Selling a house that's currently rented out

gazfocus

born_again said:

Off the wall idea given the Op mentioned they are renting at the moment.

Swop with family. So they move into your rented & you move back to your house. 

While This may not be possible of various reasons, area's work etc. It is an idea, as it would get mortgage company off your back.

Number one reason we can’t do that is my rent is 2.5 times the rent my family are paying on my house. They certainly wouldn’t be in a position to pay the rent I pay on my current home. 

As you say though, there are other reasons why this isn’t really a practical solution, not least of which they would need vetting by my current landlord and the landlord would have to approve. My landlord is also quite strict about what we can and can’t do in the house in terms of decorating which I can imagine not suiting my family members as the current decor/style wouldn’t match their style and furniture which is a big thing for them. 

GDB2222

One possible solution is to subsidise your family in the new home they move to. You are doing that at the moment, through a below market rental, so why not continue when they move? 

gazfocus

Just to update the thread, we had the house valued about 10 days ago, and the house has been on the market for a week, and initial viewings are taking place today (Saturday). Estate agents have 11 viewings booked in for today so hopeful of an offer. 

Family members are still fairly frustrated. They’re not happy with the situation and not happy that they are being inconvenienced by the estate agents doing viewings etc. Got to get a new EPC done as the last one expired a few months ago so they’ll be inconvenienced a bit more yet. 

_Penny_Dreadful

That’s rather bold to start marketing the property with tenants in-situ or are you marketing it towards BTL investors? 

gazfocus

_Penny_Dreadful said:

That’s rather bold to start marketing the property with tenants in-situ or are you marketing it towards BTL investors? 

We discussed the situation with the estate agent and followed their advice. Our family have agreed to vacate within a deadline that will *hopefully* mean the house is vacant well before the process will be near exchange or completion. 

Flugelhorn

gazfocus said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

That’s rather bold to start marketing the property with tenants in-situ or are you marketing it towards BTL investors? 

We discussed the situation with the estate agent and followed their advice. Our family have agreed to vacate within a deadline that will *hopefully* mean the house is vacant well before the process will be near exchange or completion. 

gosh I hope so for your sake but somehow I think they are going to stick it out and might be hard to move. problem with relatives is that some can act in a rather entitled way.

Sea_Shell

I have visions of the tenants allowing viewing... but, the house/garden being a complete tip 😲

Dirty dishes, clothes hanging everywhere, general mess etc etc.

It's not in their interests to show the house off at it's "best" like an owner would.

Maybe I'm too cynical 😉 (and have a devious mind😇)



This is one reason why it's best to have them gone and put a vacant property on the market.

macman

Really not a good idea to market it as for sale with vacant possession with tenants still in situ. Once you have an accepted offer, you may find that you have to pay your tenants off to vacate before exchange: and they will be able to dictate the price.
Of course your EA will 'advise' you to proceed anyway: their only concern is to secure their fee as early as possible. Your conveyancer would not give the same advice. Did you ask them?

Jonboy_1984

We bought a house last year that was advertised as vacant possession because the tenants were on a six month fixed term rental, with exchange and completion planned for a soon as it expired and they left. They had made it spotless for the viewings, signed the forms to say they would leave etc etc.

The day before they were due to vacate they announced their onward rental had fallen through and they needed to find another. This took several weeks until they secured a HA rental and had to wait for decoration and carpets. Luckily our Estate agents kept our buyer on side and it all worked out but it was incredibly stressful at the time and the communication from the tenants and the rental agent was non existent.

These tenants were acting in good faith and it was an awful experience, good luck…

p00hsticks

gazfocus said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

That’s rather bold to start marketing the property with tenants in-situ or are you marketing it towards BTL investors? 

We discussed the situation with the estate agent and followed their advice. Our family have agreed to vacate within a deadline that will *hopefully* mean the house is vacant well before the process will be near exchange or completion. 

Personally I wouldn't even go to view a property with tenants in unless I was intending to buy as a landlord, so you will be losing potential buyers with the tenants still in situ....