Selling Property with tenant in situ

[mad_maz]

Hi All

We are in the process of selling a property that has a tenant in situ. He has been in the property for about 13 months and his tenancy became a periodic following his 6 month SSP. The buyer seemed keen to keep the tenant foloowing the sale however no steps have been taken to show that this is the case.

We think that a new 6 month tenancy agreement should be set up by the new landlord to take effect from exchange of contracts, and that we should pay the deposit (currently held in a scheme) back to the tenant, who should then make arrangements to pay his new landlord.

We have received a telephone call from our solicitor today, to say that the buyer wants to complete this Friday (we haven't exchanged at this point) and whilst we would be more than happy to do that our concern is for our tenant, who could theoretically be given two months notice to quit.

If anyone has any knowledge, or expertise in this area could you please let me know, as both our solicitor and the buyers solicitor don't seem to know how this works....

Many thanks in advance

Marion

[Grampa]

It is down to the buyer and what he wants, not you to extend the tenancy. You don't need to do anything as a landlord unless it is a condition of the sale and after completion the new owner has a number of options:

1 Give the tenant notice

2 Give the tenant a new tenancy

3 Do nothing and let the tenancy continue on the current periodic set-up but the new owner will need to serve a s48 notice on the tenant giving his details.

The tenant isn't your responsibly after completion and giving a new tenancy without consulting the buyer will jeopardise the sale going through.

[mad_maz]

Thank you for the reply Grampa.

That helps a lot and eases the burden somewhat.

What about the tenancy deposit: Do we 'unprotect' and pass it to the tenant, or pass it to the new landlord? Or is there another way?

Thank you

Marion