Buying my Rental House

AvidSaver101

Hi all,

So would appreciate some advice on a house buying issue.

I’ve been renting my current place for the last two years, and just ended my fixed term moving to a periodic tenancy on 2nd Nov.

My Landlord has decided he wants to sell the property. It was originally bought for £185k in 2017, and I offered to buy it from him for £210k which he accepted.

I’m leaving for Toronto over Christmas/New Years, so advised I would kickstart the paperwork / Homebuyers Reports etc for the mortgage as soon as I returned in Jan.

The Landlord has decided that he wants to see what he can get for the property on the open market, and has therefore decided to enlist an estate agent and list it while I’m away. They were around last Saturday and asked me for a copy of the key to conduct viewings etc.

The property is now on Rightmove for a guide price of £220k.

I do like the property, and whilst I can meet the guide price I have a feeling he is looking to get a rival offer to up the selling price to me.

Would appreciate some advice on what you’d recommend doing in this situation? Shall I allow the viewings with a view of asking it be taken of the market on my return in Jan, before spending any money on property surveys/solicitors etc assuming he has no offers?

Mutton_Geoff

AvidSaver101 wrote: »

I offered to buy it from him for £210k which he accepted

Clearly he hasn't accepted your offer. He could just be testing the market but a £220k asking price, a vendor might reasonably be expected to accept a £210k offer. Sounds a bit strange to me.


Do you have a mortgage offer? Your landlord hasn't thought this through since he'll now be liable for agents fees (including if he signed a sole selling rights contract and you go ahead and buy it). Plus he'll have a void period since you are under no obligation to have your tenancy disrupted by viewings, indeed the agent shouldn't even have keys to the property whilst you are a tenant.


All this for a potential £5k gain? Mad.


Why don't you start the buying process now? New Year is 6 weeks away, even with holidays, you could be well into the purchase process by then. And if he does sell to someone else, he still has to get you out. That could take months. Don't underestimate the strength of hand you have.

AvidSaver101

Thanks for the reply.

I got an AIP before making the offer.

I did consider kickstarting now but I’m ping ponging around so much for work / training etc over the next few weeks I’m going to struggle to find time to support property surveys and the like. I can probably do some of it - but was just a bit conscious of stopping half way through the process while I was away.

When the estate agents were round and asked what he wanted to sell it for, the LL originally said £230k - the agent recommended it would be better to list as £220k guide and work from there.

So you think tell him I want to kickstart the process now on the condition he withdraws it from the market? Or wait it out a few weeks until after I’m back, and see if I can potentially wrangle him down to £200?

caprikid1

personally if you were happy to pay £210K, I would press on make the right noises of buying subject to it not being marketed.

Cakeguts

Something about this doesn't make sense and I think it is something to do with not wanting to start the buying process until January.


The point about buying a house is that you have to do it when it is on the market not when you think you might have time to do it.



It sounds as if the landlord might have got the idea that you are not all that interested in buying it because you don't want to buy it now which is when he wants to sell it so he has put it on the market to find a buyer who wants to buy it now not at some undetermined time in the future.

AvidSaver101

That’s definitely possible - the trouble is it is for the genuine reason that I’m out of the country for the next several weeks. Come start of Jan I’d have no issues with progressing everything through on the purchase.

I’d understand if this was a property I had no ties to, but with the existing tenancy going to take a minimum of 2 months to end, was hoping to get the benefit of the doubt.

I may have no choice but to hold fire until I’m back and then make the offer again, based on the condition of the property being taken off the market and on the understanding the purchase will be finalised within a specific timescale e.g 28 days

jaybeetoo

The landlord is now having to pay EA commission which I assume he wouldn’t have done if he’d sold to you in the first place? If he now accepts your offer he’ll still probably have to pay EA commission. I don’t think the landlord thought this through.

AvidSaver101

Would the original letting agents, who are different from the current EA, also have claim on the commission?

G_M

Since you have put off taking any action, and the LL has not even tested the market, it seems perfectly reasonable for him to market the property until such time as you make a serious commitment.

If he gets a better offer, even taking into acount EA fees, he will take it - and why not?

If you are serious, you will get a mortage applicatoon in tomorrow, instruct a solicitor, and (if required) arrange a survey.

Then go off for Christmas leaving the professionals to do their jobs.


As for the keys, read your tenancy agreement.It is likely that you have agreed
to allow viewings in th last month or two of the tenancy. Given that you have offered to buy you can hardly argue that the tenancy is not going to end shortly, so you should grant access. If you are not going to be in occupation to let people in, give him or his agent the key.

Cakeguts

AvidSaver101 wrote: »

That’s definitely possible - the trouble is it is for the genuine reason that I’m out of the country for the next several weeks. Come start of Jan I’d have no issues with progressing everything through on the purchase.

I’d understand if this was a property I had no ties to, but with the existing tenancy going to take a minimum of 2 months to end, was hoping to get the benefit of the doubt.

I may have no choice but to hold fire until I’m back and then make the offer again, based on the condition of the property being taken off the market and on the understanding the purchase will be finalised within a specific timescale e.g 28 days

You are not ready to buy any house because you want to wait until January. The landlord wants to sell now so he had marketed the house in the hope that he will get someone who is interested in buying before January.



You won't get the chance to make another offer in January if he finds a buyer now.



What you need to think about is how much you want to buy this house. At the moment it seems not much because you aren't doing anything about buying it.



The fact that you have a genuine reason for not being in the country over Christmas and the New Year has nothing to do with the landlord. All he wants to do is to sell the house as quickly as possible.



The landlord has done the sensible thing by marketing the property with an EA. At the moment all he has is a tenant who isn't really interested in buying the house.

[Deleted User]

AvidSaver101 wrote: »

Would the original letting agents, who are different from the current EA, also have claim on the commission?

Quite possibly. It's quite usual to have a clause covering this in the contract between the letting agency and the landlord but as none of us has access to the contract we can only speculate.