Tenants won't leave property we're buying..

Tatters26

Just after some general advice about our situation.

We've had an offer accepted on a house, mortgage sorted and all checks, etc carried out. We're good to go. Only thing is the tenants, who were given six months’ notice to leave, have not left and they have less than a week to go on their lease. According to the estate agent they have legitimately been looking but have not found anything, although they were given notice mid-March for an mid-September end, so I find it hard to believe.

They have 3 children and are a married couple who are now saying they'll speak to the council about housing them, but can the seller do anything more? They're as frustrated as us as we're not in a chain at all either end and they want their money and us to move in. 

I assume you can evict them formally with a notice but that can take months. Are we best looking for another property as we want to be in ASAP.

canaldumidi

The formal eviction process via the courts could take anything from 6 - 18 months at present.

The alternative is to pursuade them toleave voluntarily eg by the landlord/seller offering to pay the tenancy deposit on a new property,or even a lump sum eg £5000.

Otherwise, either walk away or be prepared towait.

ripplyuk

Yes, look for another property. It could take 18mths, possibly more, to evict these tenants especially if they are holding out on council housing. The council will advise them to stay put. 

Next time, don’t spend any money on a property with tenants still there. 

MaryNB

Tatters26 said:

Just after some general advice about our situation.

We've had an offer accepted on a house, mortgage sorted and all checks, etc carried out. We're good to go. Only thing is the tenants, who were given six months’ notice to leave, have not left and they have less than a week to go on their lease. According to the estate agent they have legitimately been looking but have not found anything, although they were given notice mid-March for an mid-September end, so I find it hard to believe.

They have 3 children and are a married couple who are now saying they'll speak to the council about housing them, but can the seller do anything more? They're as frustrated as us as we're not in a chain at all either end and they want their money and us to move in. 

I assume you can evict them formally with a notice but that can take months. Are we best looking for another property as we want to be in ASAP.

If this is the case, find another house.  If the tenants want a council house they probably won't get one until they have been evicted. In that scenario landlord waits until the S21 notice expires (in your case mid-Sept), applies to the court for an eviction order (which will take many many months due to Covid related backlogs), court issues the order, bailiffs turn up a few weeks later, tenants go to the council bags in hand asking for accommodation.
If the tenants leave before the bailiffs turn up, the council will deem that they made themselves intentionally homeless and won't help them. They won't help them before this even if the don't leave. They don't house people who are threatened with eviction, only those who have been evicted.

The 6 month notice (s21) is no more than the landlord saying to the tenants they would like the house back by that date. It's not an eviction notice. They are still fully entitled to reside at that house after the notice has expired.

The seller can't do anything more except maybe offering them a financial incentive to leave. The landlord or letting agency cannot end the tenancy. Only the tenants or a court can. Any attempt to remove them from the property without a court order would be an illegal eviction which is a criminal offence. 

user1977

Tatters26 said:

Just after some general advice about our situation.

The general advice is not to waste your time looking at properties which still have tenants in them.

980233

What a numpty of a landlord/seller. Walk away, nay run away.

m0bov

Walk away, it should be on the market as vacant, numpty LL. Could take a year or more.

PRAISETHESUN

I agree with the posts above - with tenants are seem to be holding out for council housing, it will not be a quick process. @MaryNB has spelt out the process quite well - the current owner has no power to speed up the process, and only the courts have the power to forcibly remove a tenant. Unless you're prepared to wait, then I'd pull out and start looking elsewhere.

Exodi

I don't want to be captain hindsight but this is the reason that people on this forums typically advise steering clear of properties with tenants in situ - you can't guarantee they'll vacate.

Unfortunately as canaldumidi has mentioned - formally evicting them can take a very long time, even before covid it could take 6+ months and this is before the current backlog.

It's unlikely the council will house them as a priority as they are already in private rented accomodation (essentially, they're not homeless). Unfortunately councils will not re-home a family that is facing homelessness unless they have been formally evicted by bailiffs - they will actively advise the family to stay in the house until bailiffs arrive.

So either you give them more time and hope that they start looking with renewed vigor, put pressure on the seller/landlord that you'll walk away (hopefully encouraging him to... incentivise... them to vacate) or cut your losses and look elsewhere.

Exodi

m0bov said:

Walk away, it should be on the market as vacant, numpty LL. Could take a year or more.

Agreed - very often the seller/LL not wanting to evict tenants earlier as he'd have a void period until the property is sold... wanting their cake and eating it.

Unfortunately it seems the seller/LL's greed will now cost the OP.

Ramouth

My sympathy here is for the tenants.  Imagine facing eviction and homelessness for you and your children through no fault of your own.  I wish there was more protection for tenants in this situation so that tenanted properties could only be sold to other landlords.

OP if you like the house then perhaps just wait patiently until they find somewhere - it sounds like you want to move sooner rather than need to - the tenants need somewhere to live.  It is totally believable that they are trying hard to find somewhere but with a lot of competition for properties at the moment they may just not have been chosen.  Do you really want to force 3 children into temporary accommodation?