12 year tenants given 6 month notice

Sammythehammy1984

Hello
We've lived in our home for 12 years and have 2 kids aged 8 and 10. The 10 year old is autistic. We have a great relationship with our landlord, however today we had the dreaded call from the estate agent advising us that our LL wants to sell. I'm absolutely heart-broken. We have been lucky in that our rent was never increased and he allowed us to make it our home. Sadly we haven't got the deposit together to be able to buy it which is so frustrating as we've been ploughing to pay of the debts that we have. Rents in our area have increased to double what we pay currently and housing association homes there is non. We live in the Yorkshire moors so a really popular area . I can't see how we move forward and worried that the changes that are going to happen are going to disrupt my son. Is there a way to approach our LL see if there's possibility of a discount or gifting the deposit or something to enable us to buy at all? I don't know where best to go for advice. Anyone been in this situation before and seen the light at the end of the tunnel?

elsien

There’s always room for negotiation, And selling to you would be a lot easier. It depends what they think they can get on the open market and how much they think not having to faff around with other buyers is worth reducing the price by, if at all. 

But I’m not sure what you mean by gifting a deposit if you don’t have the money - do you know someone who could gift it to you? And if you’ve got debts do you know if you can get meet the affordability criteria for a mortgage - maybe that’s your starting point?

housebuyer143

What you seem to be asking is for the landlord to give you the deposit by discounting the purchase price? I don't think this is possible but even if it were I find it very unlikely your landlord would give you a 10-15% discount. 

You are best of taking your notice to the council, getting on the housing register and keeping them in the loop. You will be advised to stay put until your landlord takes you to court for possession. Unfortunately your nice landlord is going to be out of pocket and inconvenienced but there isn't anything you can do. If you move out you will not be rehoused. 
The council will find you accommodation but it might not be ideal in the short term but they will take your son's disability into account. 

Myci85

Sorry to hear you've had this news. We were in a similar position a few years back, had been in the house for 13 years and my boys had spent majority of their lives there. Our landlady gave us plenty of warning of her plans to sell, and for us 1 years notice turned into 2 and a bit years and it gave us the chance to put together a deposit to buy our own place. Couldn't afford the house we rented, and in our case our landlady wouldn't sell at discount to us as her granddaughter wanted to buy it. 
I've seen people talking about concessionary mortgages in your circumstances, basically the landlord would agree to sell to you for say 5-10% under market value, and there are some lenders who will take that discount as your deposit. Maybe worth posting on the mortgage board for advice from the brokers on there, as you'd obviously need to be able to get a mortgage aside from having the necessary deposit, and I think there are only a few lenders who offer this type of mortgage. 

theartfullodger

Selling it does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.

Has landlord/agent served you any formal notice?

FlorayG

This is a really sad situation for both you and the landlord. In order to be at the very top of the list for social housing you have to be actually homeless and then with your son's difficulties you would probably be housed quite quickly; however, in order for this to happen you have to do everything possible to ensure you are not 'voluntarily homeless' which in reality means refusing to move until your landlord gets a court order to evict you. Moving out because you have been given notice will exempt you from the list. This is a bad situation for both of you but was made law because of bad landlords evicting tenants too easily
Sorry I can't offer any advice what to do except keep on best terms with the landlord, who should understand the situation ( As a landlord I've been in a similar situation; my tenant wanted to move to a larger house as badly as I wanted her to move, but it wasn't simple to solve between us)

RHemmings

Sammythehammy1984 said:

Hello
We've lived in our home for 12 years and have 2 kids aged 8 and 10. The 10 year old is autistic. We have a great relationship with our landlord, however today we had the dreaded call from the estate agent advising us that our LL wants to sell. I'm absolutely heart-broken. We have been lucky in that our rent was never increased and he allowed us to make it our home. Sadly we haven't got the deposit together to be able to buy it which is so frustrating as we've been ploughing to pay of the debts that we have. Rents in our area have increased to double what we pay currently and housing association homes there is non. We live in the Yorkshire moors so a really popular area . I can't see how we move forward and worried that the changes that are going to happen are going to disrupt my son. Is there a way to approach our LL see if there's possibility of a discount or gifting the deposit or something to enable us to buy at all? I don't know where best to go for advice. Anyone been in this situation before and seen the light at the end of the tunnel?

I was once in a very similar situation, including less than market rent. 

In my case, I offered the landlord a significantly increased rent, and they accepted it. I stayed for years more. 

As your landlord is selling, this might not work. But, it sounds as if there is the possibility of you offering an increased but still less than market rent and seeing what happens. 

justwhat

theartfullodger said:

Selling it does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.

Has landlord/agent served you any formal notice?

The LL will get them out sooner or later. This attitude and current red tape is why the rental market is knackered. 
 
Really you should just list the ways in which the tenant can be as awkward as possible to stay in as long as possible , as that's the route you are gong down. (oh and don't forget to mention not registering the deposit , cause that will also get another few pounds lol )

housebuyer143

justwhat said:

theartfullodger said:

Selling it does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.

Has landlord/agent served you any formal notice?

The LL will get them out sooner or later. This attitude and current red tape is why the rental market is knackered. 
 
Really you should just list the ways in which the tenant can be as awkward as possible to stay in as long as possible , as that's the route you are gong down. (oh and don't forget to mention not registering the deposit , cause that will also get another few pounds lol )

That attitude? What, actually asking for formal notice rather than a text message asking you to go?? I hardly think it's a lot to ask and the council won't even entertain help to the OP without it. 

chrisw

I don't know why people don't just speak to their landlord. We don't know their reasons for selling. Is it just nervousness over the impending changes, are they moving away, are they in poor health? Do they need a quick sale now or might there be quite a bit of leeway in their plans?

Only once you know these things can you really decide on your next course of action.

justwhat

housebuyer143 said:

justwhat said:

theartfullodger said:

Selling it does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.

Has landlord/agent served you any formal notice?

The LL will get them out sooner or later. This attitude and current red tape is why the rental market is knackered. 
 
Really you should just list the ways in which the tenant can be as awkward as possible to stay in as long as possible , as that's the route you are gong down. (oh and don't forget to mention not registering the deposit , cause that will also get another few pounds lol )

That attitude? What, actually asking for formal notice rather than a text message asking you to go?? I hardly think it's a lot to ask and the council won't even entertain help to the OP without it. 

6 months notice and they said they got a call from EA. and even so , we will say it was a TXT so what... The council red tape has just fueled the demise of the private rental market. You reap what you sow and there are hardly any private rentals anymore. 

Current attitude by many  towards LL's is to take them for as much as possible.