M
mashaka
New Member
Hi All, we have been renting a family house in West london for the past 3 years and our rental agreement is currently set to expire on June 9th, 2020 and our plans were to renew for another year. To our surprise, the landlord decided to sell the house in Jan 2020 and with 24 hour notice the agent started bringing through dozens of buyers every day. We do have a 9 month break clause allowing him to do that. After a few days of living under viewing stress we took a decision to make an offer on our house, which was accepted. We’ve done a detailed financial analysis and the only way this investment would make sense is if the house prices continue to rise and we could sell the house in 5-10 years, or potentially keep it as a entail property (the taxes would into most of the profit though).
Shortly after our offer was accepted, the markets went falling down significantly affecting our finances, the lockdown froze the property market, and also we found out we are expecting another child - which means we may need an extra bedroom in the long term. This entire time (Jan to April) we have been slowly moving through the process and now have everything lined up to start taking about completion. We are having serious doubts - we made the offer when the market was at its peak in Jan, the house is very expensive for what you get (that’s London for you) and with the overall uncertainty in the market, we are really nervous about taking on so much risk knowing that the house prices will likely dup and take a while to recover. The agent said he could give us a weekend to think about it and the the house is going back on the market. My question is what are our options? If we are not buying, ideally we would like to stay in the property throughout the summer at the very least, preferably for another year, as there are no options available for us to move to in the area, where we need to stay due to our kids school). We are paying rent on time every month and will continue to do so. Can the landlord kick us out in June or is there any extra protection with Covid? If house goes back on the market, how will it sell without any viewings? I’m so confused! Also, is it worth considering negotiation based on the market state (nothing significant was found during the survey). Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Shortly after our offer was accepted, the markets went falling down significantly affecting our finances, the lockdown froze the property market, and also we found out we are expecting another child - which means we may need an extra bedroom in the long term. This entire time (Jan to April) we have been slowly moving through the process and now have everything lined up to start taking about completion. We are having serious doubts - we made the offer when the market was at its peak in Jan, the house is very expensive for what you get (that’s London for you) and with the overall uncertainty in the market, we are really nervous about taking on so much risk knowing that the house prices will likely dup and take a while to recover. The agent said he could give us a weekend to think about it and the the house is going back on the market. My question is what are our options? If we are not buying, ideally we would like to stay in the property throughout the summer at the very least, preferably for another year, as there are no options available for us to move to in the area, where we need to stay due to our kids school). We are paying rent on time every month and will continue to do so. Can the landlord kick us out in June or is there any extra protection with Covid? If house goes back on the market, how will it sell without any viewings? I’m so confused! Also, is it worth considering negotiation based on the market state (nothing significant was found during the survey). Any advice would be greatly appreciated!