While any breach of contract rules may be grounds for eviction, any attempt to have tenants evicted through legal action will be very costly and will take a long time. During that time, any unauthorised access by the landlord is a criminal offence.

We have found through years of experience that our presence acting as mediators, together with carefully calculated rewards and incentives, we can smooth out most problems and find a better solution than legal action.

Unlawful entry by a landlord to a tenanted property – e.g. to conduct a viewing – (even in response to a breach in contract by the tenant) can be considered as trespass or an invasion of privacy and a tenant could take action to claim damages or an injunction to prevent entry by the landlord/the agent.

Legally, a landlord can pursue an eviction as a result of a breach of contract but the process is expensive, it will add considerable delay to selling a tenanted property AND the sale process can only begin after tenants are evicted so the property may be empty for a long time.

As an independent 3rd party, we are able to negotiate with tenants to ensure all options are presented as fact rather than a threat.

The (official) landlord cannot cancel a subtenancy or evict a subtenant while a mesne tenancy (a sub contract between the subtenants and the landlord’s tenant) is in place because he or she has no legal relationship with the subtenant.

To evict subtenants, landlords must first evict their tenant (the mesne landlord) who is often absent when subtenants occupy a the property adding further complications and delay to any court action.

During a process to evict a tenant, a landlord cannot accept rent directly from subtenants otherwise they become tenants by.

If a mesne tenant surrenders their tenancy and the landlord accepts the surrender, subtenants become tenants and are protected by tenant’s rights.

While we always act in the best interest of the landlord, we use our lack of emotional involvement to position ourselves as an intermediates – focusing on the best possible outcome for all parties rather than negative emotion like frustration and/or anger or purely the legal standing of either party.

We make sure tenants understand that any incentive we offer is provided by National Residential, is conditional and we have a team of housing law experts available to pursue legal action if required.

If a landlord wants to sell a tenanted property, they should of course know their legal standing and use it to their advantage HOWEVER pursuing a breach of contract through the courts can be a complicated, expensive and lengthy process that can result in significant delays to a sale process and potentially, a loss of income that may not be recoverable regardless of a court ruling if the tenant’s financial circumstances does not permit it.

It is an option that National Residential are happy and equipped to use but we consider it a last resort, not our first course of action because pursuing a legal ruling through the courts may be a slower and more expensive option than negotiation and compromise while it may not be in a solicitor’s own interest to recommend a similar strategy.

An obvious benefit of selling a property with vacant possession from the start is a wider choice of estate agents and the option to list with the one that promises the biggest sale price.

Unfortunately, this can be counter productive especially if the rental property is a buy to let with mortgage costs. The running cost of an empty property generally get bigger as time elapses when security becomes an issue and landlords find themselves liable for council tax. By offering the property for sale with an unrealistic selling price, landlords are risking long periods of cash drain.

Landlords who simply cannot afford to keep an empty property running indefinitely often contact us after their property has not attracted any attention for 6 months or more because we can also buy rental properties in 7 days or sell rental property in 28 days for full market value.

Unlike our ’28 Day Fixed Price Sale without Fees’ option which is usually best for landlords selling tenanted property, our ’28 Day Sale with Fees’ option does not include any cash advance option or our involvement in vacating the property. It works more like a traditional estate agent’s – sellers receive the full amount of whatever buyers are willing to pay and we charge estate agency fees. However, the sale period is limited to 28 days and offers over our low starting prices are visible as bids. Just like any other auction, sellers can set reserve prices so if they are not happy to sell a property for the highest price offered, they can withdraw the property from sale.

To find out more about all our sales options, contact us today and we’ll call you back.

Every landlord knows trusted tenants are a valuable asset, so why not simply sell to a new landlord or property investor?

Good question and the simple answer is we do… we have a database full of property investors and landlords and we always let them know when we have a property we think will interest them. However, we also know investors drive a hard bargain so to get the best price possible for property, we open all sales to the public and advertise it locally as well online in property portals like RightMove.

By doing so, even if an investor or landlord buys the property, our sellers can rest easy that no one else would pay more than the highest offer we receive.

Trying to vacate a house of multiple occupation with multiple tenants is a nightmare if landlords try to wait for tenancies to end or go through courts. Likewise arranging viewings can be impossible without every tenants’ cooperation. National Residential specialise in selling tenanted houses including houses of multiple occupation by working with tenants instead of against them.