Have BTL up for sale and not sold

Sconeandjam

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Gave tenant notice to leave year before last on basis of sale of property. They left 2 months earlier due leaving the country to retire. House put up for sale and got sale agreed 3 months later. Sale fell through due to buyer not able to sell theirs. Up for sale again. Same again with another person but they were refused a mortgage. IT worker. Up for sale and once again sale fell through. Great starter home or person wanting to downsize. Price of property is a good price for what is offered. County Dublin property.
Do not know what it is like obtaining mortgages but I would say the stress testing is really hard at the moment.
Question is we have a mortgage on the property so we are paying this each month and no rental income in the mean time.
What are our options?
Can we put the house up for short term rental until it is sold or we cut our losses and sell well below what it has cost us? We know we have to write to our ex tenants but more than likely they will not return.
 
Why would you need to write to your ex-tenants once that agreement has ended? I’d say hang on (depending on mortgage a payments and your own financial situ). Affordability now improving with new mortgage rule and media-driven doom and gloom lifting a little too. If it’s a good price/location it’ll shift.
 
What are our options?
Ask the bank to go interest only or to take a mortgage break.

I don't know about other lenders but BoI will give you a three-month payment break at any point on request if you have a full payment record. No impact on your credit record and additional payments are added to the balance at the end of the three months.
 
Why would you need to write to your ex-tenants once that agreement has ended? I’d say hang on (depending on mortgage a payments and your own financial situ). Affordability now improving with new mortgage rule and media-driven doom and gloom lifting a little too. If it’s a good price/location it’ll shift.
My understanding is if you rent out a property you give your tenants notice to sell but the sale must be within 9 months. If this does not happen you must give the tenants notice it is back up for rent even if you are still trying to sell it. I think you have to offer it back to them up to a year. Could be wrong I regards to time frame.
 
Ask the bank to go interest only or to take a mortgage break.

I don't know about other lenders but BoI will give you a three-month payment break at any point on request if you have a full payment record. No impact on your credit record and additional payments are added to the balance at the end of the three months.
I think the auctioneer does not want on books too long and is pushing to sell well below asking considering what has happened with the potential buyers. The last few months has been crazy with ecb rates increasing so stress tests have messed up ability to afford mortgages. I know there will be pressure for the ecb rates to come down as it is affecting markets.
 
There's a price at which any property will sell!

If sales are falling through and estate agent is suggesting it's overpriced then it might be better to drop it.
We looked at 4 auctioneers when we were preparing for sale of the house. 2 suggested a lot higher prices and 2 had similar price range but we went with this one as we felt a more realistic approach.
We priced the house in the middle of what is on sale at the moment. It is in a lovely established area. Could just move in.
 
What part of the country are you in? Was there any other biddings before it got to the sale agreed stages? If so, was there a mortgage approval or buyers which were not in a chain? How were bidders chosen? If there were no other biddings, I would suspect that the price might be high for whatever reason.
 
We looked at 4 auctioneers when we were preparing for sale of the house. 2 suggested a lot higher prices and 2 had similar price range but we went with this one as we felt a more realistic approach.
For sure, but maybe the market is telling you more than what the EAs know. In any case, a mid-2022 value is not today's value.

As you've said yourself interest rates are only going up which reduces the power of most buyers.
 
What part of the country are you in? Was there any other biddings before it got to the sale agreed stages? If so, was there a mortgage approval or buyers which were not in a chain? How were bidders chosen? If there were no other biddings, I would suspect that the price might be high for whatever reason.
North County Dublin. We only hear when there is an offer on the table and do not know if the house is viewed.
The house is a starter or down size property.

One we were told buyer had house sold so cash buyer but their house fell through as their buyer could not get a mortgage. Next buyer applied for mortgage but was refused. No mortgage approval in place(did not know this). Next seemly the bank asked for updated information and then refused mortgage.
We only hear of bid If near the price range. Auctionneer said he thinks it is very quiet on sales front at the moment inthe town. it is not just our property but all properties on his books.
 
Yes, I heard that the start of the year was quiet but your property is for sale for months. However, a small property came to the market near where I leave (North Co Dublin) and had an offer after 2 weeks, though under the asking price. Your EA is a bit gullible in terms of buyers as the cash buyer did not have the cash yet and the other one seemingly did not have mortgage approval... I am surprised you don't hear about the other bids. Did you ask what kind of bid they had received?
 
Yes, I heard that the start of the year was quiet but your property is for sale for months. However, a small property came to the market near where I leave (North Co Dublin) and had an offer after 2 weeks, though under the asking price. Your EA is a bit gullible in terms of buyers as the cash buyer did not have the cash yet and the other one seemingly did not have mortgage approval... I am surprised you don't hear about the other bids. Did you ask what kind of bid they had received?
Never asked. They said it was quiet now and want us to take the offer below but we are not keen.
We did get an offer €100k below the asking and that was because they could not get a mortgage for the price of the house. That was dismissed instantly. I think they could not afford the house even at the price range.
They said they had a few queries before Christmas but we knew nothing about the interest or offers. This was when we had sale agreed on the property and waiting for the buyer to come forward with paperwork that fell through.
 
If you terminated the contract for reasons to sell, and it is not sold within 9 months you will need to contact previous tenants and offer them the opportunity to return. Realistically they will have moved on and are unlikely to want to return especially as your are still tying to sell. Once you make contact you are in the clear to do what you want.... Sell, rent again, leave empty, AirBnB....
 
If you terminated the contract for reasons to sell, and it is not sold within 9 months you will need to contact previous tenants and offer them the opportunity to return.

Is that really true? But landlords have no control over market circumstances. Tenants surely couldn't still have a hold over/right to something they don't own, just by nature of having resided there once upon a time? Crikey, I can see why landlords are fleeing the market.
 
from RTB Website

  • When the landlord wants to sell the property. In these instances, the landlord must offer the tenancy back to the previous tenant(s) if they do not enter into an agreement to sell the property within nine months from the expiry of the notice period.
  • When the landlord ends the tenancy because they require the property for their own use or family use. In these instances, the landlord must offer the property back to the previous tenant(s) if the property is vacated by the landlord or the family member and becomes available for re-let within 12 months from the expiry of the notice period.

These reasons to terminate will be removed soon which is why I and a lot of landlords have given notice of termination to there tenants and are selling up..
 
Is that really true? But landlords have no control over market circumstances. Tenants surely couldn't still have a hold over/right to something they don't own, just by nature of having resided there once upon a time? Crikey, I can see why landlords are fleeing the market.
Landlords have no control at all.
If you think of it they can move back in at the old rental rate as more than likely they are paying higher rents in the new property. Some would jump at a chance. In our case they were retiring aboard.
 
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