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

MaryNB

Deleted User said:

Hey, I can relate to your situation.

Mine is very similar. I sold my house back in June and made an offer on another property a few weeks later (advertised as chain free). 

I later found out that tenants were living there, and had been made aware of the sale and need to vacate. Strangely enough, no one could tell us when! Surely they’d been served notice, and surely there was a date of expectant vacation (even if they don’t leave by then!) but it’s been 3 months and we’re still waiting! 

We’re not quite ready due to our buyers (different story) and sadly this just means the agency is able to fob us off every week because we’re not ready anyway! It’s very frustrating. 

Since June, we haven’t seen one property go up for sale that we’d consider buying. It’s slim pickings and competition is rife, so backing out to go look elsewhere doesn’t seem an option either.

Very keen to hear how your situation turns out! Fingers crossed for you! 

Do you know if the tenants are looking for council housing? OP is facing the "worst case scenario" because their seller's tenants are looking for a council house so they'll have to stay until the court issues an eviction order and the baliffs turn up which will probably take more than a year.

If the tenants in your scenario got an S21 notice 3 months ago, it won't expire for another month. If issued between May and the end of September the notice is 4 months. Still, it's just a notice saying the landlord wants them to leave. They're under no legal obligation to do so. I wouldn't go for a tenanted property to begin with but if I did and they wouldn't even tell me when the S21 notice had been served, I'd be out viewing other properties. 

Exodi

Deleted User said:

It’s slim pickings and competition is rife, so backing out to go look elsewhere doesn’t seem an option either.

You don't have to 'back out' to look or progress on other properties. This is one of the advantages of UK property sales not being legally binding until exchange.

View anything else that is suitable, make an offer if you so desire, you are not obligated to keep the other agency up to date with your movements (they are not keeping you up to date with theirs).

Niv

onylon said:

Ramouth said:

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.

The tenants are probably aware of their rights and could just be taking their sweet time. Assuming they must be poverty-stricken just because they rent is pretty ridiculous and potentially offensive. 

I had a lodger up until the rent a room scheme was scrapped. At that point the paperwork needed to rent a single room was going to be way more effort than it was worth so I asked my lodger/friend to move out. When my circumstances changed and I needed to move, I briefly considered renting out my home. The landlord licencing scheme in my area was incredibly onerous. The council wanted £1300 for a 3 month licence and then an undisclosed sum to re-apply for a new licence, with no guarantee that I would actually be able to rent the property out at the end because they hadn't set the criteria for the new licencing scheme. I decided to sell up. Pushing potential landlords like myself out of the market is very bad news for tenants.

When was the rent a room scheme scrapped? It still appears on the gov website and has guidance updated in April 2021? I cant see anything that says it has been scrapped.

artyclarty

Tatters26 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Are you continuing to look for alternative properties? 

Yeah but we have the fallback of a relative we can go to but not ideal. I'm loathed to do much before we know exactly how things go with the S21 and court possession, we still have a couple of weeks afterwards. I think I may have got my dates wrong too in an earlier post, its September 28th it they were told to move out, not this week. I'm all over the place with work and dates! 

Don't want to be the bringer of bad news, but IF S21 has been served and is due to expire 28th, i.e. the time in which your seller can apply for a court hearing, you may be in for a long wait. In my area (North East England), the backlog is rather large and they are suggesting not to expect a court date until 2023 to those at the back of the queue if all goes well.

I keep my fingers crossed that they are having genuine dificulties finding a new place, but I would be considering looking elsewhere too.

Tatters26

I'm resigned to it not going ahead, we both are. I'm hoping that the tenants do find something themselves, the EA seems convinced they are "nice people" and are genuinely looking, as opposed to not looking and waiting for council,  but we'll have to wait and see. It's just so up in the air and you have zero power or control as the buyer, and also a lack of visibility. It's just a case of waiting for the phone to ring. 

TripleH

I would take your estate agent's view with a pinch of salt. They are committed to you buying the property otherwise they have to put more work in to get their fee.

