Are there other ways to sell your property? – Definitely

Here in this article we will explain the reason why we have published this write-up, bear with us as we believe you will be intrigued and pleased that you did read on. How to sell your unsellable house?

You may have come across the idea of a lease option, whether lease options are a good idea or not is for you to decide.

Let’s ask one question first, are you marketing your property with an estate agent and your home is not selling? This happens, and if it’s happening to you, you may be feeling very despondent and down. Most estate agents are adamant that a property will sell and if it doesn’t then they suggest reducing the asking price, more than once. If this is not successful they may suggest you hold an ‘open day’ public viewing and then that suggestion becomes a failed attempt too. Yes, we’ve heard it before and that is why we have vendors asking us for help at Quick Property Sale.

Is your home not selling for a particular reason?

This is sometimes difficult to grasp. You have de-cluttered your home, thoroughly cleaned everywhere, freshly painted and redecorated, changed furniture around, improved the garden and driveway and this has still not made any difference! Is your property situated near a busy main road, is parking a problem, are you near an ugly commercial premises? It is necessary and interesting to hear feedback from buyer’s visits through your estate agent so you can understand more about your property and any such possible faults. When you originally bought your property, was there an underlying issue that was obvious to you or did you accept the issue for what is was and bought it regardless?

A brief ‘Lease Option’ history

We’ve done the fluffy chat introduction so now we would like tell you about the alternative possible way to sell. We currently use and have used this facility for over 12 years and this proven tool is commonly called ‘Lease Options.’ These (LO’s) have been used extensively in the commercial property industry for over 60 years for trading for sales and buying acquisitions. Today LO’s are still being frequently used and it is only in the recent 20 years have they become more popular in the UK residential sector. ‘Options’ have historically been used to buy businesses such as Chelsea FC, Portsmouth FC and Swansea City (for those footie fans out there). In 2019 local Liverpool residents were able to buy un-saleable property from the council on an option.

How can Lease Option’s help me sell my property?

In this part we will give three easy scenarios of many possibilities, how LO’s could help you:

1. This may relate to you, perhaps for example, your house hasn’t sold and you need to relocate, you may decide that you will temporary rent it out and at a later date re-market the property to sell. If it did not sell the first time why would it sell the second time around?

Here is a solution; just suppose we lease your property from you for an agreed period of time and throughout this time we would pay all of the running costs (mortgage payments, maintenance, buildings insurance and gas certificate). At the end of the agreed rental term we would complete as a normal property sale – simple, your property is now sold.

2. Or are you possibly in the throes of repossession, you want to bury your head and hide or intend to just walk away – this is an understandable natural response. If you did leave your property and hand back the keys, or were to be repossessed, you may lose everything – this is where we can possibly intervene and prevent this from happening. If you abandoned your home you may not receive money back from it, however, we can usually remedy this to ensure you have a financial nest-egg to enjoy later on when the house is sold. If you are not able to publically sell your property because of possible debt arrears on it, we would negotiate with any creditors and turn this around.

3. Your house is in negative equity (where your mortgage debt bit is greater than the value of your house – the available cash bit). Again, we can possibly remediate this issue with a LO that could result in your property being sold at a point in time in the future. This can then release you from being tied to your problem of not being able to sell today.

Should any of the previous scenarios, 1 to 3 above, fit your current circumstances then a LO would certainly be a solid consideration for you. It is a superb way forward for those who have not been able to keep up their mortgage payments or can’t afford to sell their property on the open market.

Please note: these three alternatives are not suitable for everyone, if you require all of your funds out now to use towards your next home purchase, then a ‘straight sale’ would be more appropriate for you if that is available.

A sample of our recent case study

We were contacted by a lady who required our help because her home was being repossessed. The situation was that she was not able to pay any debt arrears, or remediate with any creditors, and did not have anywhere to live once the bailiffs attended her property. We were able to turn her nightmare around by alleviating the debt, managing priority arrears to be paid and assisting with alternative accommodation, we then arranged to sell the house on her behalf.

We handled all of the stress and removed all of her worries, which was affecting her health long term quite badly. When the property was sold she received a lump sum payment which she has now used to start a new life elsewhere with her new boyfriend.

How flexible are LO’s, as my situation is unusual?

The flexibility of using lease options is that they can be tailored to fit around any of a vendor’s selling needs or circumstances. LO’s are so versatile they can be applied to most situations, resulting in an antidote for anyone’s current selling headache or dilemma.

What is a Lease Option?

This is a good question and one we get frequently asked, we will try to explain it to you here;

A “lease option” is a contract that includes both a rental and an ‘option to buy’ purchase agreement. Effectively the lease runs alongside the option. The ‘lease’ component allows the property to be rented out using an AST (Assured Short Tenancy) and the ‘option’ gives the buyer a choice to purchase the property during or at the end of an agreed period with the seller. In this instance Quick Property Sale would want to definitely either sell your property on or certainly buy it for ourselves. The aim of using this lease option gives you an exit to sell your property.

LO’s is quite simply a paperwork process which can be used to resolve most property problems just by using a few forms from our friendly solicitors.

The benefits of using a Lease Option:

• Will usually allow you to sell your property at a price you are looking to achieve.
• A LO will give you the opportunity to move on with your life.
• Can help take the burden and hassle off a strained divorce or separation.
• Helps you avoid becoming an accidental landlord and having to rent out your property to tenants yourself.
• They can help to resolve a looming repossession situation.
• It can help with Capital Gains Tax (CGT) if you have a portfolio of houses to sell.

Are LO’s legal in the UK?

Just in case you are wondering whether lease options are legal in the UK, yes they are legal. The lease option contract should always be drawn up by a solicitor and both parties must have legal representation. Working with a reputable person, LO’s provide a good way for a vendor to sell their house quickly in circumstances where this would not be the case.

To sum up

Our skill set here at Quick Property Sale is, like a doctor, we interview the patient, in this case the seller, and listen attentively to understand their needs and circumstances before making a diagnosis. Once we are able to recommend a prescription plan for you, you are then able to move forward with your life.

We know LO’s may not suit everyone, but for those who do embrace it, it can benefit from its versatility. We hope you found this post on lease options useful and hope it explained everything you need to know.

If we’ve missed anything out or you would like us to write about a certain property subject then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at Quick Property Sale by email or phone. We will look forward to seeing you in our next instalment of our regular ‘Blog Bits’ features soon.