Buying a flat with tenant in situe

puddy

My partner is looking to buy a cheap flat (his first at the age of 46!) and lots we have seen near Margate where he wants to buy have tenants on a 'periodic tenancy'. I told him, if it was me, I would put in an offer for something on the basis of vacant possession, is this possible, how does this get legally enforced. I dont want to think of him turning up on completion day and finding someone still living there..
He's not ready to put an offer in yet, hes coming into some money for a deposit in the summer and will start to make offers then once he has a mortgage

Lavendyr

If it's an assured periodic tenancy, you could have immense trouble getting the tenants out unless they stop paying rent, to my understanding. The price of the flat will reflect this. It depends on the type of the tenancy - more recent tenancies will be easier to end as you can serve an S21 and then apply to the court for a possession order without any further grounds for repossession, but older tenancies do not allow this. So you need to look into the situation and find out which these flats fall into. If the former, that should be OK, but if the latter, which if it's substantially cheaper than market rate it could well be, I'd stay away unless he wants the investnment rather than a home.

puddy

no he wants it for a home, he is on a low income so cant afford much. so is it worth putting in an offer on something on the condition that the place has vacant posession. the wording in the details for some of these properties say 'the tenant is on a periodic tenancy who has expressed a desire to stay on if possible'

i dont really know what this means

tbs624

Once a Fixed Term Tenancy Agreement has expired, the Agreement can roll onto a Periodic Tenancy , ie, on a week to week or month to month basis for an indefinite length of time.

You would also need the Agent to tell you what type of Tenancy Agreement the original contract was, and what date it was drawn up, ie Assured Tenancy, Regulated Tenancy or an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. For an AST, a LL would only have to give 2 months notice to the tenant to gain possession but under the others the Tenant has greater rights to tenure, and this is usually reflected in a much lower purchase price for the property.