Renting one's future home until sale completed

[MM]

I am looking at a property to buy which will become vacant in the next few days. What would be the chance of renting it short-term while the sale of my property in another part of the country is going through? Is this kind of thing ever done? I appreciate that many owners would be afraid of problems like squatters and suchlike. But it would make life a whole lot easier for me, and if the property will remain empty anyway for 8 weeks plus while my sale here is being processed and completed, it would mean a few hundred quid extra for the owner. Surely a solicitor could draw up a legal agreement that would reassure the owner that everything is above board?

How it would happen is, I would rent it for, say, two months, then arrange for completion on the purchase of it to coincide with the end of the rental period. I would effectively be 'moving into' a property I already occupy, though the status transfers from 'tenant' to 'new owner' on the date in question.

MM

[TonyK]

Bridging loan?

[Peter Andrews]

Not if I was selling - you will technically become a tenant of the seller and then you could become 'difficult' by refusing to complete, and even declare that the property is no longer vacant possession, etc., etc. and eviction requires a court order a further delay of at least several months.

I'm not for one moment suggesting you would behave in this manner but I very much doubt that the seller's soliciter would allow it. It's a very sorry world that we live in but...

Peter

[Cicero]

=============== Remember: "There's many a slip twixt cup and lip...."

If anything goes wrong with either your sale or your prospective purchase you could find yourself committed to an expensive and unwanted tenancy.

Best avoided, I would suggest.

Cic.

[MM]

Ah, you mean buy the vacant property straightaway? Yes, I suppose that's a possibility, but only after I have exchanged on the property

*I* am selling! Of course there's then the problem of avoiding CGT, as I would be owning TWO houses for a brief period.

How much might a bridging loan cost for, say, two months? Based on an asking price of around £150K.

MM

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , MM writes

Mike,

Ask the seller, and/or their agent, and see what they say.

Personally, whilst I have seen it happen, I would never allow it with one of my properties, and I always advised sellers against it if asked the question.

Anyway - why do you want to rent somewhere else, with the extra costs involved, when you have a house which you live in. How does it make life easier for you?

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , MM writes

There would not be any CGT

[chris French]

In message , Peter Andrews writes

No I agree, if I was a seller, I wouldn't agree to this sort of thing unless I was absolutely desperate. It doesn't matter what agreement was drawn up, if for some reason you did not want to go ahead with the purchase , but continued to be a tenant you could not be removed without court action.

[chris French]

In message , MM writes

Question is could you afford the bridging loan for 6, 9 12 months if the sale of your house fell through.....

[Mike Harrison]

Surely this could be covered by a suitable legal agreement beforehand.

[Richard]

You'll possibly be entering the realms of assured shorthold tenancies, certainly that would appeal to your vendor/landlord. If it all went pearshped they'd want to be able to get you out! They protects both parties and were created to give more protection than was previously the case to landlords. Minimum let of 6 months with 1 month notice from tenant and 2 months notice of termination (non-renewal) from landlord. AFAIKR the section 21 notice cannot be served by the landlord to take effect before the end of the first 6 months, which may not be very appealing.

Agreement is fairly straightforward to draw up but there are critical dates for serving notices.

HTH Richard

[MM]

But after exchange of contracts on my house, surely there would be far less risk of that happening as both parties are then committed?

MM

[MM]

I would have thought so. In this day and age, thousands of people are renting properties of all kinds all the time. If every landlord were this suspicious, nothing would ever get let!

MM

[MM]

Ah, this 'technical term', "assured shorthold tenancies", sounds really impressive and will make me sound REALLY knowledgeable and trustworthy when I put the suggestion to my solicitor tomorrow! However, being locked in for six months is too long. Three months would be more like it.

MM

[MM]

Well, for one, I am paying for self-storage every month right now. If I was renting the place already, I could save around £100 a month just on that alone. Plus, I would be able to move stuff up there at my (relative) leisure - no last minute panics at all on completion day. I already noted from my solicitor's brochure that one can move out BEFORE the completion date, something I didn't know. So I could arrange a roof over my head beforehand, move *all* my stuff, and then on completion day I'd have nothing to do except wait for the say so from my solicitor, hand in the keys and make my way to the new property without any hassle. Of course, I could simply rent a flat instead, but then I'd have to move my stuff twice. And, having looked on the net for much of the day, there is not much going at the target destination to rent, unless one is renting a 3-bed house on a long term basis.

MM

[chris French]

In message , Mike Harrison writes

Well, yes any tenancy has provisions for this.

But if the tenant does not vacate a premises, you can't just physically kick them out (well not legally). You have to take legal action through the courts to enforce the agreement - this can easily take a few months

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , MM writes

Presumably, you will be able to aim to exchange on the purchase of the new house at the same time as on your sale. In addition, if it is empty, you should be able to agree an undertaking which would allow you to move stuff in, but not live there.

[Richard Faulkner]

An Assured Shorthold Tenancy cannot have a term of less than 6 months, (well, it can, but anything less than 6 months is meaningless to the landlord as they cannot begin the process to evict you until at least 6 months has passed - unless you are in 2 months arrears of rent).

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , MM writes

Every time a landlord lets somewhere, they are taking a chance on the ability and integrity of the tenant. Many people dont realise this, and those that do build it into their business plan.

[Lobster]

Probably, although the 'lag time' on buying a house (which have others have said, is typically 3 months minimum) is usually mostly made up of the time between agreeing the sale and exchange of contracts (all the legal argy bargy takes place during that period). If there's no chain involved, it's not unusual to have exchange of contracts and completion either on the same day or within a few days of each other. So regardless of other concerns, it may not help.

David