sitting tenant wanting to buy off landlord

Eyesparky

Seems the family have been pretty decent to offer you first refusal and may be open to a reasonable offer. Treat them with honesty and respect and find out a fair market price. If you can afford to buy it, fantastic ... if not then asses your options from there. Have to be honest, if I were the family I would check the market myself but may be open to a reasonable discount to an existing tenant to reduce hassle, fees, time etc. Hope it all works out for you.

barnaby-bear

chriz1000 wrote: »

What’s stopping the new Landlord upping the rent to make the house unaffordable for noseymum to live in as a way of getting rid of them? Or is she somehow protected against this?

Protected tenancy - not only can she get a rent officer to block excessive rent increases she can also move a relative in with her and pass the tenancy onto them on her death on the same terms, these kind of tenancies are worth their weight in gold and because potentially 50years+ until landlord could reclaim the property and many lenders won't lend because yield so poor the property worth 50-60% of an equivalent AST tenanted property. A valuation needs to be done *considering* a protected tenant in it. Generally to get rid of such a tenant you need an utterly criminal thug (Rackman) and in reality not worth someone being like that or the other route is they pay the tenant 20-30k to go (a lot take it - but generally get a shock in the real world where rents are double and only 2 months security). The family probably know they won't shift it for anywhere untenanted market value so by getting market values and offering first refusal may be trying to sell it to the tenant for more than it's real value. At the end of the day if she wants to stay on the current terms she can for the rest of her life.

kunekune

There is one thing that might ring alarm bells here from a legal perspective. Are the people you dealing with the executors and the only beneficiaries? If not, they may be in breach of their duty to the estate to accept something that isn't the best price. Their duty is to maximise the assets. Before going too far with spending money and time, it might be best to check that the whole thing isn't going to fall through because deceased's daughter no. 4, who has fallen out with her brothers and sisters and isn't an executor, disagrees and wants to put the house on the open market ...

noseymum

The house is in the name of my landlord and his wife.
As he has died the house becomes the sole property of his wife.
His wife is an elderley lady living with her son, 200 miles away,and I have been speaking to her son, I hope, with regards to the house.

kunekune

That's much better, I was just hoping it wasn't being sold by the estate, because then it might be harder for you. The elderly lady should receive independent advice, though, be careful if you are dealing with the son, as sometimes there can be claims of undue influence or even lack of capacity.

noseymum

Thanks kunekune,
when I spoke to the son over the phone he said that he would send the 3 valuations for the house on to their solicitor.I am hoping they are doing everything ok.I cant see any way I could check on them really!

kunekune

It does sound above board, and it's good that they are operating through solicitors. It makes it a lot less unlikely you would spend money and then have it fall through because the legal owner lacked capacity, etc. Sounds a great opportunity, if you can afford to take it up. And it is good for them, because they don't have to spend time and effort dolling the place up to show to strangers.

noseymum

Hi there people,
just a quick progress report, if anyone is interested to know how the situation is going.
I got the 3 valuations from the estate agents, 2 for 170,000 and one for 155,000 it isnt looking good for me getting a mortgage though,I spoke to the last of the estate agents to value the property and I think I need to have a really big deposit !
When I rang the landlords son to let him know the valuations he informed me that someone had put a written offer in to his solicitor for 170,000 about a month ago!
This is around the time of the first valuation but I never gave any of the estate agents his details,I dont have them myself apart from a mobile number, so I dont know how that has happened.
The landlords son has said for me to have another try at the mortgage and if I cant do it he will go ahead and sell.
I asked him if the person who put in the offer is aware of the sitting tenant situation to which he replied that it wasnt his problem ! !

Frugaldom

Just read your thread with interest, having been in a similar situation with a previous landlord dying and being put into the situation of having to move or buy. We weren't told any of the details of our tenancy (there was no rent book or official documentation ever issued). What I would be wondering most of all is how the owner's son managed to receive an offer of the exact amount of the valuation without you ever having told the surveyor details of the owner. Does that mean a friend of yours passed on the info or does it mean that someone from within the estate agency did their homework based on the address details alone? Or could it have been a friend of the landlord's son who used a website to guesstimate the price? I mean, if the son lives with his mother and is an only son, he's set to inherit the house he is currently in and your house, with you as his sitting tenant. Or do I just have a suspicious mind?

SquatNow

aqueoushumour01 wrote: »

yes, but the point is that the OP could purchase the house at a price significantly below market value so a fall in house prices is not so much of a concern here. (prices are unlikely to fall by 40-50%!)

I beg to differ.

If prices fell 50%, the price vs wages ration would be the same as it was at the PEAK of the last boom... i.e. before the crash.

So 50% drop takes us back to the TOP of a NORMAL peak!!!