to ask. I have 2 kids who go to school in the village as well who I have had real trouble settling in so I'd still need to travel to the same school ideally. Any help to set my mind at rest (or get me packing quicker) would be much appreciated.

While I realised that staying here was not going to be forever, I just need to know how long it might be before we have to leave so I can prepare myself and my family. Thank you.

Mrs_Thrify

It could be 6-8 weeks depending on surches and contract.

Curv

Someone who knows the legalities will be along in a while, but I think that as adults living in the property and contributing to the mortgage you may have some sort of a claim on the property.

I say this because I'm in the process of filling in legal docs for the sale of my house and I have to sign to confirm that no one is living in the house who might have contributed to it in any way.

May be worth checking with CAB...

silvercar

Are you tenants? In which case you are entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property and can refuse to show buyers around. You would also be entitled to 2 months notice (to end on a rent day) to move out. This applies even if your contract is only verbal.

blue_monkey_2

Hi again, no we are not tennants as such it's just an agreement that has happened along the way of moving back in with mum and then getting married and having a family.

I don't want to claim anything, at the end of the day this is mums house, not mine, but she has said she will pay us some money as we have increased it's value substancially and it is something she would not have been able to do on her own but how much and whether she will is something else I guess. I don;t want to have to rely on this so . I did however forget that it was more likely going to be us that has to show people around, that'll be fun.

She has said she will hold off until after Xmas so we are not left trying to find somewhere over Xmas but I have an appointment with the council on Wednesday morning and I am registering with a local farmer who lets our his properties to people with local connections. Also scouring the local estate agents - ouch, it's not cheap, we 'need' 3 bedrooms but even a 2 bedroom is £750 onwards *sigh*. never mind. Thanks for putting my mind at rest with 6-8 weeks, I was worried they could sell to a FTB and we would have to be out in a week or something. I've been worried sick and just burst into tears when I started speaking to the council, what an idiot.

*Louise*

We have just sold to FTBuyers this morning and it's going through in 25 days, but we were on the market for 4 weeks before that.

I'm glad your mum is holding off till after christmas, that will give you till at least the end of Feb (or thereabouts) I wish you luck in finding a place together.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for your help on this. It is nice to know we have until Xmas. We are going to tell the council that mum has given us until then and I've kind of accepted we are probably going to end up in a hostel. I've looked and we cannot afford anything in this area at all, even if we was to get Housing Benefit the houses are all in excess of £1500 a month for renting and there is no way the coucnil would cover this rent so it has to be whatever they have to offer us. There is hardly anything to rent in this area at the moment for some reason.

Moving away is not an option because of hubbies work, if anything we would need to move nearer into London and that would cost way too much and then we would not be on the council list as we would have moved away. So, whatever the council have to offer us and I am hoping that having been on the list for such a long time that it means we will get extra points or something. Whatever they give us we will have to accept and that is what we are going to have to take.

I've also been looking around at the price of storage. I run a business from home so now I have to clear a lot of the stock and will store the stock I have here with the furniture so I guess if we go into a hostel the low rent and not having to pay the usual bills will mean we can offset this against what we are going to have to pay on storage costs. I won't be able to continue the business from the hostel I suppose as I need internet access.

My cats will have to go either way, I have 5 rescue cats that I've had between 8 and 12 years, I am not going to be able to take them all into council/HA or rented accomodation so that's one of the worst things, plus I've got to break it to the kids.

How life charges in an hour.

Thanks for listening and for your answers, fingers crossed things work out for the best as long as we are not going to be out within a couple of weeks it is enough to keep me going for today. At least this means that we will finally get something of our 'own' within the next year or so.

A_Nice_Englishman

As you've got children you should get housed by the council almost immediately if you become homeless. You will have to get your Mum to write a letter saying she wants you out on a specified date and show it to the Housing Office.

This happened to somebody I know who lived with her father and 3 year old daughter. She was allocated a house within a couple of weeks.

poppy_f1

most councils allow pets as well so dont completely rule out giving the cats away

silvercar

I don't know whereabouts in hertfordshire you are, but you could probably get a 3 bed maisonette in Watford for under £1,000 a month. Fast train line into London from Watford junction.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks for all your replies.

The thing is my hubby only earns under £1200 a month so we can't afford it unless we get housing benefit and a lot of LL won't rent to us if we do. That is what we are up against. Watford is too far for us but thanks for thinking of us, we are East Herts, on the Essex border. I have had a lot of problems getting the children into school, one vomiting, the other aggressive, they are getting the help they need from the school so I preferably need to keep them at this school otherwise it'll be 2 upheavals and I don't think the could deal with it. i am hoping the school with verify the need for the children to stay local too, either way I need to be able to get the kids to school. I am happy to drive them but want to stay this side of the county town else it'll take hours to get anywhere.

I am hoping that the council will come through, we have been on the list for a long time and a chap hubby worked with rented for years and made himself homeless and went to the council and got somewhere within weeks. Mum has written a letter for us to take, of sorts, it is on a piece of paper but I do think she is having some sort of breakdown (again - long story) and I think she needs to get rid of the house to deal with her demons and while she still has it she cannot get rid of those. just my thoughts and feelings really. At the end of the day I am 36 and we do need somewhere of our 'own' where people don't have keys to come and go as and when they please as we have no privacy. We've had some tough cards dealt to us and we have stayed here as a favour to mum, we could of got her to 'evict' us a long time ago but I thought if we stayed then she would be able to keep the house (she could not of afforded it on her own) but these things happen, it is just gving us the push to do it - but at the same time it is really scary. I will report back when i have spoken to the council. I am going to tell them we are being given until after Xmas as I have told mum I don't want to be stuck in a hostel at xmas if it comes to that and she has agreed to wait a few more weeks. however, i have also told her that if we get offered somewhere we will take it. All we can do is wait and see what they say but the council lady was really nice on the phone and that is probably why I broke down in tears. I can look after myself but I have a 3 and 4 year old and I can't bear to see them unhappy and not having somewhere to live. Thanks for the info on the cats though, I won't do anything yet, I just thought that as I had so many they would not be welcome there. I have one with diabetes so she really needs to be with me and if I can keep her I think the others will be happy on farms!! Thank you though, I'll sleep much easier tonight.

xx