Buying a home to live in that has a tenant in situ need advice

Hoenir

SneakySpectator said:

RAS said:

Why can't you get a mortgage longer than 25 years? 30+ is pretty normal now.

Inflation will eat into the cost of your repayments within say 5 years. It'd be reasonable to expect to clear a 35 year deal in 25 years.

Because I'm 36... A 25 year mortgage is already making me work until 61, I really don't want to be working into my 70's. 

Entirely up to you if you wish to repay the debt earlier. On another thread you espousing the fact that your income was rising 6% - 7% compound per annum. 

SneakySpectator

Hoenir said:

SneakySpectator said:

RAS said:

Why can't you get a mortgage longer than 25 years? 30+ is pretty normal now.

Inflation will eat into the cost of your repayments within say 5 years. It'd be reasonable to expect to clear a 35 year deal in 25 years.

Because I'm 36... A 25 year mortgage is already making me work until 61, I really don't want to be working into my 70's. 

Entirely up to you if you wish to repay the debt earlier. On another thread you espousing the fact that your income was rising 6% - 7% compound per annum. 

Yeah but that doesn't mean I want to still be working as a 70 year old man with a walking stick... I want to strike a balance between stretching out the debt over time so it decreases the impact relative to my salary, but also paying it off before "old age".

HouseMartin567

Perhaps you could agree to have the survey done, and once that comes back ‘clear’ then the vendor should serve notice. It does mean a financial commitment from you, but there are lots of threads about people reducing offers or withdrawing after a survey so I can kind of see why a landlord may want to wait until after that point before serving notice (not saying I agree with the approach - I think they shouldn’t have marketed it until empty).

RAS

SneakySpectator said:

Hoenir said:

SneakySpectator said:

RAS said:

Why can't you get a mortgage longer than 25 years? 30+ is pretty normal now.

Inflation will eat into the cost of your repayments within say 5 years. It'd be reasonable to expect to clear a 35 year deal in 25 years.

Because I'm 36... A 25 year mortgage is already making me work until 61, I really don't want to be working into my 70's. 

Entirely up to you if you wish to repay the debt earlier. On another thread you espousing the fact that your income was rising 6% - 7% compound per annum. 

Yeah but that doesn't mean I want to still be working as a 70 year old man with a walking stick... I want to strike a balance between stretching out the debt over time so it decreases the impact relative to my salary, but also paying it off before "old age".

Agreed. When you are looking at mortgages, you need to check what happens when you overpay? Some providers only allow one repayment a year, so you need to stuff an ISA or other interest account and then pay off a chunk as soon as possible each year.

Murphybear

eddddy said:

SneakySpectator said:

Well if I made an offer and it was accepted I could proceed with the mortgage application, but I won't actually sign anything until the tenants are out, the keys are handed back and the flat is empty. 

But the estate agent might be quite insistent on getting the ball rolling by starting the conveyancing process with my solicitor etc?

It's up to you to assess the situation, and therefore the level of risk, and therefore, what you want to do.

As I mentioned, possible situations include...

• The tenants have given notice to leave on 31st July. They leave on 31st July, and leave the property in a good state

• The tenants have been told to leave (served a section 21 notice), but they don't want to. So it takes 6 months or more to evict them. In the meantime, your mortgage offer runs out. When they eventually leave, you find they've wrecked the house - so you don't want to buy it any more. You've lost all the fees you've paid.

Plus dozens of other possible situations.

The estate agent (and seller) would certainly be happier if you got the ball rolling immediately - but then it's not them who would lose a mortgage application fee, legal fees, survey fees etc, if it all falls apart.

I was a letting agent for years and dealt with thousands of tenancies.  How many “wrecked houses” did I have? Zero LOL 

SneakySpectator

HouseMartin567 said:

Perhaps you could agree to have the survey done, and once that comes back ‘clear’ then the vendor should serve notice. It does mean a financial commitment from you, but there are lots of threads about people reducing offers or withdrawing after a survey so I can kind of see why a landlord may want to wait until after that point before serving notice (not saying I agree with the approach - I think they shouldn’t have marketed it until empty).

The thing I have a problem with is I'm chain free but the seller is not. Well they are in the sense they're not waiting for a completion of their own to go through, but they have tenants actively living in the property and the seller is trying to treat his sale like he's "chain free" when he's not really. 

I am ready to go at the drop of a hat while the seller is not, yet the seller is the one trying to dictate all the terms. If he wants to sell the property, get rid of the current tenants, but he is trying to milk every penny from them by letting them live there and only giving them a section 21 notice at the final hurdle. 

This could create a massive delay for me, while I'm waiting for this whole thing to go through and potentially tenants resisting eviction or just straight up refusing to leave. I could be missing out on some other really nice vacant properties.

