denny

Thank you to everyone who responded - your information was very useful. I shall make an appointment to see my solicitor to help me weight up the options. Denny

Hello everyone! I am a protected tenant (with a fair rent, so I am sure about my tenancy) aged 48 with no dependents. My landlord is selling the entire portfolio of flats in the house he inherited from his mother about 12 years ago. If he can't sell the entire porfolio he is going to sell each flat separately - freehold. This causes me some concerns because: (a) Each flat is in fairly close proximity to the next (it used to be a house of multiple occupancy but the landlord converted the house to self-contained flats - including mine (except for my rented bathroom which is separate). ( If he does sell each flat separately, how does this affect me? Who will be responsible for the communal areas and exterior of the house, which is landlord's separate responsibility. If he still keeps my flat on, as my landlord, he won't upgrade other flats whose deterioration may impact on mine. © What if the new flat purchasers are rowdy and unsocial? The landlord won't intervene. The house is very quiet at the moment - which is nice - but that's no guarantee that the new owner occupants or new tenanted occupants will be (if they each have separate landlords) particularly if they can't be evicted. I have fairly good noise insulation in my flat, but very loud music and people jumping up and down on the ceiling from the flat above will be highly disruptive to my life - particuarly as I live in a studio flat concentrated in one area of the house. (d) The landlord has also made some noises about selling me the flat too. This seems an attractive proposition if I can raise the cash to do it. It also means that I will purchase instant equity worth several thousands of pounds over the sale price to me, if I then decide to resell. On the other hand, I am worried that I won't get JSA or means tested benefits, should I ever need them, if I own a property instead of renting it. As a sitting tenant, I don't have to worry about this. I also don't have a stable job. I work for myself - so my lifestyle tends to be based around my security of tenure and my income fluctuates from making ends meet, to very high fees. At the moment my savings are lowish and JSA is beckoning if the economy doesn't buck up soon. I am also finding it harder to find new contracted work, owing to age discrimination (I specialise in a young person's field and most people of my age group are in senior permanent jobs, not contracting as a freelancer). I did give a proposal to the landlord to transfer the flat to me for £0K in return for buying it back at the market rate, over the next few years, if I could afford to (it means he doesn't lose out by selling it to another without vacant possession for a reduced price). Failing that, to then leave it to his family in my will. I have no dependents and don't intend to have any. Unfortuantely, he turned this idea down because he needs the re-sale cash now - either as cash raised from the entire porfolio to one purchaser or cash raised off the back of separate flat owners. If he were to sell my rented flat to me, what would be a reasonable sum to ask for with a sitting tenant - given all the issues I've raised above. It's been valued at market price at around £115K (without a sitting tenant). I am still considering this an option. At least I could rent it out or sell it if the other flat purchasers are hell to live next door to. Sorry this post is so long - help would be warmly appreciately from those knowledgable enough about housing law involving sitting tenants. Many thanks