Buying a house which is currently rented

lookstraightahead

housebuyer219 said:

lookstraightahead said:

housebuyer219 said:

All great ideas thanks all .
I am a little worried the tenants aren’t there when we view, would I be out of order to try reach out to them separately?

And say what to them? 

Gauge their motivation to leave. It’s in a tiny village with no rental properties available currently. Given it’s a family house I’d imagine they have children in local schools etc. the more I ponder the more hassle it’s sounding…
I’ll go ahead and view and take from there 

Whatever their situation, they can change their mind. One thing it's unlikely to be is you wanting to buy it. That will have no bearing on their decision at all.

The only way you will know for sure is when they have left.

if you view and like it, it's worth telling the EA to come back to you when it's empty so that you've shown your interest. Then leave it at that. 

GDB2222

The vendor may be perfectly willing to bribe the tenants to leave. Equally, he may not want to do that unless he knows that there are people at least vaguely interested in buying. Or,  the tenants may be leaving, which is why the owner is taking the opportunity to sell.

Of course, it’s not worth getting too invested in the property until the tenants have left, but if it suits the op it’s at least worth having a look and chatting to the tenants to find out what their plans are. 

patchyX2

Hmmm, this thread is interesting. We're going to view a house next week which has tenants in.

I didn't give it a second thought that it might be an issue. I assumed the landlord would have already served notice and the tenants would be evicted on date X. Of course this is a  question we'll ask to clarify the situation, but it sounds like I'm being naive based on some of the 'don't do it!' comments in here.

What's the risks/complexities that we should be aware of?

elsien

The time scales.
 Issuing the section 21 is the date at which the landlord would quite like the tenants to leave by. If they choose not to do so, maybe because they’re having difficulty finding somewhere else and have to be evicted for the council to help, then the landlord would have to go to court to get them out which can take months. Especially if they plead financial hardship as another thread on here demonstrated recently.

lookstraightahead

PledgeX2 said:

Hmmm, this thread is interesting. We're going to view a house next week which has tenants in.

I didn't give it a second thought that it might be an issue. I assumed the landlord would have already served notice and the tenants would be evicted on date X. Of course this is a  question we'll ask to clarify the situation, but it sounds like I'm being naive based on some of the 'don't do it!' comments in here.

What's the risks/complexities that we should be aware of?

It's the tenants' home until they leave. 

GDB2222

I can’t give a percentage, but most tenants leave when they get a S21 notice. 

3card

Are you having a mortgage? If so the lender will insist on vacant possession before completing by which time you will have spant good money on the conveying process

My view is that i wouldnt spend a penny on the process until the property is vacant regardless of who is telling you otherwise

The 'eviction' process will take about 12 months if the correct rental processes have been followed

turnitround

Its not enough to say notice has been given to the tenants. That notice needs to be valid and served at the right time. 

The notice (if served correctly which many are not) does not mean the tenants will leave in 2 months time. There are so many variables.

There could be the perfect tenant in that house who is expecting to move and has already started to make plans to vacate. On the other hand there could be a tenant who knows that the landlord has cut corners and any notice served will be invalid and so has no intention of moving out.

MFWannabe

There’s no issue going to view 
The tenants may say they’re moving out to another rental or buying a property themselves 
Questions that need to be asked but shouldn’t stop you from viewing 

macman

GDB2222 said:

I can’t give a percentage, but most tenants leave when they get a S21 notice. 

Really? Despite a minimum notice requirement of 2 months notice?
I can't give a percentage either, but a high proportion of S21's are invalid. The reason many are not challenged is because the tenant is not aware of the statutory requirements.