Because The Easiest Way To Leave The PRS Could Be Selling To Your Tenant
If they’d love to own the home they already live in, don’t assume it’s the end of the conversation if they can’t afford the deposit or think getting a mortgage will be impossible. That’s just where the hard work begins.
One simple question. Lots of complicated answers. Where we come in.
We’ve spent years helping landlords sell to investors, owner-occupiers and cash buyers by finding solutions that work for everyone involved. Now we’re opening up another market altogether by helping suitable tenants become homeowners, often using the same discount that would otherwise have been needed to attract an investor.
We’ve developed a specialist process, working with experienced lenders and solicitors, and instead of helping tenants move, we have helped more and more tenants to buy the property they already live in themselves.
And our landlords are loving it! With one landlord commenting:
“I wanted to look after my long-term tenants because they have always been great [tenants] but I’ve had enough of the red tape and I hate the direction the PRS is heading. I wanted to exit in a way that my tenants would be looked after. I offered them first refusal but they couldn’t raise the deposit quickly enough so I turned to Landlord Sales Agency to sell without disturbing them.
As soon as they learned the tenants would love to buy, they found a specialist lender and made it happen. We’re all delighted and couldn’t have done it without them!”
As usual, the seller avoided running empty property and will collect rent right up to completion so the amount they see in their bank when everything is costed is very close to the proceeds that would be left from a vacant property sale after running empty property for 6 – 12 months while finding a buyer and waiting for the sale to complete.
The main difference is everyone wins!
Of course, the option is not going to be suitable for everyone nor is it always going to be plain sailing. Tenants will need to go through the usual mortgage application procedures and will only be suitable for consideration if they can meet the demands and pass the stress tests used by our lenders.
But we remove the biggest hurdle first time buyers face – raising a deposit – with the expert help of our independent panel solicitors and specialist lenders.
Helping tenants buy is not simply a matter of agreeing a price and finding lenders.
Another part of the work we do is to make sure nothing derails a sale. Once we have found a buyer or enabled a tenant to buy, our focus turns to making sure the sale completes.
Hampton’s has recently reported that in 2025, 51% of landlord sales failed to complete.
95%+ of our agreed sales complete because of the work we do to keep all parties happy. We secure all accepted offers 24hrs after they have been accepted and we have a trusted network of specialists ready to deal with everything from building defects and legal issues to disputes and compliance.
Sometimes our solution is finding an incoming landlord who will buy with the tenants in situ. Sometimes it is overcoming a licensing, finance or tenancy problem. And sometimes it means enabling the existing tenant to become the buyer.
We oversee everything to make sure that instead of different parties pulling in different directions with different priorities, we bring landlords, tenants, buyers, solicitors and contractors together as one team, all working towards the same goal.
That collaborative approach solves problems faster, keeps sales moving and gives everyone the best chance of getting exactly what they want.
Avoid The Risks Trapping Landlords in the PRS
Hamptons has suggested that the tougher sales market and the 12-month re-letting restrictions may make holding onto an investment appear more attractive. But is staying genuinely more attractive when Generation Rent continues to campaign for stronger tenant protections, politicians from all parties promise more reforms, councils have greater enforcement powers and tenants are increasingly being encouraged to seek financial redress?
Or are many landlords simply feeling trapped between a private rented sector they no longer want to remain in and a long, slow exit full of risks?
Landlord Sales Agency specialise in finding solutions to problems like this.
David Coughlin, says: “The Renters’ Rights Act has changed the process, but it hasn’t stopped us selling properties. Most successful sales come down to finding practical solutions that work for the buyer, seller and tenant. Every tenanted property we have sold since May 1st has either been sold with the tenant remaining in situ, or the tenant has left after voluntarily agreeing a Deed of Surrender.”
Sometimes that means finding a buyer. Sometimes it means enabling one.
Faster. More reliable. Less risk. No obligation to proceed beyond our valuation. Contact us today and find out what we can do for you and your tenants.