Vendor wants to rent property from us?

val444 · 12-07-2011 12:22pm #1

Hi all

Firstly, I really just want to say thank you. My fiance and I have recently begun the arduous process of buying a house, and the advice and information on boards.ie has been invaluable to us!

This is my first post, so apologies if this has already been covered. I haven't been able to locate a similar thread.

We have finally found our ideal house, offer accepted, engineer's report completed, etc. Everything was going very smoothly, until our solicitor received a request from the vendor's solicitor. In a nutshell, the vendors have recently had a new baby, and didn't expect the house to sell so quickly. They plan to rent another house for 12 months, while they build their own. They have agreed a closing date of July 28th, but want to rent the house from us for a month, before handing over the keys and vacating the property.

Although they are being upfront about this, and with all due respect to them, this is something we don't want to go along with. We must vacate our rented accomodation at the beginning of August, and while we can move in with my parents for a bit, it would be galling to be looking at the house we own, but can't get in to!

I am really just looking for other people's opinions on this. Our solicitor said that while it wouldn't be his preference, he has seen it done before. A girl at work also got the same request from the vendor of the house she bought recently. Is this a common thing?

Thank you in advance for any input!

ongarboy · 12-07-2011 1:01pm

Closure date is July 28th so you own and are entitled to occupy it from that date. Whether you decide to let them rent it for a month should only be decided by whether it is convenient for you to do so. The fact your lease on your current accomodation ends on August 1st would put you in a bind if you choose to let them rent as you would technically be "homeless" for that month.

Moving is stressful enough without having to move all your belongings into temporary digs for one month and then move it all again into your new house once the vendor moves out. Unless it suits you to do this double moving and stay at your parents, then I would not offer the extra month to the vendor. It's unfortunate that this will be inconvenient for them but the onus was on them to plan a more practical closure date (which they haven't done) considering they knew the baby would be a major consideration. The fact that they got a buyer so quickly in this tough climate would normally be considered a bit of good luck for vendors. I don't think you should be compromising in this situation.

val444 · 12-07-2011 1:10pm

Thanks for this. You are right, it is up to us. The only thing is that they are being so honest with us about it all. Our solicitor's point was that they could have simply dragged their heels with the closing date and hung on to the property until it suited them to move.

Our offer was accepted within three weeks of the property going up for sale, so I do think they are surprised with how fast it is all going. As we are FTB and therefore there is no chain to contend with, the closing date is less than six weeks from when the property went up for sale.

My parents live in the same estate, and the vendors are quite friendly with the neighbours. I totally understand that they have a new baby, and it will be stressful for them to grab their stuff and go before the 28th. I guess I just think that if we were in the same position, I would hope that someone buying from us would look favorably on our request?

We have decided to ask our solicitor to tell them it doesn't suit us, but to let us know what they come back with. It wouldn't be the end of the world to rent to them for a month, it is just not ideal...

cml387 · 12-07-2011 2:04pm

Has your landlord somebody lined up to move in to your current accommodation?

If not he may be happy enough for you to pay another month rental.

D3PO · 12-07-2011 2:04pm

its completly up to you OP. Personally I wouldnt be interested in this.

Besides the fact it would be so much hassle you would legally have to file a return, pay the NPPR, have stamp duty implications, mortgage contract implications etc

sorry but I would be flat out saying no. Too much hassle

antiskeptic · 12-07-2011 2:11pm

If staying where you are for the extra month (or moving in with your parents) delay closing the deal until the time they move out (perhaps deducting the equivilent of a months rent from the sale cost).

You don't need the hassle of being a landlord for a month to add to things.

There's no point in breaking the deal over this - clearly. Someones got to blink. They've got the extra hassle of a baby. So it might as well be you.

It's a mere month - not enough to be making much of a fuss over.

val444 · 12-07-2011 2:11pm

Yes, the landlord has someone else lined up. I'm sure we could swing another couple of weeks though. I guess I just want to say no really, but to avoid feeling like a terrible selfish person, I wanted to get other people's opinions on it!

Also, we are impatient to get into the new house. There are a few things we want to do to it, such as removing a wall, changing the heating system, etc, and these are all jobs I would prefer to do early in the year. If we cannot move in until end of August / start of September, it will end up being October before we are in and ready to begin these works!

I am glad that people seem to agree that this is a bad idea. Other people I have spoken to have considered the vendor's request to be perfectly reasonable, and I was made to feel terrible for thinking about saying no!

silja · 12-07-2011 2:39pm

You are not selfish, they knew about the baby for 9 months... That being said, if the money was right, I'd probably agree to it. It's only a month and could pay for a new set of living room furniture...

val444 · 12-07-2011 2:52pm

Well the amount they are offering pretty much covers the first month's mortgage payment, so we are breaking even really!

OMD · 12-07-2011 3:03pm

They don't have to complete by the agreed date. They can just drag it out for another month and there is very little you can do about it except withdraw your offer on the house.

