There are many reasons why a landlord sells a property. It could be that they’re stepping away from the landlord’s life and are selling all of their tenanted properties, the currently tenanted property they possess could be costing them too much money and more.

There are several ways to sell a tenanted property – including a cash buyer company, the traditional way via estate agents and even selling directly to your tenant. One thing many selling landlords worry about is a vacant property during the sale process, but there are ways around this.

If you are a landlord and you’re considering selling a tenanted property, but you’re not sure how – we’re here to help explain the whole situation and your options.

What legal rights do you have to sell a rental property? Does your signed tenancy agreement allow it?

Continue reading our helpful guide to discover how to sell a buy-to-let property.

How to sell a house with tenants - GD Legal

Want to sell your house but have tenants in situ?

When trying to sell a tenanted property, you must honour the terms of the tenancy agreement. Also, as long as the sitting tenant is producing the agreed rental income, you can’t simply evict them to conduct the selling process.

If you have a viable reason to evict them from your tenanted property, you can do so with a section 21 or 8 notice.

Section 8 gives reasons for wanting possession of the tenanted property, such as:

You want to move back into the property
Your tenants have used the property for illegal reasons
The tenants are behind on payments
There is a ‘break clause’ in your contract

When selling a tenanted property with tenants in situ, you’re likely to receive lower offers for the property. Mortgage lenders may see the property as a greater risk because it could be in poor condition and the seller hasn’t occupied the property – someone else has.

Many landlords selling their tenanted properties will usually wait until the fixed term of the tenancy agreement has expired before selling, as they’re likely to receive higher offers and have some time before the sale to fix any problems.

When informing your tenant of your intention to sell the property, in most cases in the UK, you must give them at least a 60-day notice period.

This should be outlined in the tenancy agreement, though some landlords are known to offer their tenants a cash incentive to vacate the property. If you consider this, it’s important to know that they are not required to accept this.

Organising viewings on your rental property

When arranging viewings for prospective buyers during a tenanted property sale, you must give your tenants at least 24 hours notice.

However, check your tenancy agreement as some contracts can prohibit viewings without obtaining the tenant’s permission. So, again, you must check your tenancy agreement before proceeding with viewings and a tenanted rental property sale.

During viewings, your tenant should be absent from the property. You can ask them to ensure the property is respectable but you cannot force them to tidy, nor can you do it yourself – this would be seen as an invasion of privacy.

The different ways of selling a house with tenants

Presently, there are three options for you to sell your tenanted property: through estate agents, via an auction or with a cash buyer.

Estate agents

Using an estate agent is a common way to sell any property, not just tenanted properties.

There are many advantages to using estate agents to sell your tenanted property, as they’ll have plenty of experience working in the local area and may have a collection of clients, including rental property investors.

Estate agents will have a good understanding of the type of properties that sell well in their area, and at what price they sell. This could give you the best chance possible of receiving the most money for your property.

However, one downside of working with estate agents is the estate agent fees. While they may not be too expensive, if you’re selling a tenanted property for financial reasons, the added cost of paying an estate agent could be a tad too much for you.

Auction

If your tenanted property has been vacated and you’re looking for a fast sale, an auction is a great choice.

While an auction seems like a promising opportunity for both prospective buyers and sellers, it does have a possible downside – the price.

Selling at auction risks losing the property for a lot lower than you were expecting – though, this could actually work the other way and you sell it for more!

Another downside is auction houses tend to have high selling fees, with a fixed fee and a percentage of the total sale, so this is something to consider if your profit margins are thin.

Cash buyer

Selling a tenanted property to a cash buyer is arguably the fastest possible way of completing the transaction. The average time to sell a house via an estate agent is 175 days; with a cash buyer, it can take as little as a week.

Another advantage of using a cash buyer is you can often sell the property in the condition it’s in, rather than having to fix things up and go through a stage of negotiations to determine who will cover the cost of different repairs and issues with the property.

What to do if tenants won’t leave?

Despite what you may think, you cannot force a tenant to vacate the property even if the notice period has ended, they’ve breached the terms of the tenancy agreement or they owe you rent.

If the tenant is refusing to leave, and delaying the sale process, you need to apply to county court for a possession order to evict them. Your solicitor can give the tenant a final chance to leave the property. If they refuse, your solicitor can serve notice, which is called a ‘civil bill’.

The bill explains that you’re taking the tenant to court, how much rent – or damages – you’re claiming, if you plan to ask the court to make the tenant pay your court fees, and that they have 21 days to respond.

The tenant can defend the case if they believe you didn’t follow the correct eviction process, or they can prove they didn’t breach their contract.

If you have followed the correct order, the court will favour you and order the tenant to vacate the property.

The final eviction process

After the decision, the tenant will receive a copy of the order, including a final date they must leave.

If they still do not leave, you must apply to the Enforcement of Judgments Office. They have the power to remove a person staying inside your property after a court has ordered an eviction.

Hire the right conveyancing solicitors to sell your tenanted property

So, are you ready to sell your rental property? At GD Property Solicitors, we have helped thousands of people around the UK sell residential property so we can help you.

We boast a team of expert house sale solicitors who can assist you in selling your tenanted property. While tenanted properties tend to be a little more difficult to sell, our team of reliable property lawyers know the exact steps to take to ensure the sale process goes through smoothly.

So, if you need a trustworthy team of conveyancing solicitors in Manchester and beyond who are adept at selling properties, contact GD Property Solicitors today.

How to sell a house with tenants