Purchasing a house with tenant in situ

picturehangup

We saw an ad for a house that we are very interested in purchasing, but when we read further down the description, there is a tenant in situ.

The auctioneer did mention this to me on the phone, but I assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that the tenant would have had to receive notice to vacate?

Perhaps it is the case that the property is being ear-marked for the Local Authority to purchase, as there is a sitting tenant.

We are wondering should we leave well enough alone, or place an offer? If anyone has any experience with similar, we would be grateful to hear your opinion. Thanking you!

L1011

If you are intending to live in it, stay away. You won't be able to draw down a residential mortgage with a tenant in situ; and notice to quit doesn't mean they actually will.

picturehangup

Hi L1011,

We have been trying to move a little closer to the city, as we are spending an absolute fortune on diesel per month, so yes, we would absolutely intend to make this our permanent home, as we are in a small midlands town currently that we need to move on from.

We are very fortunate in that we have finished our mortgage, and would be essentially cash buyers.

Picturehangup

cml387

The fact that the house in on sale with a sitting tenant rings alarm bells. Normally people would get the tenant out and then sell as they would get considerably more ( I would guess the price of the house you are looking at is lower than standard for the area).

picturehangup

cml, Yes you are correct in that the price is indeed lower than standard for the area, an area we have been chasing down for quite some time now!

I assumed the lower price reflected the fact that it needs complete modernisation, insulation, solar panels, etc. to bring it up to standard.

The tenant thing rings alarm bells for me too, I must admit, but I don't want to miss an opportunity, as we really need to relocate here as a family.

cml387

Think about it. Rather than get the tenant out, the seller was willing to take a hit in the purchase price.

Now either the seller doesn't care about the money, or there is a problem getting the tenant out. Which will now become your problem if you buy.

I dobt your solicitor will be happy to go ahead either.

The eviction ban has ended, selling a property is a valid reason for giving notice. If you want to proceed the best advice is to have the landlord remove the tenants prior to completing the sale.

The property is most likely being sold with a tenant in situ because the landlord cannot evict them due to a court order or they are refusing to leave.

If you purchase the property with a sitting tenant their eviction becomes your problem.

SwimClub

If you buy with the tenant in situe you could issue a termination notice to the tenant, that's at least 6 months, then you need to follow up with the RTB, when they ignore that, that's another year probably, then court times two plus legal fees. In 4 years you might get in, you can assume the tenant will have wrecked the place in the mean time.

Grumpypants

A few in my area went like this. Turns out the guy owns a few houses and also owes a load of money to the bank.

They might have gotten a write down on their bank loan if they paid X amount quickly, so they were happy to take less for the house and sell with them in situ as they couldn't wait to get rid of a tenant and then sell.

spaceHopper

Forget about it, I assume you will sell your house to fun this one. It could take 3 years and a lot of money, to get the tenant out and where are you going to live. If you really want to buy it. Knock the door tell the tenant you are considering placing an offer and if you gave them 20 grand would they move?

arctictree

If the OP buys the house then how do they have a contract/lease with the tenant? Is this not a bit of a legal grey area?

screamer

Take 4 years of non paid rent, legal fees, your time and stress and money enough to renovate the house in a wrecked condition, now, add that to the cost of this house, and see the real purchase price difference between it and similar houses in that area that are being sold vacant. Now, make an informed decision

DownByTheGarden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120468300#Comment_120468300

The tenant basically owns the house until wither they want to leave or they are put out by the authorities after a multi year process.

I think it sounds fairly certain that the landlord feels the effort of getting the tenant out is too much. Imagine how that will be for you. For a due dilligence exercise though see if you can get the owners name and the tenants name while you are interested in the property and look them up on the RTB website to see if there are any cases.

Claw Hammer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120468300#Comment_120468300

There is no legal grey area. The o/p buys the land together with any buildings on it as well as assuming the obligations and burdens on the land. It is up to him to enquire about any occupants, any rights of way, any boundary disputes etc. It is mots likely a receiver sale and the receiver will say he knows nothing about any of it and he will have to take it as he finds it. There was a woman who bought a house in a Biidx1 auction with a tenant in it. She gave notice to the tenant to move out as she wanted to live in it. The tenant then produced a year lease and the RT%B upheld it. She had to wait until the end of thye lease., Then she tried again. The tenant appealed to the RTB and the whole thing only ended when the tenant bought a house and moved out.

Pawwed Rig

Unless you are buying with cash I cannot see the bank letting you draw down a mortgage without vacant possession

WhatYaSay

I was sale agreed on a house that was listed as vacant possession end of Jan. There was a tenant in the house who had been given termination notice last year so was due to be out on March 31st. When we got contracts for sale my solicitor held off and sent back queries about status etc. We were stonewalled for 3 weeks then essentially told house was no longer for sale as owner thought it would be too difficult to get tenant out and had sold to the council in the background. An eviction notice is absolutely worthless, solicitor said owner could have been years trying to get them out in order to complete vacant possession sale. The only houses actually for sale are vacant houses.

DownByTheGarden

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120469131#Comment_120469131

Councils encouraging this behavior too to devalue property sop they can get it for cheap as the only potential buyer.

Gael23

Would really strongly suggest you stay away. It’s not worth it

mulbot

Stay away from this, I was about to buy a house a few years ago with this same situation, would have been an absolute disaster had I went through with it. Definitely definitely stay away.

dennyk

Seconding the advice to forget about this property entirely, unless you are specifically buying to let and you are a cash buyer and you have fully vetted the current tenant yourself and are perfectly happy to continue renting to them going forward on the basis of your own independent vetting (and definitely not just on the word of the seller).

If you are a prospective owner occupier and getting a mortgage, you will not be able to move forward with the purchase without vacant possession of the property, so it's entirely moot anyway.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120487510#Comment_120487510

The OP says that they are a cash buyer and want to live in the property