Approaching landlord to buy rented property

timeism0ney

We rent a property we really like and are approaching the first 6 months of renting. We rented in the same area before for 10+ years and moved into this house because the previous landlord decided to sell up. The previous place was out of reach for us due to affordability so we moved to another rental close by.



A house came up for sale on the same street practically identical to ours which ticks all the boxes and is within our budget. I arranged a viewing for next week.


Ideally, if this was an option, we'd prefer to buy the property we are renting from our landlord. I'm torn whether to approach the landlord about this, and at what point. My fear (worst case scenario) is that our landlord will decide to sell the property but will do it 'properly' by asking us out first, putting it on the market etc. which would be another forced move for us and we remember all too well how stressful and expensive it is to find and move to a new place within 2 months timeframe. Really not the outcome I want to inflict on myself!



Our landlord has just established himself in property development about 2 years ago and was building up portfolio at the time we met him almost 6 months ago. He's a super intelligent, clued up guy with a great deal of business sense. He's purchased the property we rent for £140K and renovated it by adding a second bathroom, loft conversion, replaced all windows and doors, new carpets throughout etc - it's wonderful! The property we're looking at on the same street is at £180K and has the same potential but not done to the same standard.



I expect the landlord to do the logical thing for him and his business but am having difficulty seeing the situation clearly from his perspective. Thoughts?

eddddy

Do you have any reasons for suspecting that your landlord might want to sell his property?

If he wanted to sell it, maybe he would have put it on the market 6 months ago (in a newly refurbished condition), instead of renting it to you.

I guess there's no harm in mentioning to your landlord that you are thinking about buying, so to let you know if he is thinking about selling. (Although, he may be 'disappointed' if he thinks that you may be ending your tenancy soon. A change of tenant often means a void period and tenant finding fees.)

timeism0ney

eddddy wrote: »

Do you have any reasons for suspecting that your landlord might want to sell his property?

Not really. But it's possible that he chose renting over selling because this brings immediate money in. Selling with £50K added on top of this property's price from a year ago to reflect renovation costs could have taken longer. I doubt he'd have any void period or look for new tenants for long - rental properties in this area get snapped up in hours rather than days.

walwyn1978

If as you say he has business sense he may agree to it if you over value the property. Essentially over pay to avoid the hassle of looking and moving out. He’ll then consider cash in bank vs investment yield. Only he knows the answer but would you go over say the 180k you’ve already mentioned and if so by how much? You don’t have to tell us but it might help if the answe is yes....

pramsay13

It doesn't make sense to rent out if you are thinking of selling as it is difficult to sell with a tenant in place.
So I would assume the rental is part of his rental portfolio he is building up.
If he is a business man he won't have any issue with you asking the question although maybe phrase it like 'we are happy living here and want to stay long term so let us know if you ever think about selling.
To make it worth his while it would need to be financially attractive to him as he won't need the money short term, so you would probably end up paying over market value for it.

AdrianC

He was buying properties six months ago, and only bought this one within the last two years?

Very unlikely he'll want to sell, then, unless you're willing to pay above market value to compensate for the short return on the legal and refurbishment costs.

Cakeguts

I would think that if he has just spent a lot of money on it to make it up to his rental standards he would not want to sell because if he sells he has to buy something else which will cost him more money. I would expect him to say no if you ask to buy it. It may also now be worth more than £180k so if he did decide to sell it he might want more than £180k for it. The one down the street may be £180k because that is the price of them without the upgrades.

SnuggleBuggles

If your landlord is building up his property empire, be prepared for him also putting an offer in on the other house for sale.

[Deleted User]

Hmm, if houses sell within hours, why are you waiting til next week to see the alternative house you are viewing next week? If houses sell so quickly I'd be pulling out all stops to get as early a viewing as possible.

timeism0ney

SnuggleBuggles wrote: »

If your landlord is building up his property empire, be prepared for him also putting an offer in on the other house for sale.

The house we're looking at, although a good fit for us, isn't enough of a bargain for a property developer to be honest. No house on this street ever sold for more than 170k. A few appeared on the market at 180k but none actually sold at that price to date. A 3 bed in immaculate newly renovated condition sold recently for 160k. So a 4 bed could totally sell for 180k but not more than that. I think it'd be hard to get a valuation and mortgage for over 180k for any house on this street no matter how awesome. This is why I'd like to think that my landlord possibly opted for rental as a more profitable option and could maybe (maybe!) consider selling at the right price.

timeism0ney

pramsay13 wrote: »

phrase it like 'we are happy living here and want to stay long term so let us know if you ever think about selling.

That wording sounds really good, thanks.