UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I wondered if anyone could give me some advice - my parents have been renting their house for 33 years now and yesterday they recieved a letter saying the landlord wants to sell and the estate agents will be coming over in 2 weeks to look at the property. My parents are very distressed by this as wouldnt have anywhere to go. I am unsure what tenancy agreement they have now as it has just rolled on year by year. does anyone know what their rights are?   

Thanks

Katherine

Hello katherine64,

Your parents may not need to be as alarmed as they probably are right now.  Firstly, if they have been in situ for 33 years then it is likely they are on a form of tenancy which gives them very strong rights to remain, even if the owner of the house changes.  The common term is "Life Tenant".  Checking out this point with a solicitor is probably one of your most urgent actions.

Secondly, there are people out there who want to buy properties like this.  Mountview Estates plc is one of the most high profile.  Because the house has a sitting tenant it will sell for less than it would otherwise.  So folks like Mountview buy them up cheaply; look after the tenants until their die / move on and then sell for a profit.

The important long term thing is to make sure the new landlord is acting reasoably towards your parents.  There's a story line in Radio 4's The Archers at the moment covering this subject where nasty Mett Crawford is making life a living hell for two pensioner tenants of a house he's just bought (don't worry this is very unlikely to happen in real life, if Matt looked after them properly, it would be a very boring programme!)

Hope this helps.  Please let us know how you get on.