Buying a property with existing tenants has various points that need to be considered.
The seller may say to you that according to the law you have the right to evict the tenant if your are intending to live in that property yourself i.e make it your own home, however you must first serve the tenant with a six month eviction notice, you may think well if the buying price is acceptable then why not wait.
But if notice is not given within the first month of buying the property then you are deemed to have accepted a tenant and could be stuck with them for the next five to ten years.
If the tenant refuses to leave after six month period then the only option is to begin court proceedings which could take up to a further two years, if when buying there is no rental contract or tenancy agreement this further complicates the situation because there is no basis on which to form your case, a different legal approach is necessary to evict your tenant.
The law tends to favor the tenant, for example if you buy a property where the tenant is paying rent way below market value, the maximum you can increase the rent is by twenty five percent per year.
What if the tenant does not pay the rent, in that case you would need to serve the tenant with notices of unpaid rent before the eviction process can begin and again it may take years to process, you may think well at the end of the day the tenant will be liable to pay back all the rent owed plus legal expenses but what if the tenant has no money or assets ultimately you would have to write of all the years lost rent plus all the solicitors and other legal fees.
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