You do need to have a cut-off point /point of no return and stick to it otherwise you end up living in limbo.

We had a failed purchase that dragged on (was a new build conversion) but there was a highlighted lease issue (from our solicitor) that the vendor promised repeatedly that they would rectify but never did. We decided on a cut off point for resolution and when we hit it with no progress made, I turned round and cut our offer and they said no. We moved on.

Having lived in limbo of some type for 29 months now (for multiple reasons), it is mentally draining. What has helped is changing something so that we have taken some control in our lives back however small.

GDB2222

Tatters26 said:

I'm resigned to it not going ahead, we both are. I'm hoping that the tenants do find something themselves, the EA seems convinced they are "nice people" and are genuinely looking, as opposed to not looking and waiting for council,  but we'll have to wait and see. It's just so up in the air and you have zero power or control as the buyer, and also a lack of visibility. It's just a case of waiting for the phone to ring. 

I'm really sorry, but I've skipped several pages of this thread, so you may have already considered the following:

If it were me in your position, I would try one last throw of the dice:

1. I'd reduce my offer for the property by £5k.

2. I would tell the sellers that I will offer the tenants that  £5k in cash if they will move out in one week, so the purchase goes ahead.

3. I would suggest to the sellers that it would actually be more sensible that they offer the tenants £5k to move out, in which case you'll go ahead at the agreed price.

Obviously, adjust the £5k figure appropriately, so as to make the tenants think more than twice before rejecting it, but you don't have to set them up for life. 

Also, given the sunk costs you have had, you might offer to contribute £1-2k on top of the £5k, out of your pocket.  The worst that happens is that your seller tells you to get lost.

boxer234

Tatters26 said:

I'm resigned to it not going ahead, we both are. I'm hoping that the tenants do find something themselves, the EA seems convinced they are "nice people" and are genuinely looking, as opposed to not looking and waiting for council,  but we'll have to wait and see. It's just so up in the air and you have zero power or control as the buyer, and also a lack of visibility. It's just a case of waiting for the phone to ring. 

Estate agents do irritate me what a comment.  They might be the nicest people in the world but if they can’t find somewhere, afford the deposit, waiting on council housing they simply can’t move.  The fact that in this country we put people through the stress of being evicted before re housing them is awful.  You have my sympathies OP your time has been wasted.  

MaryNB

boxer234 said:

Tatters26 said:

I'm resigned to it not going ahead, we both are. I'm hoping that the tenants do find something themselves, the EA seems convinced they are "nice people" and are genuinely looking, as opposed to not looking and waiting for council,  but we'll have to wait and see. It's just so up in the air and you have zero power or control as the buyer, and also a lack of visibility. It's just a case of waiting for the phone to ring. 

Estate agents do irritate me what a comment.  They might be the nicest people in the world but if they can’t find somewhere, afford the deposit, waiting on council housing they simply can’t move.  The fact that in this country we put people through the stress of being evicted before re housing them is awful.  You have my sympathies OP your time has been wasted.  

I know right, what a horrible thing to say!

Just because they're looking for a council house doesn't mean they're not nice people! They may genuinely struggling to find somewhere affordable to rent. They don't owe the EA or seller anything. His client is to blame for this mess. Where I live rent is extortionate - my neightbour's rent is 160% of my mortgage and theirs is a slightly smaller property. A bed in a houseshare in my area is about £600 pcm excl bills.  I have a colleague trying to move rentals at the moment and can't even get a viewing anywhere. 

Honeylife

Can't believe this property was even put on the market with tenants en situ!  What a waste of your time and money. 

With a similar property inherited with one other beneficiary, I knew it had to be absolutely tenant free before being put on the market.  Tenants delayed due to Covid then nowhere to move to.  Literally only just got the property back! 

Urge you to Walk Away NOW!  The tenants are clearly in there for the long haul, ie waiting for a council re-housing which takes ages.