What would you do? - Stuck!

ChilliBob

Hey guys,

My partner is a little stuck and undecided what to do next, so I thought I'd see what you guys would do in this position...
She owns a one bedroom flat, with a mortgage (flat value ~215k, mortgage around 50k left). Owned since plans around 8-10 years ago, rented successfully without break for 5 years, getting around 950 pcm.  (Mortgage is 750 per month, service charge 90, then council tax etc)

Earlier this year we decided we wanted to move so we'd both sell our properties, she'd sell this this BTL and I'd sell the home we live in to upsize.
The tenants have left the property as of a week ago so it's sitting empty and costing money.

1. Its been on the market for a while, for sale, it had one offer, however, this fell through as the buyers broker said 'every mortgage would need an EWS1 form'.
2. Just before she put it on the market she had to get a landlords licence (as you'll see mentioned in another post), this has produced the restriction that she can only rent to ONE person. 

In an ideal world she'd prefer to sell it and be done with all the headaches and stress it's causing, so... 
* It's still on the market
* We've hassled Metropolitian for the documents and logged a formal complaint due to lack of response. We *know* it won't have an EWS1 form though as they've said that before to another estate agent I spoke to - it's very low, three stories, so < 18m and not a priority in their portfolio, however, if they can supply any documents that could help.

Thinking we might have to rent we've hassled the council to see if we can get the verdict of 1 person overturned, from previous threads on here (and elsewhere!) I sense this is probably unlikely. If we do have to rent obviously this will be for a few months, and would delay any sale.

So, empty property we cannot sell, or can only rent to one person, which is being paid for!.... Any thoughts as to what you'd do?! 

Cheers for reading!

AdrianC

ChilliBob said:
...rented successfully without break for 5 years, getting around 950 pcm.  (Mortgage is 750 per month, service charge 90

So that leaves £110/mo before any other expenditure, before any allowance for voids or bad debts...
On a £215k property. Just under half of one percent yield.

At least there won't be much tax payable...

If we do have to rent obviously this will be for a few months

And the rest! Minimum 6mo AST, 12 more likely. Then if you want to issue s21, that's still currently another six months.

ChilliBob

It was never fully intended to be a rental property I guess - my partner lived there then as we started a family we needed somewhere else to live which was bigger/had a garden etc. There is the option (which I have suggested) of paying the mortgage off at least (via my savings) to reduce costs. 

Yeah, we've had a lucky run (5 years!) with decent tenants so every time we've felt like we were pushing our luck with the horror stories you hear. 

Is there anything else you can do (which is legal!) to get some kind of income and not have it empty?! - Besides some kind of messy unofficial arrangement with a friend or something. Alongside this there's the fear and prediction of CGT increasing next year on property, so would be better to get rid now.

We could obviously lower the price but I guess we think whoever buys it will face similar challenges mortgage wise, unless it's a cash buyer.

tim_london

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-steps-in-to-help-homeowners-caught-up-in-ews1-process
Doesn't solve your problem if it's only 3 stories?  Does it have cladding or wooden balcony?

anselld

@ChilliBob you posted less than 30 mins after this that the one person restriction has been lifted.   Things are changing fast!
So why not rent it out again until the EWS1 issue is resolved (which might take some time).

ChilliBob

tim_london said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-steps-in-to-help-homeowners-caught-up-in-ews1-process
Doesn't solve your problem if it's only 3 stories?  Does it have cladding or wooden balcony?

It does have a balcony, made from metal with wooden decking, but, to my untrained eye, it's just brick and render, no cladding. I think we just need Metropolitan to produce some kind of evidence we can share with Mortgage providers.

Thanks for the link mate

ChilliBob

anselld said:

@ChilliBob you posted less than 30 mins after this that the one person restriction has been lifted.   Things are changing fast!
So why not rent it out again until the EWS1 issue is resolved (which might take some time).

We've been waiting sbout 2-3 months for any news, so purely coincidence the timing!
Would still prefer to sell but at least the rental audience is far wider now. 

anselld

ChilliBob said:

anselld said:

@ChilliBob you posted less than 30 mins after this that the one person restriction has been lifted.   Things are changing fast!
So why not rent it out again until the EWS1 issue is resolved (which might take some time).

We've been waiting sbout 2-3 months for any news, so purely coincidence the timing!
Would still prefer to sell but at least the rental audience is far wider now. 

The problem is that you cant really back both horses.  Being for sale will put off potential renters and having tenants will put of buyers (other than investment buyers).

ChilliBob

Yeah, we were soley backing the sale game, which was going alright as the tenants were awesome. They're now gone so that doesn't put off buyers (they even left the place 100% spotless and empty!).

If we put up for rental we'd obviously pull from the market for sale.

Side point: any low budget security camera type options without an Internet connection? Was thinking of those tp link things but they'd not work without WiFi. Just in case there is anything dodgy between now and renting or selling. 

anselld

ChilliBob said:

Side point: any low budget security camera type options without an Internet connection? Was thinking of those tp link things but they'd not work without WiFi. Just in case there is anything dodgy between now and renting or selling. 

Plenty if you google "4g security camera".

ChilliBob

Surely you still need some kind of contract to get a connection I assume? Meantime my partner has said she'll tap up the neighbours, some of which she still knows