landlord who wants to sell

misc2013

Accidental landlord here due to relocation for work. I want to sell my house that I have rented out for the last few years to buy here. Currently renting and would like us to own our own home. Tenants have been given 6 months notice as is required. Just trying to work out when I can actually advertise? Given the time it would take to sell plus all that goes with that before keys are handed over etc... Ideally do not want the house unrented for too long but do the tenants need to be gone before the house might be ready for viewing?



Thanks. I just need to know does 6 months notice mean, til I actually put the house on the market or to roughly when the house is sold.

Cash_Q

You don't need to wait until they're gone before advertising or holding viewings.

Perhaps you could offer them some sort of incentive to facilitate viewings.

We bought a house that was rented and went sale agreed while we waited for the tenants notice to expire.

If the house is not overly presentable maybe it's worth holding off, but approach an estate agent and see what they advise.

thelawman

Is 6 months notice required, I’m in a similar situation , although wasn’t planning to sell until next spring, my knowledge of this is zero

theteal

thelawman wrote: »

Is 6 months notice required, I’m in a similar situation , although wasn’t planning to sell until next spring, my knowledge of this is zero

It depends how long they’ve been there.

pc7

thelawman wrote: »

Is 6 months notice required, I’m in a similar situation , although wasn’t planning to sell until next spring, my knowledge of this is zero

Depending on how long your tenants are in situ it could be longer. Check out rtb for timelines and notice templates. You need to do it correct or notice can be deemed invalid.

Cash_Q

pc7 wrote:

Depending on how long your tenants are in situ it could be longer. Check out rtb for timelines and notice templates. You need to do it correct or notice can be deemed invalid.

Yes be very careful here. The house we bought had tenants who were issued their notice, and later challenged this notice meaning their notice period started again. Luckily for us they moved earlier anyway but we were potentially facing a 7 month delay.

Another key thing is to issue them a Statutory Declaration that the house is being sold. Failure to do so makes the notice invalid, which is what our vendor was challenged on.

misc2013

I'm

Cash_Q wrote: »

Yes be very careful here. The house we bought had tenants who were issued their notice, and later challenged this notice meaning their notice period started again. Luckily for us they moved earlier anyway but we were potentially facing a 7 month delay.

Another key thing is to issue them a Statutory Declaration that the house is being sold. Failure to do so makes the notice invalid, which is what our vendor was challenged on.

I advised my tenants verbally in June that I was going to sell in approx 6 months so giving them 6 months notice and offering to sell it to them if interested. House has been valued and tenants advised of same. I didn't know about any statutory declaration. Dies that mean the past 2 months verbal notice does not count? They never signed this year's lease and I didn't push it cos selling. Does that make any difference?

dudara

Legally, a notice to sell isn’t valid unless accompanied by a Statutory declaration. So if your tenants wanted to stall, they could insist on it being issued correctly which would mean restarting the notice period.

Having said that, your tenants could be fine with the notice the way you gave it. It depends on the quality of your relationship.

Not signing a lease doesn’t matter, they have Part IV rights by now anyway

misc2013

So is it 6 months notice to leave or to put house on.market?

Cash_Q

misc2013 wrote:

So is it 6 months notice to leave or to put house on.market?

You can put the house on the market today and if it went sale agreed in a week that would be fine, it's your property, but the buyers can't close the purchase until the house is vacant and the tenants don't have to vacate for another 6 months.

The verbal notice does not count, even if you've a great relationship with them it stands for nothing. They night be sound and just leave on time but you don't want to run that risk. Even if you'd given it in writing, they can challenge it when their date to leave arrives, because you haven't given them a Statutory Declaration.

Put their notice in writing, and accompany it with the statutory declaration. Engage a solicitor now that will assist you with the sale, and they can check that the notice and statutory declaration are valid and not open to challenge. Solicitor won't charge you until the sale closes anyway so if you're concerned about that, don't be. Get legal advice, the sooner the better.

Edgware

The verbal notice is of no use. In my experience you are better off having the tenants gone. You can then sort out the place, empty it of furniture to create more space etc.
If you have all your paperwork ready, preliminary admin with the estate agent you could have it on the market immediately after vacating of tenants.

If you advertise with tenants in place you have the hassle of the estate agent having to organise viewings at a time suitable to them and they mightnt have the place looking the best

Graham

Legally speaking, you haven't given your tenants notice yet so the clock hasn't even started running on notice periods.

Check the RTB website for the appropriate notice periods snd statutory declarations and make sure you get it absolutely right. It's probably worth spending a few euro on a solicitor to do it all for you if you're in any way uncertain.

4ensic15

A Notice to Terminate must be in writing to be valid at all. The o/p does not appear to have taken any professional advice. He should see a solicitor and estate agent before he digs himself into an even bigger hole.

The_Conductor

misc2013 wrote: »

I advised my tenants verbally in June that I was going to sell in approx 6 months so giving them 6 months notice and offering to sell it to them if interested. House has been valued and tenants advised of same. I didn't know about any statutory declaration. Dies that mean the past 2 months verbal notice does not count? They never signed this year's lease and I didn't push it cos selling. Does that make any difference?

Aka- you have not given your tenants notice yet.
Notice to vacate a tenancy has to be served in a specific manner- and the length of the notice depends entirely on how long the tenants have been in the property.
You can not pick 6 months notice out of thin air- nor can you give them verbal notice.

Go and talk to a solicitor and do things properly- as you're going to cause yourself serious issues the way you're going.

Shiny

As a tenant on the receiving end of a very similar situation, we have been given 6 or 7 months notice as we have been in the same place for a very long time.

