Regulated Tenancy

[AVJ113]

I have a basic understanding of regulated tenancy. I'm looking to buy a property with a tenant in situ on a regulated tenancy. In the real world, what are the pros and cons? Is there anyone with any experience?

[jpucng62]

Unless it is REALLY cheap - don't!

I inherited a property with a regulated tenant. The rent can only go up once every 2 years, by a specified amount, although more often if you improve the property, but it will always be cheap.

Most tenants have been in a very long time and the property may be in dire need of improvement. For example, it must have an EICR & smoke / CO alarms and be an EPC E at present (and possibly an EPC C by 2028) but your tenant may not want to let you improve things because you'll want to put the rent up and if you do improve things you may not get a decent return because of the restrictions on rent!

You will only get your tenant out if they choose to leave (unlikely); they die or go into a home (but then the tenancy doesn't automatically end) or you pay them to go.

If they die or go into a home you may have difficulty ending the tenancy unless you are in contact with next of kin & by the time they do they may have been living in a property completely unsuitable for them eg upstairs bathroom & unable to climb the stairs, which may have led to the property being in even worse condition than when you bought it.


Finally, your tenant may live well beyond your expectations (remember also that someone who lives with the tenant may be able to inherit the tenancy ) so it could be a really long time before you get it back and the property may be even harder to off load without losing money if you change your mind.

[DoricPixie]

I have a basic understanding of regulated tenancy. I'm looking to buy a property with a tenant in situ on a regulated tenancy. In the real world, what are the pros and cons? Is there anyone with any experience?

How basic is your understanding?

From your other thread you are seeing a broker about a BTL mortgage. I think you will struggle to secure a BTL mortgage against a property with a Regulated Tenancy in place.

[AVJ113]

How basic is your understanding?

From your other thread you are seeing a broker about a BTL mortgage. I think you will struggle to secure a BTL mortgage against a property with a Regulated Tenancy in place.

Yep, that's exactly what has happened.

[AndrewDod]

Well everything has a price. The price discount here may be to purchase at about 10% of the price of a similar non-problematical property if you want to take a punt on possible a very long term benefit versus a long term loss.