Selling a house with problem tenants

First of all, let’s understand what a problem tenant is:

• A tenant who does not pay the rent on time or who is in significant arrears.
• A tenant who does not look after the property.
• A tenant who has breached the terms and conditions of the tenancy, such as moving in an un-authorised pet.
• A tenant who refuses to leave after being served a Section 21 notice.
• A tenant who is aggressive to the landlord or others, or who exhibits anti-social behavior.
• A “hoarder” tenant, of which there are a growing number.
• A tenant who sub-lets without the landlord’s agreement.
• A tenant who refuses to allow access for compliance checks such as a gas safety certificate.
• A tenant who refuses to allow access for repairs and/or maintenance.
• A tenant who is using the property for criminal purposes such as a brothel or a cannabis farm, of which the police report growing numbers of both types of activity in rental properties.
• A tenant who does not report repair issues, allowing them to escalate.

You will notice that we do not include in this list “a tenant who does not allow viewings”, either for sale or re-let of the property

Tenants are all entitled to what is known as “quiet enjoyment” of their rental homes, and, even if it is written into the tenancy agreement that they should allow viewings at the end of the tenancy, it is a very hard clause to enforce.

If you are selling a property tenanted with a problem tenant, all of the above are going to impact on the number of prospective buyers and therefore on your sale price.

While the tenants remain in situ, you may not be able to arrange viewings and, even if you could, the property may not “show” well.

Even if you are thinking of selling to another investor with the tenant in situ, such issues as rent arrears or aggressive behaviour are likely to put most landlords off as it is clear that the tenancy is not running smoothly, and this greatly increases the risk.

Only the most experienced of property buyers would consider buying a property with a problem tenant.

We are one such potential buyer.

We have over 30 years experience of buying this type of property, and these kind of issues do not phase us.

Clearly, with a problem tenant in situ, as the vendor you will not be able to achieve market value as if you were offering the property with “vacant possession”.

This is why many High Street agents will not agree to get involved with such sales or will demand that you serve notice on the tenants. With the average sale in the UK taking 10 months, according to recent BBC data, if your tenants did vacate, you could be left paying the mortgage for 8 months.

However, very often, when tenants are served a S21 notice and told the property is being sold, they can become difficult, stop paying the rent and refuse viewings or sometimes they just leave overnight, once again meaning no rental income is coming in.

So it can become risky to even let them know that the property is going to be sold.

With our professional buying service, the property and its problem simply transfer to us.

We are genuine cash buyers with cash fund standing by to purchase your property and we can offer a very quick service.

This is of particular interest to landlords who are struggling with tenants in rent arrears, sometimes even facing repossession by their lender.

In such cases, we can step in, pay off the arrears to stop the repossession, and then buy the property allowing the landlord to move on without any unsecured debts associated with that property.

In our experience, landlords selling this category of property have suffered a huge amount of stress and they are tired of all the hassle and they just want to see the back of it.

We can take that problem away and can complete in as little as 7 days if all the paperwork is in order.

Clearly, we are not going to offer market value, but we will make a fair offer that makes it possible for the landlord to move on and let us take over the problem.

Just get in touch with us, and we will arrange what is known as a “drive by” valuation, meaning that we will view the property from the outside in the first instance. Depending on how that goes, we may not need to undertake an internal inspection and will make you a no-obligation offer within 48 hours.

You can then decide if you want to accept that.

However, it is worth noting that the longer such a dysfunctional relationship between you and the tenant continues, the more it is going to cost you - not only financially, but also in stress and anxiety. If you do have to evict the tenant, it can take several months and cost as much as £3K, which you are unlikely to get back.

As you become more distressed, the more likely you are to sell for a bigger discount, so it can be a false economy to hang in there thinking you are going to get the price you want for your property.

We take that hassle off you and many of our clients express their gratitude and relief that we were able to get them out of a deteriorating situation where costs were only going to escalate.

So, if you have problems tenants and want to sell, contact us today.

Likewise, if you have a problem property then we have a solution.