Marcusm · 12-07-2011 3:29pm

I would not agree to proceed with the sale and then enter into a tenancy agreement for a month. IN the event that you agree not to occupy the property until 31 August, it would be more sensible to defer completion until then. Otherwise, you will take a significant risk that you have purchased the property and paid for it but become unable to obtain possession. It would be better for you to defer completion until the point at which they will surrender possession. Anything else will simply involve you in significant additional legal requirements - could you even get a BER cert done on a property before you have taken possession. NPPR and tax problems. You would not be acquiring as an owner occupier etc. The amount you would spend on advice and additional documentation (lease etc) would likely exceed the rent.

athtrasna · 12-07-2011 4:25pm

Marcusm wrote: »

Anything else will simply involve you in significant additional legal requirements - could you even get a BER cert done on a property before you have taken possession. NPPR

Vendor needs BER cert to sell and NPPR is based on residency in March of that year so neither apply to the OP.

val444 · 12-07-2011 4:27pm

Well they have provided the BER certificate already, actually separate question for ye, the BER certificate included a report which detailed the reasons for a low rating. One of these was single glazed windows, but they are in fact double-glazed. Which is a bit odd...

I have not yet heard back from our solicitor, so I will see what they say. I knew there would be hiccups along the way when buying a house, but I didn't foresee anything like this!

3DataModem · 12-07-2011 5:29pm

D3PO wrote: »

Besides the fact it would be so much hassle you would legally have to file a return, pay the NPPR, have stamp duty implications, mortgage contract implications etc

Exactly.

Add to this
> Insurance
> Possiblity their other house may fall through

planetX · 12-07-2011 5:49pm

what about any damage? You'll be liable for repairs if they cause any leaks, floods, damage to appliances etc.

val444 · 12-07-2011 6:16pm

We have told our solicitor that we don't want to go ahead with the vendor's suggestion. I really hope that they won't cause difficulty now with the closing date. They are building their own house, and I think they need the money from this sale as soon as possible. Strange though that they plan to rent for 12 months...

I think I would prefer to delay closing for a couple of weeks, than allow them to rent the place. Thanks for all your help!

the_syco · 13-07-2011 8:37am

val444 wrote: »

Strange though that they plan to rent for 12 months...

If they had planned to rent somewhere for 12 months after selling their house, I find it very odd that they don't have a place lined up. It's almost like they had planned to rent the house that they now live in for 12 months?

val444 · 13-07-2011 8:45am

True. It is all very annoying. Especially as we are only talking to them via our solicitor, and theirs. It would be much easier to just speak with them directly, to find out what they actually want, and why.

Hopefully our refusal won't delay things too much.

chrisoc09 · 13-07-2011 1:17pm

the sellers may have purchased and installed dbl glazed units prior to sale and at time house was assessed these may have been single glazed, also there may be dbl glazed units on front etc. and single on rear or any combination of both.

val444 · 13-07-2011 1:30pm

Thanks for your response, but actually, as my parents live in the same estate, we know for definite that there is double glazing throughout, and there has been since the house was built. We even checked each window when we first viewed the place. They are teak double glazed windows though, perhaps if they were not inspected too closely, the person compiling the report simply assumed that teak windows = single glazed?

chrisoc09 · 13-07-2011 2:58pm

difference between dbl and single glazed is easily established, was a full on site survey/assessment done?? anyway windows will usually not have a major impact, perhaps only on a borderline rating - where a small increase will drag up rating. there are many factors for glazing contribution to a BER including, orientation, solar gain, glazing gap, air/gas fill. single glazed has to be assumed in the lack of any supporting evidence, as does air filled unit etc. the major factors are heating system and controls and major heat loss areas such as walls and roofs - it is for these reasons that the grants are provided to upgrade walls and heating.

chrisoc09 · 13-07-2011 3:01pm

btw, dont rent not worth the hassle and you dont know what excuse may come next, delaying sale.

val444 · 13-07-2011 3:45pm

Cool, thanks. We are not too bothered about the error on the BER report anyway. We have seen for ourselves that they are double glazed, and our engineer is happy with the place too. Just think it is a bit lax of whoever compiled the report.

We are definitely saying no to their request to rent. Just waiting to hear back from the solicitor now...

chrisoc09 · 13-07-2011 4:47pm

yeah possibly a bit lax, but dont know exact circumstances or exact information. anyway best of luck with the house and if looking at energy improvements i would research them first also use SEAI website etc. there are some very good threads here in relation to such improvements.

val444 · 13-07-2011 5:09pm

Thanks!

Senna · 13-07-2011 11:26pm

Just to confirm, your closing date is 3 weeks after sale agreed? I'd be very surprised if it can be done that quickly, but i suppose solicitors are a lot quieter than they were a few years back:D

val444 · 14-07-2011 9:07am

Hi, sorry, my fault. The sale was agreed within three weeks, and the closing date is less than six weeks after sale was agreed...

BillieB · 15-07-2011 3:38pm

I would'nt let them rent Id maybe delay closing date instead! There is nothing stopping them dragging it out further if they want they are legally entitled to do so! I just bought at house recently and were meant to close last week but its one delay after the other highly frustrating so I can understand why u are eager to get the keys :O

Vendor wants to rent property from us?

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