We're renting a house that is for sale, what to do?

MFWannabe

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

hopeitwill

MFWannabe said:

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

No I know that, but it's more that technically we're still here and what happens if we don't exchange by when the buyer of this house wants to exchange. I guess we'll just keep quiet until when it is sold.

Marvel1

hopeitwill said:

MFWannabe said:

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

No I know that, but it's more that technically we're still here and what happens if we don't exchange by when the buyer of this house wants to exchange. I guess we'll just keep quiet until when it is sold.

The landlord wants their cake and eat it, that's their problem, your safe for a good few months.

greatcrested

Marvel1 said:

hopeitwill said:

MFWannabe said:

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

No I know that, but it's more that technically we're still here and what happens if we don't exchange by when the buyer of this house wants to exchange. I guess we'll just keep quiet until when it is sold.

The landlord wants their cake and eat it, that's their problem, your safe for a good few months.

Oh I do like a cake! But even I know you either eat the cake, share it with the neighbours, or store it in the cake tin.

You can't do all 3!

IntotheAbyss

hopeitwill said:

MFWannabe said:

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

No I know that, but it's more that technically we're still here and what happens if we don't exchange by when the buyer of this house wants to exchange. I guess we'll just keep quiet until when it is sold.

I'm adding my two pence as I was in a semi-similar position this time last year.  In January 2020 our landlady informed us they were going to sell the property and asked if we would like to buy it. We declined. We immediately started looking for somewhere to buy. We viewed a few properties between Jan - March, but ultimately didn't find anywhere until July.

Now, our landlady was not great with communication, so we didn't hear anything since that first text until early March, when she said she wanted to arrange for a valuation. Thanks to covid, no valuation was arranged as the country went into lockdown and the housing market closed briefly.
We were still looking online for houses but were unable to view in person. When the market opened again, a house we had viewed previously and missed out on, came back on the market. We booked another viewing, made an offer, and were accepted. We exchanged and completed in November.

To my knowledge (we have mutual acquaintances) the landlady still hasn't even had the house valued so we felt rushed for nothing, but better off to be in our own home and much happier for it.
However, in the event that she had pulled her finger out and actually proceeded with putting her house on the market, I wondered what would happen if we weren't ready to move when they wanted us to. Basically that meant coming to these forums and browsing...

My understanding of it is that the house has to be vacant before exchange can take place (unless he ends up selling to another LL who will keep you on as tenants).
Therefore, if you are looking for somewhere to buy yourselves but are not progressing as quickly as the landlord requires, well tough. He cannot exchange contracts until you are gone.
So he and his buyers would either have to wait to exchange until you have vacated, or he would have to serve you with the S21 which currently gives you 6 months' notice to vacate. If after the 6 months you are still in the property, then he would have go to the courts to start the eviction process, which is taking much longer due to covid, so it could take 12-18 months before you are evicted. During this time, his buyers might get fed up of waiting and drop the purchase. This is why LLs selling a house with tenants are advised to wait until the property is empty before marketing it.

*some of the above info may not be entirely correct - but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

ETA: My last line about LLs waiting for the property to be empty before putting it on the market relates to what others are saying about having his cake and eating it. He wants tenants as long as possible in order to get that rent payment every month. If he waited to market the house as empty first, it could be sitting on the market for months not earning him any money. 

saajan_12

Don't let the forum make an otherwise pleasant relationship acrimonious. 
By rights, if the LL actually sells before you voluntarily move out or are evicted post court, then the buyer would become your LL. The buyer's mortgage or the sale contract (vacant possession or not) is not your concern.. there might be lawsuits between them for failure to complete etc, but your tenancy continues as is. More likely, it would stop before that point and the LL's sale may be halted. 

However also by rights, if you find a new property, you would have to give notice either according to your contract if on a CPT or 1 tenancy period's notice if on a SPT. This could be anywhere upto 2 months - 1 day if you the timings don't line up. That could mean you end up with an overlap in paying rent + mortgage, including bills on both places. 

Instead, you and the LL could liaise on the timings and mutually agree on a date for early termination that suits both.  

hopeitwill

IntotheAbyss said:

hopeitwill said:

MFWannabe said:

hopeitwill said:

Just to add to this - the listings now say "No chain" - even though there is one since we live in this house as tenants. We're trying to buy another house but with personal experience I can say that anything can happen before exchange and even between exchange and completion. It kind of feels as though the LL has no idea about selling a house with sitting tenants.

