Cash paid for houses with sitting tenants

It was recently claimed that rent arrears are Britain’s leading debt problem with charity helplines receiving hundreds of calls a day from tenants seeking help.

National Debtline, one of the country’s leading financial charities, says the number of calls about rent arrears has soared by nearly 150% in the past seven years.

In 2007, the helpline answered 8,000 rent arrear calls from tenants a year. The latest figures show that number has risen to around 20,000 a year.

Calls from tenants owing rent to landlords have surged by nearly 40% in the past two years and 13% in just the last 12 months.

With rent arrears growing and the looming threat of interest rate rises, it comes as no surprise that many smaller landlords are looking to sell their properties.

However, there is that "Catch 22" situation that all landlords face. If they put their property on the market for sale, the tenant may just hand in their notice and move on, leaving the landlord facing a void if the property does not sell before the tenant has vacated.

Most tenants, hearing that the landlord is selling up, will not wait to see if the property is bought by another investor.They will feel insecure and move on.

If the property is not sold by the time the tenant has vacated, the landlord is left paying the mortgage, Council Tax, and standing utilities - not to mention the worry of an empty property being a target for squatters, crime, and, in extreme cases, asset theft.

So landlords with small portfolios have a choice to make.

Sell their properties "piece meal" on the open market through an estate agent incurring fees of around 2% plus VAT and perhaps paying the mortgage on a void property for an indeterminate period.

Or sell their portfolio "lock, stock, and barrel" to a company such as ourselves. We are genuine cash buyers and buy anything from a single tenanted property to a portfolio of tenanted properties.

If the tenant is in rent arrears, that does not phase us and we will still consider buying the property/portfolio.

Landlord sellers should add up all the costs of selling through a conventional estate agent "channel" compared to selling to us, not forgetting to factor in the cost of stress and hassle!

We offer a clean exit from a tenanted property or portfolio. We agree a price - typically around 85% of the market value - and then we agree a date for completion of the sale with a guaranteed cash lump sum arriving in your bank account. You, the landlord, will know the exact date that you can breathe a sigh of relief that your properties have been sold and are no longer your concern.

Just imagine ... no more rent arrears, no more maintenance calls, no more viewings, no more dealing with tenant issues .... just cash in your bank account and the chance to enjoy the fruits of your landlord labours!

We offer a free, no obligation appraisal of your property or portfolio, so you have absolutely nothing to lose by getting in touch with us and understanding our proposition.

Once you have done that, you will be in a much more informed position to decide the best option for disposing of your tenanted property or portfolio.

The Directors of the Open Property Group comment:

"We are currently seeing a number of posts on the property forums of landlords who are looking to sell tenanted properties, but do not want to end up paying the mortgage during the sales process.

There is no easy answer to this, as a tenant can be obstructive to viewings, or the property may not "show" well with a tenant in situ.

Selling to another landlord or investor is an obvious answer, but the vendor should appreciate that most BTL lenders require vacant possession.

Therefore, tenanted properties tend to get sold to cash buyers, and cash buyers will always be seeking a discount.

We have over 30 years of combined experience of buying tenanted properties, and we always endeavour to offer a fair price that works for the vendor but also works for our personal business model.

We offer a completely no-obligation appraisal of your property and will make an offer on it within 48 hours".

Open Property Group is a new name in the "quick sale of houses" sector with the mission to raise standards and improve customer experience. Give us a call on 0800 990 3939 to receive a no-nonsense cash offer for your property or send us an email at info@openpropertygroup.com