Buying a house with sitting tenants

rorb10

I recently viewed a house which I am strongly considering bidding for. The thing that concerns me is that there are currently tenants there and as a first time buyer, I do not want to take on any landlord responsibilities and not go through the hassle of evicting the tenants.

I messaged the estate agents last night to put forward to the seller if they would consider evicting the tenants beforehand if we agree to buy the property, make it a condition of the contract. The estate agents messaged this morning (clearly not spoken to owner) telling me it is the responsibility of the seller to ensure the house is unoccupied when selling the house which I'm a bit skeptical as it contradicts everything I've read when I researched the topic.

I know this would be more on the side of getting legal advice, but can anyone offer any information?

Tiglet2

Do you know if the tenants have plans to move out, as they know that the landlord is selling? 

If you are intending to move into the property on completion, then the property would have to be sold with vacant possession, so you would not be able to exchange until the tenants had vacated. 

The landlord cannot evict the tenants, only the courts can do that.  If the landlord serves the tenants notice  (has the landlord already done this?), I believe the notice period is now 6 months during the pandemic, and then if the tenants don't leave at the end of the 6 month notice period, it will then take another 6 months + to take the matter to court.  You could be looking at a year before the property becomes yours.  But, I'm not an expert but no doubt other posters will be along to offer further advice.

HampshireH

Of course it's the sellers responsibility to evict the tenants if it's being sold as vacant. What have you red that says it isn't?

Are you buying to live in it? (Assume so as a FTB) your normal residential mortgage won't allow you to take on a property with tenants and rent it out.

If being sold with tenants the advert should say so and I guess they would be marketing it towards landlords. 


Unless I've misunderstood your post

Edit: just read you wrote "Bidding" is it an auction and/or are you mortgage free?

p00hsticks

As a FTB, presumably buying the house as a residential property to live in, it will be a condition of your mortgage that the property comes with 'vacant possession' - i.e. no one living in it. It's up to the seller to agree to that and arrange it but getting tenants out if they don't want to go is easier said than done.

In your shoes, I wouldn't be putting an offfer in until the tenants have physically vacated the property.

The seller is trying to have their cake and eat it - targeting the property at residential buyers rather than landlords in order to get a better price and wider pool of potential purchasers whilst keeping the tenants in so they still get rent whilst trying to sell.

MaryNB

rorb10 said:

 I do not want to take on any landlord responsibilities and not go through the hassle of evicting the tenants. 

This isn't an option anyway if you are getting a residential mortgage. The house will have to be sold with vacant possession. 

I would recommend looking at another house.

Has notice (S21) been served on the tenants?  It's a 6 months notice period (I'm assuming you're in England). Only if they remain in the house after that can the landlord apply to have them evicted and due the Covid related ban on evictions it will be well in to 2021 before they'll be evicted due to the massive backlog.

davidmcn

rorb10 said:

The estate agents messaged this morning (clearly not spoken to owner) telling me it is the responsibility of the seller to ensure the house is unoccupied when selling the house which I'm a bit skeptical as it contradicts everything I've read when I researched the topic.

Either you've been reading something weird, or you've misinterpreted whatever you've read. Of course it's the norm that you buy houses with nobody else living there. In theory the tenants can move out the same day you're moving in, but in practice you'll want the reassurance that they're actually gone, at least before you exchange.

steampowered

You would need a BTL mortgage to buy a proper with sitting tenants.
As you are using a residential mortgage, you couldn't buy the property with sitting tenants even if you wanted. The tenants have to leave before you exchange contracts. Make that clear to the seller at the outset.

moneysavinghero

Do you really want to have to wait (potentially) a year plus to have access to your house? And with no guarantee that they wont leave the place trashed when they do leave.

Of course they may we wonderful tenants who will leave within a couple of weeks of being served notice and will leave the property in perfect condition with a bottle of champagne to welcome you into your first house.

But do you want to take the risk? If the tenants were willing to leave quickly, would they not have left by now?

AdrianC

Is the house being sold as having sitting tenants?
If so, then it's being sold on the explicit condition that you will be buying an occupied, let property. Forget it, move on. You would need a BtL mortgage, and you will take on the tenancy in force.
That tenancy may be inherently compromised from any future s21, because of errors made at the start - or it may be a much older, more heavily protected tenancy than the usual AST.

If the house is being sold with vacant possession, then it will come with vacant possession. Eventually. Has the vendor given the tenants notice yet? Is that notice valid?
Assuming valid s21, then it's six months. July.
And if they don't move out nicely at the end, probably another year before the courts enforce anything. That's mid-2022 before you move in.
Assuming the landlord/vendor didn't drop a furry somewhere along the route, and the courts hand it back to him to start again.

Is the property being sold seemingly below market value? If so, while that's what's attracting you, there's also probably a show-stopper of a reason why it's cheap...

facemask

Three words. Don't do it. 

rorb10

Sorry, I said bid but I meant to say make an offer as this will be with a residential mortgage for us to live in. We're based in Wales.

The estate agents have said the tenants will move out if neccessary and I've checked the listing again and it mentions "no onward chain". 

I've messaged the estate agent for further info.

Thanks everyone for their help.