UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hey guys,
I'm selling 3 bed house in June/ July and my tenant is moving out end of Jan instead of June/july with no issues at all.
Is it worth renting for 6 months with a 6 month contract?

No.
There's no way to remove the tenant if they don't want to go and your chances of finding someone who wants a six month only lease to match your dates is about zero.

Would I not issue them a section 8 after the contract is up

You could.
You'd need grounds - selling your property is not a valid reason on its own to use a s8 notice.
You could serve a s21 notice.
The average possession claim following the expiry of a landlord's notice (which would be two months) takes six months - if successful.

All sorts of complications could arise if you try this. You could end up losing a sale. Can'  t you bring forward the date for putting it up for sale? From what I hear, thanks to Land Registry staff working from home, it now takes a ridiculous time to complete, so the sooner you start the better.

The land registry issues don't affect most completion timescales, unless you're transacting a property with a recent change in ownership. As long as the land registry is already up to date, the time scale is pretty much controlled by the conveyancer (who are the reason it's so slow!)

The Lan Registry are behind on registering changes in ownership. In theory, there's an expedited process to push changes through if you're in a hurry, but a lot of conveyancers don't seem to use this (for reasons I don't really understand).

Personally, I don't think it has much to do with working from home (that's just politicians and newspapers with outdated views on how work should be done), it's really to do with cutting staff from the organisation so there aren't enough people to do the work needed.

Plenty of people would disagree with you. Apparently blaming Covid for instance ignores the fact that there were already delays. Untrained workers, staff cherry- picking the simplest applications, and industrial action have added to the confusion.

Of course, some solicitors drag their feet too.   

I will need to sell my rental property in the summer to put towards purchasing a new family home. The property is empty at the moment. My letting agent says they have someone who will pay six months rent in advance and knows that I will want to sell it after this. This would mean they would move out in July and the letting agent assures me that the new laws won't come in before September 2025. I understood it could be as soon as they are passed and that could be before this date.       

Quote from: spearoelo on January 04, 2025, 05:13:28 PMThis would mean they would move out in July...

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Quote from: spearoelo on January 04, 2025, 05:13:28 PMthe letting agent assures me that the new laws won't come in before September 2025.

That might be the case. But there's no way that the agent can know this for sure.

So, the guy who makes money from you letting the house out is telling you to let the house out?

<Mandy Rice-Davies has entered the chat>

If the tenant doesn't leave in six months ... or eight months ... or twelve months, how much of a problem is that for the agent, compared to how much of a problem it is for you?

If you're going to need the money from the house in six months' time, sell it now and stick the money somewhere low-risk. You might miss house prices going up ... or you might miss them going down. Either way it's not going be a lot compared to the security of knowing you've got £x that you can release at a couple of days' notice.

Mandy is right -shrewd gal- they would say that wouldn' t they? What have they got to lose?  They get a bit more money before you withdraw from the transaction ( Mandy has been asked to leave)  They won' t have to pay the legal fees if it all goes wrong. 

The potential tenants may indeed mean well, but their own plans could be scuppered by fate. Even as the law stands now, you can' t just turf them out.

This is one of those situations where no one can give you the definative answer. Personally I always reach for my tarot cards at such times. You have sought an answer from a forum, and several experienced landlords have agreed that it is not a risk worth taking.     

Thank you everyone who replied to this. I only had the weekend to let the agent know, so this site has been really helpful. I love the Mandy Rice-Davies reminder, well he would wouldn't he?