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

onylon

Tatters26 said:

I have to move out of my accomodation by 4th October, so this has more of a knock-on effect than just me wanting to "make someone homeless" as was an accusation yesterday. 

You have my sympathy, I found the uncertainty before exchange really hard. As a buyer/seller you are so deeply invested emotionally and financially but have next to no control over the process. I kept telling myself that my anxiety wasn't logical or helpful but drove myself completely bananas anyway.

I think you should assume you won't have completed by 4th October. It wouldn't hurt to keep house hunting either. You might find something you like more and is actually ready for sale.

980233

Tenants should stay as long as they can and until 2023 at least.

The vendor for being a complete plonker needs to offer them a good sum to leave at the end of the fixed tenancy, if he is too tight to then he deserves it dragging out in court. 

You should offer this as a solution and leave your offer valid for 1 week only. Just walk away in all reality.

pinkteapot

OP - I'm sorry for the way the thread has gone. If you're still around, my advice would be to start viewing other properties. Don't pull out of this one yet - there's no point pulling out if you haven't even found another place yet. The tenants may leave and then you can exchange and complete. Tell your solicitor to pause work until the tenant situation is resolved. I would also tell the EA I'm viewing other properties - though in this case they can't really persuade the vendor to get moving as the vendor can't do much. Though the vendor could offer the tenants a good cash-for-keys chunk if they really wanted the sale to go through... 

Anyway, view other houses and if something nice (and without tenants) comes up then get your solicitor to start work on that. Just be aware that if it's owner-occupied but will be part of a long chain, it could easily take six months to go through. Ask plenty of questions about what the vendor's position is, how fussy it seems like they'll be in viewing houses if they haven't started yet, etc. You want to get a sense of how quickly they can move. People can always lie at this point, but it's worth a try. 

Tatters26

pinkteapot said:

OP - I'm sorry for the way the thread has gone. If you're still around, my advice would be to start viewing other properties. Don't pull out of this one yet - there's no point pulling out if you haven't even found another place yet. The tenants may leave and then you can exchange and complete. Tell your solicitor to pause work until the tenant situation is resolved. I would also tell the EA I'm viewing other properties - though in this case they can't really persuade the vendor to get moving as the vendor can't do much. Though the vendor could offer the tenants a good cash-for-keys chunk if they really wanted the sale to go through... 

Thanks, that is what we are going to do. And the thread went bonkers as I thought, naively again, we may actually get some advice.

One the of the first replies was "The general advice is not to waste your time looking at properties which still have tenants in them."

Well I'm in this situation now as I perhaps took the estate agent on face value, and have learnt a lesson. I just felt people have a weird agenda to try and belittle someone who has made a mistake when buying their first property and it did upset me, as I am only trying to do my best for my family now, and even got told I was deliberately making someone homeless! Perhaps it was rude calling that person an idiot but I haven't changed my mind..

We were somewhat forced into a corner the EA on this property as we liked it a lot and as soon as you get emotional you make bad decisions, and we offered soon and thought we'd secured it. In hindsight we should've asked more questions about the tenants or actually just now viewed at all, which will be our new stance when viewing. 

 Thank you to those with helpful comments, and apologies if I’ve bitten a bit but some of the comments were just people trying to mock my situation when I get it, I know the mistake we made, but I literally just advised for advise now I’m here and people seem to enjoy someone else's misfortune.

AdrianC

Tatters26 said:

One the of the first replies was "The general advice is not to waste your time looking at properties which still have tenants in them."

A little over-simplified, but basically sound.

Well I'm in this situation now as I perhaps took the estate agent on face value

The EA have nothing to gain here. They don't get paid unless and until the property is actually sold. And, right now, it ain't going to be selling in a hurry.

We were somewhat forced into a corner the EA on this property

The EA is paid by the vendor to find a buyer. So, yes, of course their job is to sell to you.

...or actually just now viewed at all

<blink> Sorry, what?
You didn't even VIEW the property before offering? Yet you "like it a lot"? How can you tell...?

Please assure us that you have now viewed, preferable more than once...? And that your first actual view wouldn't have been post-completion...?

We viewed dozens of properties before offering on this house. Places that looked good on paper were awful in the flesh, this one was at the bottom of our B-list but we fell in love instantly in the flesh...

Tatters26

AdrianC said:

...or actually just now viewed at all

<blink> Sorry, what?
You didn't even VIEW the property before offering? Yet you "like it a lot"? How can you tell...?

Please assure us that you have now viewed, preferable more than once...? And that your first actual view wouldn't have been post-completion...?

We viewed dozens of properties before offering on this house. Places that looked good on paper were awful in the flesh, this one was at the bottom of our B-list but we fell in love instantly in the flesh...

Meant to say "not viewed at all" - just a typo. Now should be not.

AdrianC

<phew>

We do hear stories of people who offer without viewing...

Tatters26

AdrianC said:

<phew>

We do hear stories of people who offer without viewing...

Only someone naive would do that, like me! :-) 

Mac_70_

If you really like the house Tatters, go back too the estate agent tell them that you really like the house but, if there is no movement on this house that your going to move on. Though i don't agree with it, the seller might give the tenant a few quid too move on.

What ever way you go for i wish you luck.

Skiddaw1

@Tatters26 , I'm glad you're still around and like many others, I'm sorry that your thread attracted some (to my mind) rather inappropriate responses to say the least. I'm with the general consensus- keep hopeful but keep your options open and have a Plan B in place in case it doesn't pan out. I don't think you've been naive. You'll know another time to be wary of properties with tenants in situ but that doesn't make you either stupid or some sort of monster. Good luck and do keep the tread updated.