The sitting tenant nightmare

A sitting tenant is an individual who a legal right of occupation in a property, even if the ownership changes. It is generally suggested that a property which has a sitting tenant is not only more difficult to sell, its value is slashed by as much as 40% - depending on the life expectancy of the occupier. Unlike present day tenancy agreements which run for a fixed term, prior to January 15th 1989 tenants were able to sign to be given guaranteed tenure for the rest of their life. In today’s market, no landlord would ever consider letting under these terms, but during the 1980’s the economy lead to desperate times for many.

It was in fact with good intentions that the Government brought in the legislation to protect tenants. But what has transpired is thousands of landlords now find themselves with tenants in their property until the day they die.

Fortunately, the legislation changed as we moved into the final tenth of the 20th century and tenures now generally run on a month-by-month basis, with landlords having the option to serve a 21-day notice to tenants should they wish to have them vacate the property (assuming certain conditions are met). This, of course, is no relief to those landlords stuck with sitting tenants from the 1980’s.

For landlords who are still looking to sell their house when it has sitting tenants one option is to pursue a quick property sale. This will be carried out by express property buying agents who can offer a cash sum to the landlord for their property. Naturally, this offer comes in lower than the usual market value but when taking in to consideration the sitting tenant, any price offered at all can often be very welcomed by the landlord.