House buying process

stresshead101

Hi all

First time buyer here so am literally clueless to the situation.

Myself and my partner are sale agreed on a property with tenants in situ, however we were informed that they were moving out before we officially went sale agreed. Now, it is eight weeks later and they are still in the property. We have been told multiple times that they were "in the process" of moving out, and in my most recent email to the estate agent, he insinuated that they have already left. But they are still there.

Now we have absolutely no problem with the tenants being there until we have contracts, but its just that I feel that something is happening in the background that we are not aware of. If we were told that it would be after Christmas, we would still be happy to proceed with the sale.

Does anyone have any experience with this and it has worked out? I am an overthinker so obviously my mind is wandering to the point where the tenants dont leave and we lose the house.

Thanks!

P.s. Any and all advise on the general buying process is completely welcome and encouraged!

DubCount

First up, you have to make sure the seller gets vacant possession before you buy. The bank/building society will insist on this anyway assuming you will be drawing down a mortgage. So you cant close the sale until the existing tenants are gone.

Sitting tenants moving out is a bit of an unknown. In theory, the seller should have given notice to the tenants to move out with a specific date by which they should be gone. However, its not uncommon for tenants to remain past the end of the termination notice. This is called "overholding". Sometimes it might be a few days or weeks, sometimes the current owner needs to go through a long and drawn out legal process to eventually get the tenants legally evicted. At the extreme, it can take over a year to legally evict a tenant who refuses to leave.

I would ask your solicitor to find out the date the tenants were supposed to move out, and the reason for the overholding (assuming the finishing date has already passed), and whether the current owner has commenced any process with the RTB.

Buying property is a process which always takes longer than you expect. Its probably just a short delay but just worth digging a bit to see if there is something more difficult which may mean you have to rethink things.

stresshead101

Thanks!

Yes our solicitor explained to us that the tenants must leave before we can sign the contracts, but when we went sale agreed we were told that the house would be vacant within two weeks. Again about two/three weeks ago, the estate agent advised that the tenants were in the process of moving out and just last week they said that they were awaiting the return of the keys. So it sounded like they had moved out but I went by the property on my way home from work and they are still there.

I am a bit hesitant to be pushy on the situation because myself and my partner were really lucky to find this property and not be outbid (low incomes), but I would like to know what the situation is.

accensi0n

Were you able to get in, to view the property and get a structural survey report done?

stresshead101

accensi0n wrote: »

Were you able to get in, to view the property and get a structural survey report done?

No we havent had the survey yet. I emailed the EA this week re:access to the property to get the survey done and they replied that they were awaiting the keys from the tenants.
It seems like there is just a delay with them moving out, which I understand with Christmas and the housing crisis, but obviously I can only think of the worst case scenario.

punisher5112

This is going to be messy as they will most likely stay till they are forced.

stresshead101

punisher5112 wrote: »

This is going to be messy as they will most likely stay till they are forced.

This is what I am worried about.

ZX7R

Sorry for buttin in I am in the process of selling my house private treaty ,the buyer is letting me stay till i move in June.
Contract been drawn up and they will be drawing down there mortgage in January.
How is it there mortgage lender/ bank are allowing them to draw down the mortgage if we're still in the house.
Seems to contradict what others have said on this thread.
Rent will be paid as soon as the paperwork is done and dusted.

stresshead101

ZX7R wrote: »

Sorry for buttin in I am in the process of selling my house private treaty ,the buyer is letting me stay till i move in June.
Contract been drawn up and they will be drawing down there mortgage in January.
How is it there mortgage lender/ bank are allowing them to draw down the mortgage if we're still in the house.
Seems to contradict what others have said on this thread.
Rent will be paid as soon as the paperwork is done and dusted.

There are different terms you can apply for in your mortgage which can allow you to do this. Your buyer can draw down a buy-to-let mortgage, or even a residential mortgage with specific terms attached, but the lender will assess the income and outgoings before the approve this. It is more likely that your buyer got special permission from their lender to allow you to stay in the property.

ZX7R

stresshead101 wrote: »

There are different terms you can apply for in your mortgage which can allow you to do this. Your buyer can draw down a buy-to-let mortgage, or even a residential mortgage with specific terms attached, but the lender will assess the income and outgoings before the approve this. It is more likely that your buyer got special permission from their lender to allow you to stay in the property.

A ok I was wondering,it will also be there main resadence also, when we are gone.
Slow process anyways

Gael23

I would walk away from that situation if it was me

Samuel T. Cogley

Gael23 wrote: »

I would walk away from that situation if it was me

At the very least the OP needs to keep looking and continue to do so until contracts are exchanged.

stresshead101

Hi guys!
Thanks for all your replies! Just thought I'd update you on the situation - turns out the tenants were in the process of buying their own house, which was a new build and wasn't ready to move into (snag lists, last minute issues, etc). They have vacated the property, we've had the survey and valuation done and just awaiting our full mortgage offer

For anyone else reading this in the same situation - there is hope lol

punisher5112

Great result