Sitting Tenants

“I have been very happy with my homes, but homes really are no more than the people who live in them.”  Nancy Reagan

When you are looking to sell your house quickly for a quick sale – for whatever reason – and can’t, then many owners opt to rent the property. There are a good number of reasons why you should consider doing so:

  1. Not wanting to lose the property that you are buying – so typically you would buy the property you want on a ‘bridging loan’. So as not to pay out two mortgages you rent the first out until you find a buyer.
  2. It allows a certain degree of flexibility without the angst of worrying about paying the mortgage
  3. Waiting for the market to ‘pick-up’ so you get a better price

For whatever reason, it is more common, that before a house is sold, the owner first lets it. However, it must be done carefully, and the exit strategy of the tenants timed carefully.

There are a number of very important considerations to be given before you rent your house – if you can’t get the quick sale you are looking for. Make sure that you have an Assured Shorthold Agreement that is up to date and covers your legal position. See http://www.relet.co.uk/ – who can help you with such matters.

Ensure that the agreement has a clause which includes a right for you to show potential purchasers around the house. Before a buyer will buy your house they will want vacant possession so ensure that the timing meets this – most Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements are a minimum of 6 months. Not great if you want a quick sale.

Inevitably there will be a gap between the tenant leaving, and completing the sale. Unfortunately there is only one guarantee that a tenant will have vacated the premises on a particular date – that he/she has in fact gone. Repeatedly, landlords find that the ever so pleasant tenant, becomes a terror when he finds the house is being sold from under him.

Assuming you have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement in place, you have to give two months notice to bring the tenancy agreement to an end. If the tenant becomes troublesome and does not leave, you must commence proceedings. If your documents are in order, then you will be able to use an ‘accelerated possession’ procedure where you will get a court hearing within six weeks. Assuming you win an order for possession, the court will usually delay the possession itself for a further month. After a month you then apply for an eviction date from the bailiffs, who will fix an arrangement with the tenant perhaps another few weeks away. If the courts are busy, you would be lucky to obtain possession against a tenant unwilling to leave, for at least three to five months.

BEWARE: If the Tenancy agreements are not correctly drafted, then the process can be very lengthy and expensive.

The Property Buyers is an option to consider, although we do not offer market value, we do act quickly and completion is rapid. To sell your house quickly for a quick sale then click here. As we tend to rent the properties we buy, we will consider any property with tenants.

Other Options to consider include Sell and Rent Back