UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi We need to sell the one property we let out via an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement  (property is in England). We do this privately and are not set up as a company.

Existing tenants are a lovely older couple who keep the property immaculate and always pay rent on time (not DSS & been our tenants since April 2015).
We have been undercharged them rent for a while (we charge £500, current market value c£675). Property value c £120k.
We are planning to increase rent shortly to £650, anyway to help cover all eventualities (and our spiraling costs!)

EPC rating C , at least that's good!

We would have previousely only sold after these tenants departed,  however like many others on here its just not viable for us to continue as a private landlord anymore.. and we now need the capital released due to change in circumstances.

As we really feel for the tenants we are considering trying to sell with tenants in situe.
I don't see much discussion on this.. is that because its just not viable?
We can't afford to take less then normal market value..

Any advice re pros and cons and any potential pitfalls of trying to sell with existing tenants in place would be really appreciated!

If you sell with existing tenants, your market will be limited to landlords looking to expand - which is a much smaller market than everyone looking to buy.
Chances are they'll be less emotionally attached to the property and will be looking for a bargain (as they'll be paying more stamp duty than a lot of other buyers).
They'll have no chain and want to proceed quickly (and be able to).

There are significant downsides to buying a tenanted property. The best way to overcome them is to have all of the tenancy documentation ready to show to a prospective buyer, deposit paperwork, all the test certificates etc.
There's nothing to stop the buyer from evicting the tenants or putting the rent up a lot.

I assume you have asked if the tenants would be able to buy the place? If you really cannot accept a lower price then the chances of finding a landlord to buy it are very low.People are selling up in droves in my area.No sensible private buyer would take the risk of buying with a tenant still there.

Thank you, as I feared...