Landlord of our short term rental selling to our neighbours who are now stressing me out

badger09

When you moved into your rental in June, your landlady told you the couple upstairs had, for some time, wanted to buy the flat she is letting to you.

I'm puzzled then - why did they not make an offer when they knew the previous tenants were leaving? They must have known it would be empty as they were so friendly with previous tenants. 

Similarly, why did your landlady not offer it for sale to them then, instead of reletting it for 12 months?

climbthatwallseegar

They have been trying to buy the flat for years. The LL told us she always said no as she wanted to gift it to her child. I’m not sure what changed once we moved in and she decided to sell. 

They are from southern & Eastern Europe. I’m not sure how much the house buying process differs from here but as they’ve never attempted to buy in their home countries everything seems to be news to them. I get the impression they thought they would make an offer and that would be the end of it. The wife did not understand the property needed to be valued and their lender will carry out a valuation as well. They have little understanding of what a leasehold means which is problematic to say the least as I’m sure the LL mentioned to me that the lease was 99 years when she bought the flat…20 years ago. I hope their naivety doesn’t end up costing them. I doubt they would understand the need for a survey and the flat definitely needs one, there are a lot of issues here. 

badger09

climbthatwallseegar said:

They have been trying to buy the flat for years. The LL told us she always said no as she wanted to gift it to her child. I’m not sure what changed once we moved in and she decided to sell. 

They are from southern & Eastern Europe. I’m not sure how much the house buying process differs from here but as they’ve never attempted to buy in their home countries everything seems to be news to them. I get the impression they thought they would make an offer and that would be the end of it. The wife did not understand the property needed to be valued and their lender will carry out a valuation as well. They have little understanding of what a leasehold means which is problematic to say the least as I’m sure the LL mentioned to me that the lease was 99 years when she bought the flat…20 years ago. I hope their naivety doesn’t end up costing them. I doubt they would understand the need for a survey and the flat definitely needs one, there are a lot of issues here. 

OK, that makes more sense. 

Could you perhaps point them towards some of the guides on here (see the first thread at the top of this forum).

Loads of reading there so it might get them off your back for a while.

GarretC

badger09 said:

climbthatwallseegar said:

They have been trying to buy the flat for years. The LL told us she always said no as she wanted to gift it to her child. I’m not sure what changed once we moved in and she decided to sell. 

They are from southern & Eastern Europe. I’m not sure how much the house buying process differs from here but as they’ve never attempted to buy in their home countries everything seems to be news to them. I get the impression they thought they would make an offer and that would be the end of it. The wife did not understand the property needed to be valued and their lender will carry out a valuation as well. They have little understanding of what a leasehold means which is problematic to say the least as I’m sure the LL mentioned to me that the lease was 99 years when she bought the flat…20 years ago. I hope their naivety doesn’t end up costing them. I doubt they would understand the need for a survey and the flat definitely needs one, there are a lot of issues here. 

OK, that makes more sense. 

Could you perhaps point them towards some of the guides on here (see the first thread at the top of this forum).

Loads of reading there so it might get them off your back for a while.

If you point them on here, then maybe delete this thread

thegreenone

If they wanted the flat so much, why didn't they rent it when it became available to you?  At least they could've lived in it and now be in a position to buy.  If they can afford it.

Jeepers_Creepers

badger09 said:

OK, that makes more sense. 

Could you perhaps point them towards some of the guides on here (see the first thread at the top of this forum).

Loads of reading there so it might get them off your back for a while.

You reckon?! :-)

"Could you explain this....and this...and..."

climbthatwallseegar

GarretC said:

badger09 said:

climbthatwallseegar said:

They have been trying to buy the flat for years. The LL told us she always said no as she wanted to gift it to her child. I’m not sure what changed once we moved in and she decided to sell. 

They are from southern & Eastern Europe. I’m not sure how much the house buying process differs from here but as they’ve never attempted to buy in their home countries everything seems to be news to them. I get the impression they thought they would make an offer and that would be the end of it. The wife did not understand the property needed to be valued and their lender will carry out a valuation as well. They have little understanding of what a leasehold means which is problematic to say the least as I’m sure the LL mentioned to me that the lease was 99 years when she bought the flat…20 years ago. I hope their naivety doesn’t end up costing them. I doubt they would understand the need for a survey and the flat definitely needs one, there are a lot of issues here. 

OK, that makes more sense. 

Could you perhaps point them towards some of the guides on here (see the first thread at the top of this forum).

Loads of reading there so it might get them off your back for a while.

If you point them on here, then maybe delete this thread

Haha yes, that will be the first thing I do! 

rach_k

If they don't actually know they can afford it, I would suggest asking your landlady to get it valued and let them know what she's going to expect them to cough up.  That might be a very simple way to get them off your back and hers.  Although you may be killing their dream, it'll happen sooner or later so it may as well be sooner!

If it turns out they can afford it, they can start putting their finances in place - maybe a mortgage broker can take some of their questions!

climbthatwallseegar

The landlady has arranged a valuation for next week. I’m not sure what she is planning to do about the lease, by my estimation it only has around 80 years remaining and when we moved in she mentioned it was a ‘headache’ because of a problem with the freeholder.  

My neighbours do not understand the implications of a short lease and the problems they might have securing a mortgage with one although I have sent them links explaining it all. The husband has said something about buying without a mortgage so perhaps they think they can be cash buyers. I very much doubt they’d have available funds for this place though, even with a short lease. This flat is not exactly in good condition but we are a 15min walk from central London and the market around here is crazy. 

Newnoel

Ref: the child playing in your back garden. That needs to stop. It just leaves you open to more interaction with the neighbour.

You mention that there are plenty of public parks nearby. You need to either not answer the door, or tell her that its not convenient if she knocks on the door, or meets you in the corridor. She will soon take the hint.