Can you offer to rent a house before buying it?

squarehead94

Hi all.
Seen a lovely house for sale local to me. Its been for sale for a few months and its a dream home for us but we haven't saved the deposit yet. I've calculated that I could save a 10-15% deposit within 12 months. Is there a way that we could rent the property for a fixed period before purchasing it? Allowing us to secure the home and allowing us the time to save for the deposit. Is this something that is commonly done? I know it will depend on what the seller wants; was more a case of is this something I can ask (not sure on legalities etc) 
TIA

Slithery

You can ask, but the vendor and their solicitor should both refuse as it's a terrible idea for them.

What happens if you rent for a year and then decide not to buy? You're asking the seller to put the entire process on hold for a couple of years without any guarantee of you actually going through with the deal. They probably have better uses for their money than just deciding to not bother about it for 2+ years...

PS - Could you lend me £200k please, I promise I'm good for it.

AdrianC

squarehead94 said:

Seen a lovely house for sale local to me. Its been for sale for a few months and its a dream home for us but we haven't saved the deposit yet. I've calculated that I could save a 10-15% deposit within 12 months. Is there a way that we could rent the property for a fixed period before purchasing it? Allowing us to secure the home and allowing us the time to save for the deposit. Is this something that is commonly done? I know it will depend on what the seller wants; was more a case of is this something I can ask (not sure on legalities etc) 

Of course you can ask.
But think about the seller's position. Perhaps they need the money from the sale for their chained purchase?

If it's empty - a nice simple probate, say, with a single beneficiary and executor - they may be more amenable.
But then... do they WANT to start a residential lettings business?
Would they want YOU as a tenant?
Can you pay full market rent plus save that 15% equity...? If so, why haven't you saved anything yet?
What if, next year, you can't get a mortgage? What if, next year, lenders want 20% equity?
What if, next year, you've changed your mind and want to stay renting?

What's so special about THIS particular property? Is it unique in any way?

davidmcn

If they're marketing it for sale, it's because they want to sell it. Not become a landlord for a year (or more) and then possibly have to start again if you don't end up buying it. 

steampowered

This is a non-starter unfortunately. In addition to the other reasons everyone gave, the seller probably has a mortgage, and would need to switch onto a BTL mortgage to rent the property.

"Dream homes" come onto the market all the time - very few homes are truly unique. It's a good idea to use the time now to think about what you want, so you are ready to start searching properly when you are ready to proceed. 

ProDave

Well you can ask and you might get lucky. It depends on the plans of the vendor.

6 years ago we put our old house on the market, we had started self building our new house.  At that time here in Scotland the market was dead, still not recovered from the GFC and our house, along with hundreds of others was simply not selling,.

Then someone came along and said can I rent it with the intention of buying it.  Reluctantly we said yes (we had previously been landlords and it was the sale of our 2 former BTL's that was financing the new build so we knew what we were doing in that respect)

4 years on, she is still renting. Covid crushed her plans to actually buy it this year. We have agreed to carry on a bit longer to see if it is ever going to sell to her. In the short term the rental income is helping to finish the new build but it is not what we had planned for.

In a normal market the house would have sold and we would not have entertained the idea and that I expect is what the vendor would say to you.

pinkteapot

Well, doesn't hurt to ask. Quick phone call to the EA to ask if the vendor has any interest in renting the house out. It's very likely the answer will be no, but only costs you a few minutes of your time. 

AlexMac

If you do as Pinkteapot says, it might be worth trying to sweeten the deal, with, for example, an offer of 6-12 months rent up front. But even if you can afford that (?), be ready for a refusal.  If the sellers asked their solicitor, they'd recommend strongly against putting in a tenant  as that can only go wrong. For example if you stopped paying rent and/or refused to move out they would take months to get a Court eviction order so the place would be un-sellable til then.  And while solicitors should offer impartial advice to protect their client, they usually don't get paid til the sale completes, so will possibly be even less keen on stringing it out.

So think positive; there will be other houses; there always are.  We've been buying and moving on for 45 or more years, and every time we did, the house we eventually bought was discovered through pure chance;  often after we lost the one(s) we thought were the dream house to another buyer.   So get saving like crazy and you won't even have to ask this question when you are ready to go in 2022! Good kharma