Section 21 and selling property

km1500

Have you thought about investigating selling to another landlord?

That way the tenants get to stay, although I am sure the new landlord would put the rent up to market rent.

lilyloo17

km1500 said:

Have you thought about investigating selling to another landlord?

That way the tenants get to stay, although I am sure the new landlord would put the rent up to market rent.

Briefly , but I hear less than market value and surely this is a poor market for investors right now - surely it’d take longer to sell I don’t know. 

OhWow

Are they on a fixed term tenancy agreement?

saajan_12

lilyloo17 said:

km1500 said:

Have you thought about investigating selling to another landlord?

That way the tenants get to stay, although I am sure the new landlord would put the rent up to market rent.

Briefly , but I hear less than market value and surely this is a poor market for investors right now - surely it’d take longer to sell I don’t know. 

First need to get the rent up to a market level - else you'll never get an investor interested. However tenants paying the market rent on time consistently might be attractive.. depends on the yield in that area too and whether it suits investment (how many rooms / receptions?)

Once you have that, then worth considering or asking an agent about. Yes you'll still get slightly less than market value due to a smaller buyer pool, but you save the void and potential eviction costs, so need to work out if that makes up the difference. 

lilyloo17 said:

I’m really in a quandary about selling our property or not.

We live overseas and rented out our U.K. property , tenant have always paid on time etc we have little contact as it’s handled by a management company.
Our overseas stay looks likely to be more permanent and we’ll need to buy a house here so would need equity from our rental. 

We are not in a rush to buy but would need the funds here and be ready to go should the right property come up.
with the market looking likes it’s about the take a downturn it’s looking like we need to sell soon. Our mortgage interest has over doubled and we have absorbed the extra cost not increased rent but it’s just now becoming more urgent. 

We are looking to issue a section 21 soon and I’m feeling awful about it , espec with Christmas coming … but I feel we need to be in a position ready to sell for spring and also we don’t know how tenants will react about leaving so although I’d like to give them longer I also need to think about what I’d they don’t leave after 2 months and issue it now ? 

I’m feeling very torn 

Tbh Xmas feelings can't take out 2 months of the year.. In Jan what if they have money to move as they spent it all on Xmas, so you'll feel bad again.

Its still a business, and nothing wrong with exercising the right you have in the deal you and the tenants willingly entered. Two months notice from now would end mid Jan, then by the time you get to court, the earliest possession order is Feb-Mar. Anything before that is only if the tenants willingly leave before then. 
Of course do it as personably as possible, so speak to them about your thoughts first before the paperwork comes through, tell them you'll be flexible with when they want to leave, etc. That can make all the difference and still allow you to serve the paperwork to your timeframe. 

LegallyLandlord

I agree with the comments about talking to your renters. I did the same and served a s21 notice before I sold an uneconomic flat earlier this year (I was an accidental landlord of a low yielding flat with a high service charge). 

I gave them lots of notice (i told them informally well before serving the notice) and agreed to let them stay an extra month to help them logistically. It was all amicable, I gave them a good reference and returned their deposit promptly. Took one look at the flat after they’d moved out and cancelled the inventory check out. It was in perfect condition. 

Don’t feel guilty. Just be straight forward and explain the situation. The more notice, the better. 

lilyloo17

saajan_12 said:

lilyloo17 said:

km1500 said:

Have you thought about investigating selling to another landlord?

That way the tenants get to stay, although I am sure the new landlord would put the rent up to market rent.

Briefly , but I hear less than market value and surely this is a poor market for investors right now - surely it’d take longer to sell I don’t know. 

First need to get the rent up to a market level - else you'll never get an investor interested. However tenants paying the market rent on time consistently might be attractive.. depends on the yield in that area too and whether it suits investment (how many rooms / receptions?)

Once you have that, then worth considering or asking an agent about. Yes you'll still get slightly less than market value due to a smaller buyer pool, but you save the void and potential eviction costs, so need to work out if that makes up the difference. 

lilyloo17 said:

I’m really in a quandary about selling our property or not.

We live overseas and rented out our U.K. property , tenant have always paid on time etc we have little contact as it’s handled by a management company.
Our overseas stay looks likely to be more permanent and we’ll need to buy a house here so would need equity from our rental. 

We are not in a rush to buy but would need the funds here and be ready to go should the right property come up.
with the market looking likes it’s about the take a downturn it’s looking like we need to sell soon. Our mortgage interest has over doubled and we have absorbed the extra cost not increased rent but it’s just now becoming more urgent. 

We are looking to issue a section 21 soon and I’m feeling awful about it , espec with Christmas coming … but I feel we need to be in a position ready to sell for spring and also we don’t know how tenants will react about leaving so although I’d like to give them longer I also need to think about what I’d they don’t leave after 2 months and issue it now ? 

I’m feeling very torn 

Tbh Xmas feelings can't take out 2 months of the year.. In Jan what if they have money to move as they spent it all on Xmas, so you'll feel bad again.

Its still a business, and nothing wrong with exercising the right you have in the deal you and the tenants willingly entered. Two months notice from now would end mid Jan, then by the time you get to court, the earliest possession order is Feb-Mar. Anything before that is only if the tenants willingly leave before then. 
Of course do it as personably as possible, so speak to them about your thoughts first before the paperwork comes through, tell them you'll be flexible with when they want to leave, etc. That can make all the difference and still allow you to serve the paperwork to your timeframe. 

I’ll see if we can arrange a call,not sure how easy it will be ! We work till 5 and we’re 5 hours behind on time zone - we’ve never spoke directly before everything is done through letting agent . Worst case would an email be Terrible ? Should we explain it was a difficult decision etc but really we don’t have much choice ? Should we mention the mortgage rates etc or do you think it’ll be like well that not their problem ! It’s gone up again as we on variable to 6.5 ! (2 at beginning of the year ) 

how we we offer to be more flexible with the leave date I thought we had to serve 60 days ? If we serve 60 but then we can also say however if u need more time we can discuss this etc ? 

lilyloo17

LegallyLandlord said:

I agree with the comments about talking to your renters. I did the same and served a s21 notice before I sold an uneconomic flat earlier this year (I was an accidental landlord of a low yielding flat with a high service charge). 

I gave them lots of notice (i told them informally well before serving the notice) and agreed to let them stay an extra month to help them logistically. It was all amicable, I gave them a good reference and returned their deposit promptly. Took one look at the flat after they’d moved out and cancelled the inventory check out. It was in perfect condition. 

Don’t feel guilty. Just be straight forward and explain the situation. The more notice, the better. 

Yes totally agree it’s the best thing to do ! Just trickier that we don’t have a relationship at all as all through an agent , we live in canada and have a 5 hours time difference !