Moving from rented to bought property

cormie

Hey folks,
My friend is almost all sorted with a house they are in the process of buying and may be ready to move in within a week or two.

They are wondering how best to go about moving out of their rental property to ensure they pay as little as necessary (not to start paying mortgage back at the same time of having to pay a months rent), don't lose the deposit etc.

They have been in the same property for over 2 years and the contract wasn't renewed after the first year so they are thinking they only need to give one month notice, is this correct?

What happens if they give the notice and there's some major delays with the property they are buying and they can't move in when expecting to, can they remain in the rental property until things are ready even after the month of notice period?

They were also thinking to just not pay the rent and use the deposit to cover the rent but I advised against this as I don't think the EA would be favourable to this? They are confident they will get the deposit back as they've actually improved the place drastically from what it was when they first moved in.

Any feedback appreciated

pwurple

Best option is to be upfront with the landlord and tell them what's happening. We did that with our landlord, asked for a bit of flexibility with the moving dates, and they were agreeable.

In the end, we needed to stay an extra week or two because of a contract delay, and they accommodated us.

No, don't keep the deposit, but do arrange a date for inspection and getting it back. If you retain the deposit, you're going to piss them off, and lose flexibility.

cormie

Thanks for the info. Trouble with this is that it's through an estate agent so may not be as flexible as it would be with a landlord direct?

It's trying to find a middle ground where my friend will have guaranteed accommodation but pay as little "double" house costs as possible but then at the same time, of course the LL/EA don't want to have an empty house.

What's the legal stance on this? Must they give 1 month notice even if no contract was renewed? Would they not get their deposit back if this was shortened at all?

godtabh

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Trouble with this is that it's through an estate agent so may not be as flexible as it would be with a landlord direct?

It's trying to find a middle ground where my friend will have guaranteed accommodation but pay as little "double" house costs as possible but then at the same time, of course the LL/EA don't want to have an empty house.

What's the legal stance on this? Must they give 1 month notice even if no contract was renewed? Would they not get their deposit back if this was shortened at all?

Part IV comes into play. Read this

2 years or longer but less than 4 years 8 weeks (56 days)

SarahMollie

Scrimping on 1 months rent could turn out to be a serious false economy. I'd always allow myself some overlap. Closing on a house is seldom straightforward and delays often occur.

Also I gave myself about 5 weeks overlap for comfort but, BOI didnt ask for my first mortgage payment until the end of the following month after drawing down, so I never really paid more than one months housing costs anyway.

cormie

Thanks again for the replies. I'm suggesting to just ensure they have themselves covered with a place to stay if anything doesn't go to plan and then if they do end up with two properties they can live in, they can just put one up on airbnb or something :cool:

I see it's 56 days now too so I guess even if they gave notice today, they may still be bound to stay well over the time when they get the keys.

I guess the suggestion to contact the landlord/EA and explain the situation is best and try come to an compromise between them.

If they gave the notice today and after 40 days they found out they couldn't move in to the new place for another month, would they have any right to stay on after the next 16 days or would they be forced to move?

Michael D Not Higgins

The easiest thing to do is ring the landlord and explain the situation. Let them know you know these things can be a moveable feast and you're willing to be flexible if they are.

This means allowing viewings if necessary in exchange for flexible leaving time. You could also suggest covering the week (probably the most time necessary) between moving out and the next tenant moving in. This would mean no gap in rent for the landlord.

the_syco

cormie wrote: »

Hey folks,
My friend is almost all sorted with a house they are in the process of buying and may be ready to move in within a week or two.

When your mate gets the keys, they give the notice. Otherwise the landlord may find someone to move in, your mate hits a snag, and ends up having to rent storage for his stuff and sleep on someones couch for a few weeks/months, etc.

athtrasna

cormie wrote: »

They were also thinking to just not pay the rent and use the deposit to cover the rent but I advised against this as I don't think the EA would be favourable to this? They are confident they will get the deposit back as they've actually improved the place drastically from what it was when they first moved in.

Any feedback appreciated

The estate agent is irrelevant in this, it's illegal to withhold rent, even in the last month of a tenancy.

mirrorwall14

Once we had a contract signed by vendor and seller with the close date in the contract we gave notice. That happened to be 5 days before we get keys. We're happy to pay the three weeks extra rent for the peace of mind. We had also chatted to the landlord and agreed a mutually acceptable one months notice period of one month instead of the three months + we/they were entitled to under law

cormie

the_syco wrote: »

When your mate gets the keys, they give the notice. Otherwise the landlord may find someone to move in, your mate hits a snag, and ends up having to rent storage for his stuff and sleep on someones couch for a few weeks/months, etc.

