Selling our S/O property and moving into Private Rental

Naughtydog

Hi,

Just looking for a bit of advice please, as I am having a bit of a funny moment. 

So for context:

We are selling our S/O flat on the market via HA. Our share is £105k and we have £25k equity.
We want to upsize to a 3 bedroom house in the private rental market.
We have listed our flat on the market today. 

So when would be the best time to look for a house to rent? Also, how does it work in terms of paying a holding deposit, then normal deposit + the first month's rent? 

I have tried to book some viewings but the estate agents won't even let us view them because of our current position as sellers, they think it's too risky because of the crossover between renting & paying our mortgage. 

I am slightly worried because a lot of these houses aren't even available to move into until 4-8 weeks' time anyway, I was hoping by that point we could perhaps move into rental whilst the flat is sold and paperwork is done etc. 

So my questions are: 

1. When would you start viewing rentals whilst in the process of selling? Is it too early to view or worth looking a bit closer to when we get a buyer and approach exchanging contracts?
2. How on earth do you get a viewing as it seems the estate agent won't touch you with a 10-foot barge pole if you are not a first-time buyer/chain free?
3. Are landlords flexible to tenants who are selling their house? Has anyone got any experiences? 

This is my first time selling my property, so I am sorry if I have missed something. I don't really want to stay in an AIRBNB or go homeless for a few weeks either.

Many thanks 

lika_86

It's way too early at present, you don't even have a buyer yet. Even a straightforward freehold sale without chain can take a few months.

How early you can look will depend a lot on whether and for how long you could afford to pay for both your mortgage and rent. Obviously the close this is to completion, the less money you will 'waste' paying both.

Naughtydog

So you would say wait until we are close to exchanging contracts?

genericn17

Everyone I know who has bought a flat in the last year or so (including one shared ownership resale), it has taken at least 6 months from having the offer accepted to getting the keys.

I would wait until you are much further in the process - otherwise you'll be double paying for months potentially.

fourmarks

I recently did just this but didn't actively go rental hunting until I had a firm buyer and the process was fully underway. What I also did was ask for a 6 week gap between exchange and completion as a sort of safety net if the rental was proving troublesome. I appreciate not all buyers would agree to that gap. In the event I was in a position to complete only 2 weeks after exchange and my buyers were able, and very happy, to complete early. Sometimes a plan comes together, sometimes it doesn't. Good luck.

Annisele

I'd suggest you speak to an estate agent in your local area about what the rental market is like. (If the agent you're selling through has a lettings division, it's likely they'll give you the time of day even though you're not ready to rent yet.)

I moved a fair distance towards the end of last year, from a rental. My original plan had been to get a new rental in the new area while I found my feet, then live in the new rental while I found a house to buy in the new area. But I just couldn't get that to match up, and I ended up going straight to buying a house.

I had fairly specific requirements around accessibilty, but even without that I was finding that there were multiple potential tenants for each house. The landlord would always choose the person who could move in tomorrow - I couldn't do that, and I wasn't willing to pay rent for two places for more than a month or so.

If the rental market where you are is less crazy, you might do much better than I did. But if you're in a holiday area, the rental market might be even worse - and there might genuinely be scores of people chasing the same property.