No chain has nothing to do with it being rented; means seller isn’t buying anywhere else ; therefore he’s selling that house and that’s it 

No I know that, but it's more that technically we're still here and what happens if we don't exchange by when the buyer of this house wants to exchange. I guess we'll just keep quiet until when it is sold.

I'm adding my two pence as I was in a semi-similar position this time last year.  In January 2020 our landlady informed us they were going to sell the property and asked if we would like to buy it. We declined. We immediately started looking for somewhere to buy. We viewed a few properties between Jan - March, but ultimately didn't find anywhere until July.

Now, our landlady was not great with communication, so we didn't hear anything since that first text until early March, when she said she wanted to arrange for a valuation. Thanks to covid, no valuation was arranged as the country went into lockdown and the housing market closed briefly.
We were still looking online for houses but were unable to view in person. When the market opened again, a house we had viewed previously and missed out on, came back on the market. We booked another viewing, made an offer, and were accepted. We exchanged and completed in November.

To my knowledge (we have mutual acquaintances) the landlady still hasn't even had the house valued so we felt rushed for nothing, but better off to be in our own home and much happier for it.
However, in the event that she had pulled her finger out and actually proceeded with putting her house on the market, I wondered what would happen if we weren't ready to move when they wanted us to. Basically that meant coming to these forums and browsing...

My understanding of it is that the house has to be vacant before exchange can take place (unless he ends up selling to another LL who will keep you on as tenants).
Therefore, if you are looking for somewhere to buy yourselves but are not progressing as quickly as the landlord requires, well tough. He cannot exchange contracts until you are gone.
So he and his buyers would either have to wait to exchange until you have vacated, or he would have to serve you with the S21 which currently gives you 6 months' notice to vacate. If after the 6 months you are still in the property, then he would have go to the courts to start the eviction process, which is taking much longer due to covid, so it could take 12-18 months before you are evicted. During this time, his buyers might get fed up of waiting and drop the purchase. This is why LLs selling a house with tenants are advised to wait until the property is empty before marketing it.

*some of the above info may not be entirely correct - but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

ETA: My last line about LLs waiting for the property to be empty before putting it on the market relates to what others are saying about having his cake and eating it. He wants tenants as long as possible in order to get that rent payment every month. If he waited to market the house as empty first, it could be sitting on the market for months not earning him any money. 

Thank you very much for sharing your story and that's reassuring that we have time on our side

saajan_12 said:

Don't let the forum make an otherwise pleasant relationship acrimonious. 
By rights, if the LL actually sells before you voluntarily move out or are evicted post court, then the buyer would become your LL. The buyer's mortgage or the sale contract (vacant possession or not) is not your concern.. there might be lawsuits between them for failure to complete etc, but your tenancy continues as is. More likely, it would stop before that point and the LL's sale may be halted. 

However also by rights, if you find a new property, you would have to give notice either according to your contract if on a CPT or 1 tenancy period's notice if on a SPT. This could be anywhere upto 2 months - 1 day if you the timings don't line up. That could mean you end up with an overlap in paying rent + mortgage, including bills on both places. 

Instead, you and the LL could liaise on the timings and mutually agree on a date for early termination that suits both.  

And we're definitely trying to be as fast as we can so that when the time comes for his sale, we're out of here. There is already some bitterness because we pulled out from buying this house. (issues with tenures that we realised right before pulling out, horrible neighbours on top and paying well over the market price, OH really wanted this place)
And we don't want to cause more bitterness. If there is an overlap between our notice and our exchange, that's ok, because we're budgeting for that.
The LL is trying to sell the house well over the market value anyways, only 1 viewing in 3 weeks and no offers, in a place where house sales go very quickly if they're sold at their right value.

Crashy_Time

Without a decent price drop this landlord probably won`t be selling, just relax and browse some new property because his next trick could be an attempt at a rent rise when it doesn`t sell.

Slinky

The whip is in your hand here if you are living in the property when people want to view as you can insist on being present. "What's it like here, how are the neighbours?"  "Very noisy." End of viewings.

Slithery

Crashy_Time said:

Without a decent price drop this landlord probably won`t be selling, just relax and browse some new property because his next trick could be an attempt at a rent rise when it doesn`t sell.

Oh do be quiet dear.

Not once in this thread has the price or property details been revealed. God forbid it might actually be at a price that you would consider. Spouting your usual nonsense on unrelated threads with no evidence isn't really the thing to do if you want anyone to take anything you say seriously.