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lew_1987
Posts: 18 Forumite
Hi,
We've been in the process of buying our first house, with a tenant living there at the time. She was given her notice more than 2 months ago, and we were due to complete next week (16th). Tomorrow (12th) we were due to do our final inspection and with everything else seeming fine, we transferred all the required funds to the solicitor today, in preparation for exchange (due to happen on the 15th). This afternoon, we heard from our solicitors that the seller's solicitors wanted to change the completion date to the 17th. I asked why and was told that the tenant had been given an extra week at the property... It turned out that she had rang the property managers (at the same agent that is marketing the property) and they had agreed to let her have it, without the vendor or either party's solicitors being informed! This is after she asked the landlord for an extension a couple of weeks ago and was already told "no".
We are beyond furious and aren't sure how to proceed. As mentioned before, we haven't exchanged yet and since the vendor wasn't the one that agreed to the extra week, I'm not sure how accountable she could be for that. As this happened late in the day we've managed to make some calls but our estate agent can't understand why the extra week was given, and neither the agent or our solicitor could tell us how to proceed at that time.
Is there anything you would suggest we can do to get completion back to the 16th and get the tenant out on time? We just want the sale to go through as agreed next week, and obviously want to avoid any serious proceedings. The only thing we can think to do is try to speak to the agent again tomorrow and get an explanation for why this has happened, and then go from there.
I appreciate any advice you can offer! Thanks.
We've been in the process of buying our first house, with a tenant living there at the time. She was given her notice more than 2 months ago, and we were due to complete next week (16th). Tomorrow (12th) we were due to do our final inspection and with everything else seeming fine, we transferred all the required funds to the solicitor today, in preparation for exchange (due to happen on the 15th). This afternoon, we heard from our solicitors that the seller's solicitors wanted to change the completion date to the 17th. I asked why and was told that the tenant had been given an extra week at the property... It turned out that she had rang the property managers (at the same agent that is marketing the property) and they had agreed to let her have it, without the vendor or either party's solicitors being informed! This is after she asked the landlord for an extension a couple of weeks ago and was already told "no".
We are beyond furious and aren't sure how to proceed. As mentioned before, we haven't exchanged yet and since the vendor wasn't the one that agreed to the extra week, I'm not sure how accountable she could be for that. As this happened late in the day we've managed to make some calls but our estate agent can't understand why the extra week was given, and neither the agent or our solicitor could tell us how to proceed at that time.
Is there anything you would suggest we can do to get completion back to the 16th and get the tenant out on time? We just want the sale to go through as agreed next week, and obviously want to avoid any serious proceedings. The only thing we can think to do is try to speak to the agent again tomorrow and get an explanation for why this has happened, and then go from there.
I appreciate any advice you can offer! Thanks.
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Comments
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you have chosen to buy a property where a tenant is in occupation. That is always a risk. It's their home.They have a right to be there.
"given notice" (I assume by the owner/landlord?) does not end their tenancy and does not require them to leave.
Only a court can end their tenancy and it could take the landlord 2 - 4 months to evict them via the courts.
I'm afraid there is nothing you can do except either
* wait however long it takes or
* find a vacant or owner-occupied property and start again0 -
Just because the tenant has been served notice does not mean she will leave it could take weeks or months to evict her via the courts.
Good Luck0 -
Only the tenant or a court can end a tenancy so if you try to push too much the tenant could dig their heels in and force the vendor to get them evicted through the court which could take 6 months.
Do not exchange until the tenant has left the property otherwise you could end up with a whole host of other problems with you either not getting vacant possession or you becoming the new landlord.
All you can do is wait for the tenant to leave.0 -
The agent is no doubt aware that that the tenant is not obliged to leave until a Court order. They probably figured it was better to agree a week extension amicably rather than risk antagonising the tenant when they have no practical way to deny the request.0
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Thanks all, yes we understand now that the tenant can essentially do as she pleases! I think what has rubbed us up the wrong way most is that both sides assumed she was moving out today and this was only flagged when the estate agents checked if they had had the keys dropped off with them! We should have been notified earlier.
We are going to try to keep our inspection appointment tomorrow and have a chat with the tenant ourselves. We absolutely will not be exchanging until this is sorted.0 -
Thanks all, yes we understand now that the tenant can essentially do as she pleases! I think what has rubbed us up the wrong way most is that both sides assumed she was moving out today and this was only flagged when the estate agents checked if they had had the keys dropped off with them! We should have been notified earlier.
We are going to try to keep our inspection appointment tomorrow and have a chat with the tenant ourselves. We absolutely will not be exchanging until this is sorted.
The tenant can "do as she pleases" because she has a legally binding contract allowing her to live in the property whereas you have nothing since you haven't exchanged contracts yet.0 -
You wrote (near the end of the OP):
"We just want the sale to go through as agreed next week, and obviously want to avoid any serious proceedings."
Since you have not yet exchanged, there is no scope for serious proceedings. The vendor is not obliged to sell, and if they take the property off the market now you have no redress.
Personally I would not exchange until the property is empty, and I would allow more time between exchange and completion.0 -
Voyager2002 wrote: »You wrote (near the end of the OP):
"We just want the sale to go through as agreed next week, and obviously want to avoid any serious proceedings."
Since you have not yet exchanged, there is no scope for serious proceedings. The vendor is not obliged to sell, and if they take the property off the market now you have no redress.
Personally I would not exchange until the property is empty, and I would allow more time between exchange and completion.
Thanks for your reply. Our solicitor has suggested that we should set exchange AND completion for 17th, on the day that the tenant is now supposed to be moving out. No chance! If this is the route we have to go down then we'll be asking for more time.0 -
Voyager2002 wrote: »You wrote (near the end of the OP):
"We just want the sale to go through as agreed next week, and obviously want to avoid any serious proceedings."
Since you have not yet exchanged, there is no scope for serious proceedings. The vendor is not obliged to sell, and if they take the property off the market now you have no redress.
Personally I would not exchange until the property is empty, and I would allow more time between exchange and completion.
And I'd do my inspection after she's left.0 -
Be careful not to !!!! off the tenant when you do an inspection tomorrow. They hold all the power here not youAn answer isn't spam just because you don't like it......0
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