General (main property discussion here) - PURCHASED WITH TENANTS

Hi people i am looking to pick some of your expert brains! I recently purchased a property let to students.I was hoping to complete on it before the the start of the student term in september but unfortunatly it wasn,t until november when i completed on it ,as a result i had a verble agreement with the vendor(also a landlord) that he would find some tenants for it in september so it would be occupied for the full term.The vendor took the students money upfront for the term until january and agreed with me that, when i took charge of the property(nov), he would forward any rent to me owed for the period nov to jan. Alas he has failed to do this and has a knack of not answering my emails and phone calls! As far as the solicitors dealing with the purchase were aware it was a vacant possesion (something he suggested saying solicitors dont like tenanted propertys!) . As a result of this i have had tenants in the property costing me fuel and electric(as i pay this) and of coarse the mortgage and no rental income for nearly 3 month! Thankfully the students have now paid me for the period jan to april so i have had some income . Can anyone suggest a way of getting the owed rent as i dont think legal action will work because the agreement was verbal between the both of us? Any input would be appreciated.

matt,

firstly i am not a solicitor so take what i say with a pinch of salt.

it appears that you are in a very tricky situation as the agreement was verbal. that said if the property was sold actually tenanted it should be easy to prove that the tenants were there during the period nov-jan (also i am sure the tenants will have proof of payments i.e. cheques).

one first step could be to instruct a solicitor to write a first letter (draft it as best best you can first to reduce costs) and take it from there.

otherwise you could go down the small claims court route (no solicitors needed i think) but i do not know a great deal aboout this.

i am sure that despite the agreement being verbal given when ou took over the property it should be fairly clear that the monies are owed to you. the verbal agreement is still the problem as the previous owner may say was always agreed it was owed to him.

tom

Hi Matt,

I’m also not a solicitor, but agree 100% with Tom.

I’ve been in very similar situation when I first started but was owed just a single months back rent (luckily the deposits were cleared during the completion). It may sound like giving in: I let it go. I still feel that it was the right decision for me: my thoughts were as follows: just one months rent, a lot of time and hassle, possibly harassment conclusion: its not worth it. I know that the vendor will get his one day: there is always someone bigger and sharper… I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that you do the same: but I will say that for me it provided a peace of mind at the time and an excellent learning curve. In the 19 years since, everything I do is in writing, and I would not hesitate to go via the CCJ route…

Regards, Malik

Thanks guys ,I think i will have to put it down to experience, especially as the guy i bought it off is a lawyer by trade. It just sticks in the throat abit giving up on £1700.The sad thing is i was hoping to buy more of his stock but how can you trust someone who deals in this way? I might possibly send a solicitors letter but as you know it will be hassle and expence and probably wont have the desired effect,(it wont if he reads this!!) any way thanks for your thoughts.

Regards Matt

Come on Matt - name and shame! Who was it so we can avoid?!

In all seriousness, put your grievance in writing, it's the first step towards going legal without threatening to do so (the lawyer vendor will appreciagte this) and may give him the kick he needs.

Out of interest, where did you buy / how are you finding the student market?

cheers

John

Excellent idea John, i will make that my next step,something as simple as that might just do the trick as whenever i have spoken to him he seems a very genuine chap. As far as the property goes it is in preston which is quite local to me.It is my first venture into the student market so i am no expert, but from my research it seems quite buoyant,although there is an over supply of specially designed student accommodation, it seems if you price the rooms a bit below the large complex prices the students prefer living in the houses with friends but i think gone are the days when they will live in any old dump so i expect having to keep it well. As far as students go, chinese seem to be the best behaved, which has certainly rung true for me so far.(touch wood)

Regrds Matt

www.landlordaction.co.uk?

tsk tsk dear oh dear, trust no one old son, money brings out the worst in people, where do you go when your nearest and dearest picks your pocket whilst telling you how much she loves you, call me bitter and twisted but at the end of the day i only trust myself anything else is little scraps of paper with signatures, seen families with feuds going back years over a few quid..and you trust a stranger at his word, carry on like that old son and you will end up a tenant in a bedsit...like one of mine :0) suggest you forget about it and move on and dont let it fester...it's a zoo out there

regards steve

Give him a good kicking is the best advice I have seen so far for scum like this.

What he does not realise is that landlords like him give the industry a bad reputation.

I'm with John: Name and Shame!