Viewing a property with a tenant in

C1996

Hello, 

Just looking for some advice. I am viewing a property tomorrow which hasn’t been advertised saying it has a tenant living in the property. 

The other day I drove past the property and noticed the for sale sign. I knocked on the door to see if I could build some sort of rapport with the vendor. 

A woman opened the door and informed me that it’s the landlord selling the house, I noticed she has a young daughter. 

This has worried me as I am aware that tenants have rights. I will be asking the agent more questions tomorrow as I view the property. However, my worry is if they will be honest with me? 

For example, if the current tenant has been served a notice its not guaranteed that they will move about by the date provided by the landlord? 

I’m just trying to forward think/prepare as I assume this could cause problems with a moving in date? And essentially IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

Please note I am a FTB so I am still new to this and learning. Any strong advice/ tips on this situation please? 

Thank you 

SuseOrm

Run,  don’t walk …. she will be advised by the council not to leave until the Bailiff‘s arrive to remove her from the property unless she’s able to find another private rental which at the moment is highly unlikely because as you can see the landlords are all selling up which is inflating the price of properties that are available on the market.  

C1996

SuseOrm said:

Run,  don’t walk …. she will be advised by the council not to leave until the Bailiff‘s arrive to remove her from the property unless she’s able to find another private rental which at the moment is highly unlikely because as you can see the landlords are all selling up which is inflating the price of properties that are available on the market.  

Thank you! I was thinking that I assume whatever notice she has been given it will be difficult for her to try and find another property to rent, especially with the current increases in rent.

user1977

C1996 said:

IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

No, that won't happen. But there may be a delay while everybody waits for the tenant to leave.

C1996

user1977 said:

C1996 said:

IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

No, that won't happen. But there may be a delay while everybody waits for the tenant to leave.

This also something else that I wondered. Would there be any specific questions I’d need to be asking other than the length of their notice?

turnitround

C1996 said:

user1977 said:

C1996 said:

IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

No, that won't happen. But there may be a delay while everybody waits for the tenant to leave.

This also something else that I wondered. Would there be any specific questions I’d need to be asking other than the length of their notice?

Your solicitor would not allow you to complete the sale whilst a tenant is in situ.

As for questions, the agent will only tell you what you want to hear. He will have no idea really as he wont now the tenant's intentions and is just interested in getting a sale. As others have said the tenant may be told to stay till eviction which will take months so she can be housed by the council. Equally she may have plans to move and will be leaving in 6 weeks. 
The length of notice is irrelevant. The notice does not mean the tenant has to leave it just means that after the end of notice the landlord can apply to the courts for a notice to evict. 
It also depends on whether or not the notice served is valid or not as many are incorrectly served and if this is the case then eviction may take much, much longer.

Did you ask the lady what her intentions were when you called to 'build some sort of rapport'?

Just as an aside, I'm not sure knocking was a great idea either. If I was selling and I got someone who was booked to view doing this beforehand it would build a good rapport, probably the opposite.

Gavin83

Did you ask the tenant what their plans were? For all you know it was the tenant that served notice.

Ultimately there's nothing wrong with viewing the property and even offering. However I wouldn't be spending any money on this (searches, solicitors, mortgage applications, etc) until the property is vacant and I'd recommend that you carry on looking at other properties as well. They could be out in a few months, they could be there for years. It's impossible for you to know at the moment.

SuseOrm said:

Run,  don’t walk …. she will be advised by the council not to leave until the Bailiff‘s arrive to remove her from the property unless she’s able to find another private rental which at the moment is highly unlikely because as you can see the landlords are all selling up which is inflating the price of properties that are available on the market.  

To be honest it's becoming less and less attractive to become a landlord, I'm surprised most people bother. I expect the lack of rental properties will become more of a problem as time goes on.

comeandgo

turnitround said:

C1996 said:

user1977 said:

C1996 said:

IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

No, that won't happen. But there may be a delay while everybody waits for the tenant to leave.

This also something else that I wondered. Would there be any specific questions I’d need to be asking other than the length of their notice?

Your solicitor would not allow you to complete the sale whilst a tenant is in situ.



Did you ask the lady what her intentions were when you called to 'build some sort of rapport'?

Just as an aside, I'm not sure knocking was a great idea either. If I was selling and I got someone who was booked to view doing this beforehand it would build a good rapport, probably the opposite.

Agree totally with above.  There is a reason for appointments for viewing.  If anyone called prior to an appointment  that would be the last of them getting a viewing, I would think they were rude and rather desperate.

GDB2222

I agree with @Gavin83 There’s no reason not to view. 

Just don’t invest (much) money in searches, etc until the tenant has left. And, of course, keep looking around, as this property is even more problematic than usual.

There’s another very recent thread on here about someone else with a similar situation. So would be worth reading. 

Loza2016

The first property I bought was an ex rental with tenants living there during the viewing. 

Tenants left in plenty of time for the sale to go through. I know a few other houses that have sold and tenants have happily left and found somewhere else. 

No harm in viewing and finding out the tenants situation. 

eddddy

C1996 said:

And essentially IF my offer is accepted I could potentially have a mortgage and a house that someone else is still living in? 

That's a bit of an urban myth. The real problem is more likely to be that you can't buy the house until the tenants move out.

And it if takes many months (or even a year or two) for the tenants to move out, you might give up waiting - and lose any legal fees, mortgage application fees, that you have paid.

So a lot of people suggest that you don't pay for anything until the tenants have moved out.


In my experience, in 90%+ of cases tenants move out when expected/agreed - and there's no problem. (But maybe that reflects the area, the profile of tenant, the checks the landlord does when selecting a tenant, etc)

And it could be very frustrating if the tenant in your case is one of the 10% who refuse to leave until they're forced to.

When you knocked on the door, did the tenant indicate that they would be leaving happily? (Although they might change their mind.)