Any idea what would happen if they gave notice now and found out a week before the 56 days was up that they can't move in for another 3 weeks? Would they have any leeway to stay in the property even if there was a new tenant lined up to move in? Obviously not very fair on landlord/EA or new tenant, but just curious

Also, it may be no harm just to give notice now, I don't think the EA will be listing the property on daft etc until maybe 1 or 2 weeks before the move out date anyway given the current demand, there'd be no use for them to list it 56 days in advance of my friend moving out, so maybe they could give the 56 days notice now and if there's any signs of trouble, ask for an extension still with maybe a month to go.

Of course best case scenario would just be talk to LL/EA now and explain the situation and try accommodate eachother as best as possible.

Your friend should talk to the landlord and fully explain the position to him. You might find that he will be quite flexible, especially if the property is in good condition and if they agree to facilitate viewings etc

I hope the landlord is already fully aware of, and happy with, the 'drastic improvements' that the tenants have carried out.

cormie

Thanks again for the info. Yup I think that's the best approach.

I had an idea though Given that there's an estate agent dealing with my friend at the moment and then they deal with the landlord. My friend knows the landlord too and I came up with the idea that they could become the agent and since they are getting a below market value price on the property at the moment, they could maybe ask the Landlord if they'd like to let them take care of finding a new tenant and all the dealings with the tenant and then my friend could charge the new tenant what they felt was the going rate and pay the landlord the current rate they are already paying.

The actual landlord lives half way around the world and the house my friend is buying is literally 2 minutes away so it could be quite easy for them to manage it and if it meant a few hundred euro extra for them per month and then the landlord would save on agency fees, it could be win win for both?

Not sure of the legal standings on this or what would be required from either my friend or the landlord to make this work, but does anyone think it's possible to do something like this?

cormie

cormie wrote: »

I had an idea though Given that there's an estate agent dealing with my friend at the moment and then they deal with the landlord. My friend knows the landlord too and I came up with the idea that they could become the agent and since they are getting a below market value price on the property at the moment, they could maybe ask the Landlord if they'd like to let them take care of finding a new tenant and all the dealings with the tenant and then my friend could charge the new tenant what they felt was the going rate and pay the landlord the current rate they are already paying.

The actual landlord lives half way around the world and the house my friend is buying is literally 2 minutes away so it could be quite easy for them to manage it and if it meant a few hundred euro extra for them per month and then the landlord would save on agency fees, it could be win win for both?

No way!
The last thing a landlord located half way round the world needs is his assets being looked after by an amateur.
It looks like easy work, but a cock up can easily end up costing him tens of thousands.

pwurple

cormie wrote: »

Thanks again for the info. Yup I think that's the best approach.

I had an idea though Given that there's an estate agent dealing with my friend at the moment and then they deal with the landlord. My friend knows the landlord too and I came up with the idea that they could become the agent and since they are getting a below market value price on the property at the moment, they could maybe ask the Landlord if they'd like to let them take care of finding a new tenant and all the dealings with the tenant and then my friend could charge the new tenant what they felt was the going rate and pay the landlord the current rate they are already paying.

The actual landlord lives half way around the world and the house my friend is buying is literally 2 minutes away so it could be quite easy for them to manage it and if it meant a few hundred euro extra for them per month and then the landlord would save on agency fees, it could be win win for both?

Not sure of the legal standings on this or what would be required from either my friend or the landlord to make this work, but does anyone think it's possible to do something like this?

Won't fly I'd say. They will probably have a contract with the agent in place already. Makes no sense to break that relationship and piss of the agent who will be looking after it for years.

4ensic15

cormie wrote: »

Thanks again for the info. Yup I think that's the best approach.

I had an idea though Given that there's an estate agent dealing with my friend at the moment and then they deal with the landlord. My friend knows the landlord too and I came up with the idea that they could become the agent and since they are getting a below market value price on the property at the moment, they could maybe ask the Landlord if they'd like to let them take care of finding a new tenant and all the dealings with the tenant and then my friend could charge the new tenant what they felt was the going rate and pay the landlord the current rate they are already paying.

The actual landlord lives half way around the world and the house my friend is buying is literally 2 minutes away so it could be quite easy for them to manage it and if it meant a few hundred euro extra for them per month and then the landlord would save on agency fees, it could be win win for both?

Not sure of the legal standings on this or what would be required from either my friend or the landlord to make this work, but does anyone think it's possible to do something like this?

Anyone managing the property of another (unless a relative) needs a licence from the PSRA. lso with a non resident landlord there are tax obligations on agents. Your friend should stick to the day job. It is also illegal to attempt to induce a breach of contract with the existing agent.

cormie

Thanks a lot for the replies. Was just an idea that popped into my head given my friend is moving just around the corner, knows the house well and could have earned a few hundred eur extra per month for a few hours of management.

All that license stuff etc makes it a certain non runner though :pac: