• Home
  • About
  • Clinic
  • Training
  • Eco Landlords
  • Landlord Law

The Landlord Law Blog

From landlord and tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson

  • Home
  • Posts
  • News & comment
  • Cases
  • Tenants
    • Penalties for breaching tenancy rules
    • 15 Places for tenant help
  • Clinic
  • Podcasts
    • Interview
    • Surgery
  • Series
    • Analysis
    • should law and justice be free
    • HMO Basics
    • Tenancy Agreements 33 days
    • Airbnb
    • Grounds for Eviction
    • The Deregulation Act Explained
    • Tips

Landlord wants to sell tenanted property to avoid liabilities

June 18, 2020 by Tessa Shepperson

HandshakeHere is a question to the blog clinic fast track from Alex (not his real name) who is a landlord:

My question concerns a mismanaged trust in the northeast which relates to one terraced unimproved 1930s dwelling.

I want to know, please, the best method of reaching an agreement with a longstanding registered tenant who is elderly but well informed about recent legislation.

Is it feasible to agree to a surrender of the protected tenancy (by deed?) at an agreed (low) sum reflecting the poor state of repair and for original design reasons uneconomic to comply with safety requirements with a simultaneous transfer of the freehold to the tenant subject to he not making formal claim or dispute.

I am assuming a market in the investment does not exist and that inspections and other compliance is impractical for reasons of distance, Covid 19 and low return on efforts.

My solicitor is not proving to be much assistance.

The trust property was inherited and it is more important to act quickly to avoid liabilities, rather than release capital.

Answer

I am assuming that this is a tenant who has been in occupation since before 15 January 1989 and who therefore has a protected tenancy under the Rent Act 1977.

These tenants are in a very strong position as they have long term security of tenure and there are very few grounds which can be used to evict them.

They have also recently acquired new rights under the Fitness for Human Habitation legislation which I suspect may be the reason why you wish to transfer this property to the tenant.

It is possible, in that it is not illegal, for a transfer of title to be agreed as you suggest. However ‘agreed’ is the critical word.

Your tenant may not be willing to agree.  He may not want to own the freehold – perhaps for the very same reason that you want to get rid of it – because he doesn’t want to be responsible for the upkeep.  This is quite common with protected tenants.

In which case, there is not much you can do. If your tenant does not want to take ownership of the property then you cannot force him to.

The only thing I can think of is to sell the property on to someone else. There are companies which will buy up properties where landlords such as yourself are in difficulties. The problem is how to find them!

My service does not involve buying and selling property so I am not in a position to help you find a suitable buyer.  But here are some suggestions

  • You may want to try posting on Property Tribes as they have a lot of landlords there who may be able to recommend a suitable company.
  • It sounds as if your solicitor does not know of anyone, but maybe there is a local Landlords Association in your area which could help you find a buyer? Or a local branch of the National Residential Landlords Association.
  • You could also try searching on the internet. I have just done a search with ‘I want to sell my tenanted property” and found two companies who say they will buy tenanted properties from landlords.

Note that any company willing to buy the property will almost certainly be looking for a ‘below market value’ purchase, so the sale price will inevitably be pretty low, but you say you are not concerned about realising capital.

Hopefully, those suggestions may help.  Also if anyone reading this post knows of a suitable company who could take the property of Alex’s hands, maybe you could post a comment below.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Readers problems

Scroll down for the comments

Landlord Law for Landlords

Are you a landlord, unsure how to manage your properties in these uncertain times?  My Landlord Law service can help you in this crisis by providing online help and guidance and giving you one to one advice in the members' forum area.

>> Find out more about Landlord Law.


IMPORTANT: Please check the date of the post above - remember, if it is an old post, the law may have changed since it was written.

You should always get independent legal advice before taking any action.

Notes on comments:

For personal landlord and tenant related problems, please use our >> Blog Clinic.
Note that we do not publish all comments, please >> click here to read our terms of use and comments policy. Comments close after three months.

Keep up with the news on Landlord Law blog!

To get posts sent direct to your email in box click here

About Tessa Shepperson

Tessa is a specialist landlord & tenant solicitor and the creator of this site! She is a director of Landlord Law Services which now hosts Landlord Law and other services for landlords and property professionals.

« A new service from Crisis for landlords who want to help the homeless
Failing to serve a gas safety certificate before tenants move in is not fatal to s21 claims says Court of Appeal »

Its good to talk


>> See all blog clinic posts posts

>> Click here for the Blog Clinic form
>> Click here for the Blog Clinic Fast Track

The Clinic in a Nutshell

- You send us your problem using our special form
- We post it as a normal blog post, do our answer and ask readers to comment
- You agree that you won't hold people responsible (or legally liable) if they give a wrong answer
- You understand that you may not get any readers answers - it is up to readers whether they comment or not
- We won't publish everything - whether or not we publish someone's question is entirely up to us
- However if you use the Fast Track service you will get your question answered within 14 days or your money back

We may be able to help with problems with:

- Tenancy agreements
- Tenancy deposits
- HMOs
- Disrepair issues
- Eviction
- Harassment
(This is not an exhaustive list!)

However we won’t publish questions on:

- Long leases
- Commercial tenancies
- Agricultural tenancies
- Owner occupier problems
- Rented properties outside England & Wales UK
- Neighbour disputes (unless perhaps they are landlord and tenant related)
- Social housing problems (eg where the local authority or a housing association is your landlord)

So please do not ask question on these topics.

Recent Blog Clinic Posts

Summarising accelerated possession proceedings defences

Do both tenants need to agree to activate a break clause?

rented property

What recourse do landlords have against their letting agent if tenants leave with rent arrears?

House - joint and several liability

Can your landlord name you in eviction proceedings after you have served a Notice to Quit & moved out?

More Posts from this Category

Disclaimer

The purpose of this blog is to provide information, comment and discussion.

Although Tessa, or guest bloggers, may from time to time, give helpful comments to readers' questions, these can only be based on the information given by the reader in his or her comment, which may not contain all material facts.

Any comments or suggestions provided by Tessa or any guest bloggers should not, therefore be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice from a qualified lawyer regarding any actual legal issue or dispute.

Nothing on this website should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating a lawyer-client relationship (apart from the Fast Track block clinic service - so far as the questioners only are concerned).

Please also note that any opinion expressed by a guest blogger is his or hers alone, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Tessa Shepperson, or the other writers on this blog.

Cookies

You can find out more about our use of 'cookies' on this website here.

Associated sites

Landlord Law Services
Tenant Law
Eco Landlords
Your Law Store

Legal

Landlord Law Blog is © 2006 – 2020 Tessa Shepperson.

Note that Tessa is an introducer for Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers and will get a commission from sales made via links on this website.

© 2006–2021 Tessa Shepperson | Rainmaker Platform | Contact Page | Log in

This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
I accept