Like your situation we have been given a verbal notice but have not yet received the official written notice. I will be expecting that notice period to begin from the date we receive the written notice rather than the verbal one which I regarded as a heads up.

I have been offered a months free rent to leave early but there is no incentive to take such an offer as I would incur much higher rent by going back out into the open market right now.

As the other posters are advising, you should be organising the official letter as soon as possible.

Cash_Q

Shiny wrote:

Like your situation we have been given a verbal notice but have not yet received the official written notice. I will be expecting that notice period to begin from the date we receive the written notice rather than the verbal one which I regarded as a heads up.

Absolutely correct here, your notice doesn't start until you recieve your written notice.

Friends of mine are in an apartment that was taken back from their landlord by the bank. It's been for sale over a year and they've still received no notice in writing so they're not remotely worried yet.

We bought a house that had tenants who challenged their notice, and so many of our friends and family were saying we should go mad etc etc but these tenants were totally in the right and if they were my friends I'd be telling them to do what the did.

misc2013

4ensic15 wrote: »

A Notice to Terminate must be in writing to be valid at all. The o/p does not appear to have taken any professional advice. He should see a solicitor and estate agent before he digs himself into an even bigger hole.

Does this need a solicitor or is that a statutory declaration or are there two alternative things or both?

4ensic15

misc2013 wrote: »

Does this need a solicitor or is that a statutory declaration or are there two alternative things or both?

I don't know where t start with this.

quietsailor

misc2013 wrote: »

Does this need a solicitor or is that a statutory declaration or are there two alternative things or both?

You could issue it yourself but from your posts you sound like someone who doesn't deal with this kind of stuff often enough. That makes me think there is a high chance you could get it wrong.

In these documents getting the smallest little thing wrong invalidates the notice. If you have clued in tenants they could wait until the end and challenge the notice which takes months to deal with. Only then can you issue the correct notice.

Getting this wrong could add nine or more months to your six month notice period. Go to whatever solicitor you are using for the sale and get them to draw up the notice. The few hundreds you'll spend here is nothing compared to the money lost by not selling the property

misc2013

So let me get this right. It has to be a solicitor, ok. I want to sell this house by Feb 2019. I'm told it will go sale agreed in 2-3 weeks such is the demand. Can I literally put the house on the market the day after I send this notice? I have been holding off so as to give tenants notice in case they are interested in buying but this seems to have been a bad idea. I have thus already lost 2 months.

GGTrek

misc2013 wrote: »

So let me get this right. It has to be a solicitor, ok. I want to sell this house by Feb 2019. I'm told it will go sale agreed in 2-3 weeks such is the demand. Can I literally put the house on the market the day after I send this notice? I have been holding off so as to give tenants notice in case they are interested in buying but this seems to have been a bad idea. I have thus already lost 2 months.

Fill in and print out this asap being very careful about the notice period required: https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/images/uploads/Disputes/Sample%20Notice%20of%20Termination%20-%20Intention%20to%20Sell%20the%20Dwelling.docx


Then go to a solicitor with an ID (passport for example) or a commissioner for oaths, sign the statutory declaration, pay 10 eur fee. Make a copy of both the termination notice and the statutory declaration. Then go to the tenant with a witness and personally deliver the notice with the statutory declaration or glue it to the property main door with witness and take photo and email it to the tenant or post the notice and the statutory declaration by registered letter to the tenant (make sure to save the tracking code and the delivery proof that AN post will provide online). Wait until tenant moves out or the termination date. If tenant does not move out you will have to open a dispute at the RTB for overholding.


Yes you have wasted two months due to your ignorance of the law.

utmbuilder

After sending this notice if they decide not to leave you could be tied up in the prtb for 12 months.

Given the level of awareness the renter now has from the news it's likely things may not go to your time scale.

Renter stopping paying rent for a long period is also possible.

I am giving you a dooms day scenario but it's happening all the time, basically you really really need the renter to help you out by moving out in time.

C3PO

misc2013 wrote: »

So let me get this right. It has to be a solicitor, ok. I want to sell this house by Feb 2019. I'm told it will go sale agreed in 2-3 weeks such is the demand. Can I literally put the house on the market the day after I send this notice? I have been holding off so as to give tenants notice in case they are interested in buying but this seems to have been a bad idea. I have thus already lost 2 months.

This all depends on your tenants vacating the property - that should be your no. 1 priority! Get on the PRTB website and read up on your obligations and the process ... and get the ball rolling properly! But TBH, judging by your apparent lack of knowledge (no offence meant) in the area you might be best seeing a solicitor!

utmbuilder

Now's a good time to sell and it still will be up to 18 months from now.

Just accept the whole process is very unfair, blame the government. And hope for a little bit of luck and it will all go smoothly, or at least if you loose some time be grateful it was not a whole lot longer.

misc2013

C3PO wrote: »

This all depends on your tenants vacating the property - that should be your no. 1 priority! Get on the PRTB website and read up on your obligations and the process ... and get the ball rolling properly! But TBH, judging by your apparent lack of knowledge (no offence meant) in the area you might be best seeing a solicitor!

None taken. I tend to look up stuff as need to know. And here!
Never dreamed I would ever be in a position to sell for at least 10 years cos of massive negative equity but the prices are back to what I paid so hoping to break even and off load asap. This landlord business doesn't agree with me. I'm a circumstantial one or accidental one and will be glad to be done with it.

April 73

GGTrek wrote: »

Fill in and print out this asap being very careful about the notice period required: https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/images/uploads/Disputes/Sample%20Notice%20of%20Termination%20-%20Intention%20to%20Sell%20the%20Dwelling.docx

Great link. Thank you!