Timeline for Buying a House

Myci85

Have you spoken to your landlord to let them know your plans to buy and see if they're willing to consider some flexibility? My landlady has always done 12 month tenancies, to give both of us security, but when she knew we were thinking of buying she was happy to be more flexible. As it turned out, it's taken so long for us to get ourselves in a position, and find the right house, that she's also wanting to sell up as she's getting older. But I expect lots of landlords would be open to a periodic tenancy after your fixed term if they have advanced warning. It's that or the messy situation of trying to evict you if you refuse to sign another 12 month contract. 

In terms of length of time to buy, don't discount time needed to find yourself the right house at the right price. We've been ready to put an offer down since Jan, it took us to March to find a house to offer on, that then fell through due to single skin wall in kitchen, and then we offered on the place we're currently buying in May. I'm working on the estimate of 6 months for it to go through, anything less will be a bonus. 

annetheman

Sally133 said:

Our Landlord only wants to renew on 12month tenancy agreements, it's never a rolling contract, so we don't want to get locked in. Any advice is very welcome.

Even if that is what they want, by law it will become a rolling tenancy at the end of the contract term (see posts above) if you don't sign. You cannot be forced to sign anything. Best thing to do is be as amicable as possible and keep everyone on side by being really transparent about where you are and what's next. 

You could start looking now, or at least 6 months prior to end of current contract. Most residential transactions in England and Wales (assuming you are in E/W!) take 4-6 months. Assume you'll need a few weeks or even months to find something. Consider that once you find somewhere, and sale is agreed, you'll apply for a mortgage - most mortgage offers expire after 6 months. 

I found it really useful after my contract ended to keep my landlady's letting agency informed on an almost weekly basis of what is going on - it took AN ENTIRE CALENDAR YEAR to complete on my purchase - offer accepted 26 Feb 2020, completed 28 Feb 2021. Obviously lockdown came into it but also EWS1. 

Throughout, I emailed them weekly, telling them when the EWS1 was going to be done, how my mortgage was going, no updates this week, how's the cat, etc etc. It really does help, because they know getting an uncooperative tenant out is a painful and expensive mess. So if you make it clear when you have had an offer accepted (I wouldn't mention it before) that you are in that process and will keep them informed regularly so they can plan when to get ready to re-let, they will know the timelines involved and very likely be willing to work with you.