House has tenants in-situ who need to be rehoused by the council. Avoid?

climbthatwallseegar

I went to view a lovely house earlier, I was aware it is currently occupied by tenants. I was a bit taken aback when the EA took me into the front room as there was a semi conscious elderly man in a mobile hospital bed with a mask on and nurses and his wife in attendance.  EA explained that the tenants in the house are friends of the owner who lives abroad. The man was left disabled after a recent illness and can no longer walk up stairs to the bathroom so they need to be rehoused. Apparently the council will only rehouse them once the house is sold and they are officially homeless.

My instinct is to avoid as I can envisage the Sale dragging on while the Council sort out alternative accommodation but I don't really know how it works and if the tenants would have to move at Completion regardless of their housing situation (not that I'd want to make a sick man homeless). For info I live in a part of the country where council properties are like hen’s teeth and current waiting list is 14,000 with around 600 added each month.  I don’t know if the gentleman would be prioritised because of this ill health but this seems like a complex situation I should avoid especially as he specifically needs a council house with a downstairs bathroom (very rare around here). Any thoughts/advice? Quite gutted as the house is otherwise perfect for us!

user1977

Depends how long you want to hang around I suppose. Even "normal" tenants could take months to be evicted.

comeandgo

What happened with my parents was that the council could not prioritise a house for them until they were evicted from the house they were in.  Eviction takes months and months and months.  

deannagone

I'd be avoiding this house on moral grounds and also because of the huge possibility they'd still be there in a year because of court wait times.  I'd probably go back and tell the tenants to apply for alternative housing because what they have is totally unsuitable for their needs along with any names and addresses of any housing advice agencies in the area.., and I'd advise them to talk to their MP and local counsellor. I'd probably contact the MP and counsellor myself and let them know what I'd walked into.  

Can't believe the EA thought it was ok to walk god knows how many possible buyers into that situation with nurses and family around.  I'd refuse to deal with them on those grounds alone.  Particularly with Covid risks.  I'd make a complaint.

Obviously this was totally unexpected for you.  It shouldn't have been.  You should have been forewarned and been enabled to make a decision as to if you wanted to walk into that.

climbthatwallseegar

Ok thanks. So upon Completion I could be waiting for months before the property is vacant which is what I thought.

The EA was vague when I raised this query and said the Seller would guarantee vacant possession but I don't see how he can do this since it would be impossible to simply evict these tenants just like that.

noitsnotme

If you need a residential mortgage you probably won’t get one without the property being vacant before completion.  You would most likely need a BTL mortgage and then you would become a landlord and have all the legal responsibilities that come with that.  Then it could take months to evict them.

user1977

climbthatwallseegar said:

So upon Completion I could be waiting for months before the property is vacant which is what I thought.

No, nobody's likely to be exchanging contracts while the tenants are still there. More likely is you'll be waiting for the tenants to leave before anything much happens - it wouldn't make sense for you to spend money on searches, surveys etc if there's no guarantee of if and when they'll be leaving.

deannagone

The unscrupulous EA was talking waffle.  They often do. Its called puffing.  Only this time they introduced risks to the exremely sick man he didn't need to have introduced.  Astounding.

Mojisola

climbthatwallseegar said:

Apparently the council will only rehouse them once the house is sold and they are officially homeless.

AIUI, the council will count them as homeless once the LL has got to the point of evicting them.

The house being sold wouldn't make them homeless - the new owner would become their LL.

It's likely that, as the current owner is a friend, he/she doesn't want to go legal on them and is hoping to pass it off to you.

If you really want the house, I'd follow deannagone's advice.        

Slithery

If you're up for a 18+ month wait before even starting to purchase the property then go for it.

AdrianC

The quickest way this tenant is going to cease to be occupying the property is if he kicks the bucket.

Do you want to be wishing for that?