Approaching our landlord with an offer to buy - acceptable?

AbbyW1

Partner and I are looking to buy in the area we live in - it’s a modern estate with a few hundred flats on it. We chose the flat we rent in for a couple of specific reasons - not on the ground or top floor, dual aspect living room - and although there are about 6 on the market in our estate at the moment, they’re all either ground or top floor, or really dark.

At the moment we’re planning to wait for the right flat to come on the market but obviously that may take a while, especially given that the market where we live is fairly slow. Some of the other flats on the market in our estate have been on for upwards of 9 months and I don't think the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is speeding things up!

In the meantime, I want to approach our landlord to let them know that we’re really interested in buying on the development and to let us know that if they’ve ever thought of selling up we’d be very interested. We have no indication to suggest that they would, but the way I see it is that we have nothing to lose.

Can anyone think of a solid reason why we shouldn’t contact the landlord?

And, if we did go ahead and contact the landlord, would we be best off trying to get their details from the letting agent? I feel like the agent wouldn’t be that keen to pass on a letter/email about selling as they stand to lose out!

Thanks for all of your help.

sammyjammy

You should already have contact details for the landlord on your tenancy agreement, if not you can request these and that request should be adhered to. It won't do any harm to ask them, if they are considering selling they may be interested, it would save them the hassle of serving you notice etc. If they aren't then you have your answer and can continue to look elsewhere.

MEM62

AbbyW1 wrote: »

Can anyone think of a solid reason why we shouldn’t contact the landlord?

There is no reason at all that you cannot have a conversation with your landlord.

AbbyW1 wrote: »

And, if we did go ahead and contact the landlord, would we be best off trying to get their details from the letting agent?

You already have your landlord's details. It will be detailed in your lease.

eddddy

There's no harm in asking your landlord if they want to sell - but it's a bit of a 'long shot'.

One thing to consider is that, if you approach somebody and unexpectedly say "Will you sell me your flat?", their typical assumption will be: "You must want it badly, so you'll probably pay over the odds".

Which isn't an ideal starting point for negotiation.

AbbyW1

Unfortunately our lease doesn't contain the landlord's contact details, just her name. Her given address in the lease is the address of the letting agent and the given email is as well, so we'll need to get them from the letting agent who are generally about as unhelpful as one could imagine.

Glad to hear nobody thinks it's a ridiculous idea.

Thanks eddddy - defo a long shot, and of course completely right that we could end up paying over the odds. Flats in this development are all on the market for within £10k of each other and we'd be happy to pay at the top end of that bracket. Hopefully if she was keen to sell we could get a valuation and go from there...

Thanks again for all of your input!

hazyjo

Why 'not on the ground or top floor'? I would have thought either would be preferable to a middle flat.


There's probably something in their letting agreement saying they'll be responsible for a fee to the agent if they sell to a tenant. Not really your problem, but it might not help you get a reduced offer accepted if they are up for selling.


How many years left on the lease?


Several posts on here from people in your shoes. Maybe try a search for words like 'approaching landlord buy flat renting' or something similar.


Good luck!

Skiddaw1

For what it is worth, we bought our first place (a flat) from the landlord. We initially approached LL as we were in the same position as you, but as it turned out the LL had been considering selling anyway (and was already intending to give us first dibbings if we were interested in buying) so it all worked out splendidly.

AbbyW1

hazyjo wrote: »

Why 'not on the ground or top floor'? I would have thought either would be preferable to a middle flat.

The top floor flats in this development are all in the eaves and are quite dark. We actually viewed one before settling on our current one - the amount of actually usable space is quite limited. Ground floor is not my preference because people often loiter and smoke round the front of the flats (not the most idyllic area).

hazyjo wrote: »

There's probably something in their letting agreement saying they'll be responsible for a fee to the agent if they sell to a tenant. Not really your problem, but it might not help you get a reduced offer accepted if they are up for selling.

This is really useful information that I didn't know, thanks so much. I want us to be sensible about this - we like the flat and would go to the top end of what it's worth, but equally it will need some work (boiler will need replacing soon, there's some damp in the bathroom etc) and we wouldn't want to pay over the odds for the sake of convenience.

hazyjo wrote: »

How many years left on the lease?

I don't know and would need to check. The block was built about 15 years ago - hopefully it was a 999 year lease!

hazyjo wrote: »

Several posts on here from people in your shoes. Maybe try a search for words like 'approaching landlord buy flat renting' or something similar.

Thank you - I should have done this and didn't mean to time waste. Some great info out there on other threads too, thank you.

AbbyW1

Skiddaw1 wrote: »

For what it is worth, we bought our first place (a flat) from the landlord. We initially approached LL as we were in the same position as you, but as it turned out the LL had been considering selling anyway (and was already intending to give us first dibbings if we were interested in buying) so it all worked out splendidly.

This is very reassuring! Thanks so much for sharing - I feel weirdly nervous about asking her. I think we're going to go for it as we have nothing to lose, and ideally we'd end up with the same outcome as you! Just need to persuade the letting agents to give us the details we need...

need_an_answer

You need to be mindful that the LL may not wish to sell and not therefore allow that to cloud your opinion of the LL whilst you wait for the "right property " to come along.

A lot really depends what type of LL you have as to how receptive they may be to selling.

Personally as a LL I wouldn't be open to any offers on my properties simply because they are my business and I'm not looking to sell.
Other LL's who perhaps have bought properties and then moved on without selling at the time of purchasing another home might be more receptive to the suggestion.

If the answer is no then please don't take it personally.

Although until you make contact with the owner you probably wont know which category your LL falls into.

No harm in asking but be aware the answer could be a straight no thanks

hazyjo

AbbyW1 wrote: »

Thank you - I should have done this and didn't mean to time waste. Some great info out there on other threads too, thank you.

Nah, not timewasting. Feel free to ask anything, but sometimes people will refer you to old posts simply cos they get asked regularly and the info's already there. You're not to know