I want to move asap, not be waiting around for tenants that may or may not delay the process by 6+ months... And then at the very end the tenant could cause serious damage to the property and the entire thing falls through anyway. 

SneakySpectator

Murphybear said:

eddddy said:

SneakySpectator said:

Well if I made an offer and it was accepted I could proceed with the mortgage application, but I won't actually sign anything until the tenants are out, the keys are handed back and the flat is empty. 

But the estate agent might be quite insistent on getting the ball rolling by starting the conveyancing process with my solicitor etc?

It's up to you to assess the situation, and therefore the level of risk, and therefore, what you want to do.

As I mentioned, possible situations include...

• The tenants have given notice to leave on 31st July. They leave on 31st July, and leave the property in a good state

• The tenants have been told to leave (served a section 21 notice), but they don't want to. So it takes 6 months or more to evict them. In the meantime, your mortgage offer runs out. When they eventually leave, you find they've wrecked the house - so you don't want to buy it any more. You've lost all the fees you've paid.

Plus dozens of other possible situations.

The estate agent (and seller) would certainly be happier if you got the ball rolling immediately - but then it's not them who would lose a mortgage application fee, legal fees, survey fees etc, if it all falls apart.

I was a letting agent for years and dealt with thousands of tenancies.  How many “wrecked houses” did I have? Zero LOL 

Wrecked is ambiguous, for one person wrecked might mean the home is completely destroyed, smashed up walls and cabinets, broken sink and toilet etc. 

For another it might mean some of the kitchen units are broken and there's a few chips from the floor or damaged walls from moving out. I've seen enough of those "can't pay we'll take it away" shows to see just how god awful some of those stubborn tenants are when they're being evicted forcefully with potentially nowhere to go. 

HouseMartin567

SneakySpectator said:

HouseMartin567 said:

Perhaps you could agree to have the survey done, and once that comes back ‘clear’ then the vendor should serve notice. It does mean a financial commitment from you, but there are lots of threads about people reducing offers or withdrawing after a survey so I can kind of see why a landlord may want to wait until after that point before serving notice (not saying I agree with the approach - I think they shouldn’t have marketed it until empty).

The thing I have a problem with is I'm chain free but the seller is not. Well they are in the sense they're not waiting for a completion of their own to go through, but they have tenants actively living in the property and the seller is trying to treat his sale like he's "chain free" when he's not really. 

I am ready to go at the drop of a hat while the seller is not, yet the seller is the one trying to dictate all the terms. If he wants to sell the property, get rid of the current tenants, but he is trying to milk every penny from them by letting them live there and only giving them a section 21 notice at the final hurdle. 

This could create a massive delay for me, while I'm waiting for this whole thing to go through and potentially tenants resisting eviction or just straight up refusing to leave. I could be missing out on some other really nice vacant properties.

I want to move asap, not be waiting around for tenants that may or may not delay the process by 6+ months... And then at the very end the tenant could cause serious damage to the property and the entire thing falls through anyway. 

In which case, I would pull out and look for a property which truly is chain free.

Tiglet2

SneakySpectator said:

HouseMartin567 said:

Perhaps you could agree to have the survey done, and once that comes back ‘clear’ then the vendor should serve notice. It does mean a financial commitment from you, but there are lots of threads about people reducing offers or withdrawing after a survey so I can kind of see why a landlord may want to wait until after that point before serving notice (not saying I agree with the approach - I think they shouldn’t have marketed it until empty).

The thing I have a problem with is I'm chain free but the seller is not. Well they are in the sense they're not waiting for a completion of their own to go through, but they have tenants actively living in the property and the seller is trying to treat his sale like he's "chain free" when he's not really. 

I am ready to go at the drop of a hat while the seller is not, yet the seller is the one trying to dictate all the terms. If he wants to sell the property, get rid of the current tenants, but he is trying to milk every penny from them by letting them live there and only giving them a section 21 notice at the final hurdle. 

This could create a massive delay for me, while I'm waiting for this whole thing to go through and potentially tenants resisting eviction or just straight up refusing to leave. I could be missing out on some other really nice vacant properties.

I want to move asap, not be waiting around for tenants that may or may not delay the process by 6+ months... And then at the very end the tenant could cause serious damage to the property and the entire thing falls through anyway. 

Unless the tenant has handed in his notice, you should find another property.  

Maahes

SneakySpectator said:

Because I'm 36... A 25 year mortgage is already making me work until 61, I really don't want to be working into my 70's. 

I have a mortgage until I'm 79 and I have no intention or working past my mid-sixties. So long as you have decent pension arrangements you can retire with a mortgage, and you have more than enough time to get a pension sorted.