When people first hear about Landlord Sales Agency, they often assume we specialise in selling difficult properties. Or that all we do is match landlords with other landlords looking to expand their portfolios.
Neither is true.
The properties we sell are often in excellent condition. Many are occupied by reliable, working tenants who have looked after the home for years. Others are owned outright, have little or no mortgage and could easily be sold on the open market if the owner wanted to wait.
We find solutions for sellers, buyers and tenants so we can sell to tenants, investors, cash buyers, corporate buyers and owner occupiers because when tenants know we are their best option in difficult circumstances, they are more likely to cooperate and sign a voluntary deed of surrender if required.
Where possible, we find a buyer who wants to keep the tenants in situ and our success at doing it is why some people think it’s the only option we have but where a buyer wants vacant possession, we arrange it and provide practical and financial assistance from our fee to help tenants move.
We sell tenanted property means we sell property without evicting the tenant first and we provide a service that is better for everyone for multiple reasons (see below for more details).
Landlord Problems
The property usually isn’t the problem. The problem is everything that comes with being a landlord:
- Being worried about upsetting your tenants and them retaliating or not cooperating
- Being worried about compliance and correct procedures
- Being worried about abandoning tenants and them ending up in temporary accommodation
- Being worried the rent you have kept low to benefit your tenants will stop you being able to sell to another landlord
- Being worried that yours will be one of the 51% of landlord sales that collapse
- Not knowing where to start selling a HMO with multiple tenants
- Wanting to sell multiple properties without taking years to do it
- Not being able to withstand long periods paying mortgages on empty properties while your wealth is tied up in the properties you want to sell
- Being worried a mistake made years ago with a tenant deposit will stop you gaining vacant possession
- Finding a way to sell while avoiding the risk of meeting mortgage costs for 6 – 18 months
These are all exactly the types of problems we help landlords solve every day.
Releasing Equity Before Circumstances Change
Recent research by Property118 suggests that many landlords leaving the sector are making a conscious business decision that the balance between reward and responsibility has changed. And landlords don’t like the direction the PRS is heading.
Their concerns are no longer just today’s challenges but what could come next.
Tax policy has changed repeatedly over the past decade, prompting speculation about whether Capital Gains Tax, inheritance tax or even new property-related taxes could be revisited in future. Others worry that growing political pressure from tenant campaign groups, proposals from regional mayors and continuing reforms could lead to further restrictions on landlords.
None of these risks are certain, but for landlords who already feel they’ve reached the end of the road, they are more reasons to protect the equity they’ve built and get out now rather than run the risk of waiting.
With house price forecasts remaining subdued in many parts of the country and regulation continuing to increase, some landlords have simply decided they’d rather release that equity now than continue carrying the risks of ownership.
Our job is to make that happen quickly and reliably.
Instead of spending months preparing vacant properties, waiting for tenants to leave, decorating, finding estate agents and hoping chains hold together, we help landlords achieve a clean exit while continuing to collect rent right up until completion.
Helping Landlords With Mortgages Exit On Their Terms
The majority of landlords still have mortgages. For those with higher loan-to-value borrowing, VOID periods – where they have to pay mortgage costs without any rental income – are a real problem that can easily spiral into serious cash flow problems.
Landlords who have built up significant equity can be asset rich but cash poor.
Selling with tenants in situ means the rental income continues helping to cover mortgage payments throughout the sales process.
That helps landlords release capital before financial pressure becomes a crisis.
Sometimes The Best Buyer Is Already Living There
One of the biggest changes we’ve seen over the past couple of years is the number of landlords successfully selling directly to their tenants.
Many landlords assume their tenant couldn’t possibly buy.
Often, the tenant assumes exactly the same thing.
In reality, using the same discount that would normally be needed to attract an investor can sometimes provide enough equity for the tenant to become a homeowner without costing the landlord any more than they were already prepared to accept.
It isn’t a simple transaction.
It takes experienced brokers, specialist solicitors and careful planning.
But when it works, landlords achieve the clean exit they want while good tenants become homeowners without having to move.
Helping Landlords Avoid Unnecessary Delays
Waiting for tenants to leave can take years and reduces the buyer pool by as much as 30% (the percentage of rental properties being sold to other investors, many of whom are looking for property to add value to).
Section 8 possession claims are placing increasing pressure on already stretched courts so they typically take between 2 to 6 months from serving the notice to getting a possession order, and can extend to 3 to 9 months if court bailiffs are needed for enforcement. Then after gaining vacant possession, landlords using the sale ground face the 12-month restriction on re-letting the property if the sale doesn’t proceed as planned. That’s a long time to pay mortgage costs on empty property.
It simply makes more sense to sell property with the tenant in situ and to only seek vacant possession of it is necessary when you know who your buyer is. The key to taking this route is keeping tenants informed, doing everything possible to help them stay put and helping them solve any practical and financial problems caused by needing to move if that is required, so they are more likely to cooperate in every possible outcome. And we’re the only company that does it.
Selling Property Is Easy. Solving Landlords’ Problems Is Much Harder.
Finding a buyer has never really been the most difficult part of what we do because we keep that option as wide as possible and the competition from competing buyers drives up desire and prices.
We sell tenanted property at 85 – 90% of its vacant value and have the expertise at hand to use that equity to help tenants (instead of investors) buy the home they already live in without costing the landlord anything more.
We have a database of more than 30,000 active buyers including cash buyers, corporate investors and owner occupiers so we can sell off-market meaning a significant portion of the properties we sell never even reach the open market – perfect for landlords looking for ultimate convenience and/or a more discreet investor to investor sale.
Or we can sell by marketing to our database at the same time as advertising on Rightmove and Zoopla to owner occupiers – perfect for sellers looking for the best sales price. All made possible by the confidence we have that looking after tenants is the smartest way to sell rental property.
The difficult part of selling is helping landlords leave the sector in an efficient way that protects their income, avoids unnecessary delays, is reliable and doesn’t abandon their tenants and solves the problems they worry about.
Sometimes it means helping a tenant buy the home they already live in.
Sometimes it means negotiating solutions that allow everyone involved to move forward together.
Getting The Sale Over The Line
This is where we really get to work to ensure our service solves (or prevents, in most cases) the issues that cause the problems landlords face when selling rental property.
This is where what the width and breadth of what we do makes a huge difference and what makes our service unique.
Getting a sale over the line is where our experience really matters. It’s what we do best and where the hard work really begins.
As soon as a sale is agreed, we secure buyers with a non-refundable deposit, meaning they can’t simply walk away months later if they change their mind or suffer from buyers’ remorse and they cannot try to renegotiate the price after sellers have spent money on plans that are dependent on the sale.
We’re proactive and leave nothing to chance. We know what paperwork needs to be in place and we find it or organise new inspections before it becomes a problem. We know what tenancy information buyers and their solicitors need and we collect it before we’re asked. We take control and coordinate all parties so we work together and keep things moving like a well oiled machine.
If things out of our control go wrong, we have the teams to fix it.
It’s a bold claim but we take pride in believing we are the best in the business at what we do and no other company does as much as us to keep things running smoothly.
Our role isn’t simply finding buyers. It’s keeping buyers, tenants, solicitors and everyone else moving towards the same goal until completion.
It’s why so many sellers come back to us time and time again – they ask us to sell one or two properties to ‘test the water’ and when they see the difference we make, they ask us to sell more.
Whether you want to sell multiple properties to individual buyers or as a lot to corporate buyers, we have the tools, people and contacts to do it.
Contact us today to find out what we an do to look after your stress levels and your bank balance in equal amounts.