Throughout our time working as mortgage advice experts in Grimsby, we have seen all kinds of first time buyers in Grimsby who have found their footing on the property ladder by purchasing the home they are renting privately from a landlord in Grimsby. This process is called buying as a sitting tenant.

As a private tenant, you may find that your landlord will eventually offer you the “first refusal”. This is what we call the process of a landlord allowing the tenant who is living within their property, to purchase it directly from of the landlord, before it is put onto the open market.

If this is something that you would like to do and you have not been offered first refusal or are not sure whether or not this could be an option for you, we would definitely suggest getting in touch with your landlord and at least asking the question.

Why are more landlords offering to sell directly to their tenants?

One of the main reasons that we have seen tenants purchasing from their landlord becoming more popular, is because of changes in government policy. Buy to let mortgages in Grimsby, in previous years, could benefit from government tax relief. This now no longer applies to landlords.

What this means, is that many landlords are now paying higher tax bills. When viewed as long-term investments, buy to let mortgages in Grimsby can be a fruitful endeavour. Even taking away these tax advantages, it can prove to be profitable.

That being said, the investments can end up being quite costly for the investor, which can sometimes lead them to sell their buy to lets in Grimsby and move on to pastures new. Because of this, you may find yourself being offered the chance to buy their property from them.

Regardless of their reasons for doing this, whether it is a personal reason, a financial reason or something else, there are many different positives to selling directly to a tenant, instead of selling to the open market and using an estate agency to help you do so.

Landlord Benefits

Avoidance of Estate Agent Fees

When a landlord instead goes directly to the tenant for a sale, they can find themselves saving a large amount of money that would, the landlord can end up saving a good amount of money. That money would have most likely gone on estate agency fees otherwise.

An Easier Process

If the landlord were to put the home up for sale on the open market, potential property buyers will have to schedule times to go and view the property. This would be quite a difficult aspect if the tenant were still living within the property.

 Refurbishment Cost Reduction

Since the landlord will be directly selling the property to their tenant whilst they are still staying within the property, there will be no need for the landlord to do any further work on the property. This means you won’t need to pay for cleaners, make any major or minor repairs, or even repaint.

Of course these types of things would be very appealing to potential property buyers who are seeing it for the first time, but you don’t need to impress the tenant who has already lived there, no doubt made it their own and fallen in love with it. They’ll be happy to take it as is.

Absence of Rental Void

By putting their home on the open market and getting the tenant to leave (or if they leave by their own volition), the landlord will find themselves with a rental void, a period of time in which they will not be making any money from the property.

There is no guarantee you will find a buyer immediately. If the property were to take months to sell, you would be going months without additional income and need to be able to make up your monthly payments on your mortgage still, until your sale completes.

Selling to the tenant, however, means that you retain a flow of income until your sale is completed and the property becomes theirs.

Tenant Benefits

Familiarity With The Home

You have spent years living within your home, you have grown to love all of it’s quirks inside and out. There is no element of surprise, you everything good and bad about it.

Freedom to Make Changes

Buying a property that you have already been living in can let you make all of the changes that you had been hoping to make. If you were looking to perhaps take out some features and put new ones in, use paint more to your liking, or anything else, you have the freedom to do so.

Possible Discount

Since it is very likely that your landlord will be saving money in selling you the property, you could find (at least we have seen) that they will offer you a discounted property price, as opposed to the price that would otherwise be available on the open market.

Absence of Property Chain

Property chains can become quite problematic for home buyers and home movers, making the process longer and more stressful. You’re basically waiting for one person to move out, so that you could move in, whilst that person themselves could be waiting on another person.

This can make it all a very difficult situation for all involved and has caused a lot of property sales to struggle because of it. Sitting tenant purchases, however, will not need to worry about any property chains, as you already live there! All you need to concern yourself with is mortgage lender criteria.

Date Last Edited: January 3, 2024