𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬,

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬, '𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬'

Times have been tough for rental property owners for the past 18 months, and with the ongoing strong demand for property, especially among first-time buyers, many now believe the time is right to sell off some of their properties.

However, they should be aware that this can be difficult if they still have a tenant in place, says Gerhard Kotzé, MD of the RealNet estate agency group, and that they may have to do some additional preparation before their properties go on show.

“𝑈𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑦𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡."

“𝐼𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑦-𝑡𝑜-𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠."

𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉-𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

In addition, he says, incumbent tenants who really don’t want to move can deliberately put obstacles in the way of a sale. “They can be difficult about giving an agent access to the property to show it to prospective buyers, for example, or perhaps deliberately leave the home in a mess when they know the agent is coming round with potential buyers.

“Tenants have also been known to try to block a sale by regaling potential buyers with every real or perceived fault in the property or problem in the local area.”

Kotzé says property owners who have not made regular inspections may also be in for a nasty shock when they decide it is time to sell, because they may well find that there is much more maintenance to catch up than they realised, or even that some expensive repairs are necessary before the property can be put on the market.

“And if pets or animals have been kept inside, the home will at the very least need a thorough cleaning, and perhaps re-carpeting.”

'𝑮𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆'

There may, of course, be no problem where the property was let through a reputable rental agent and tenants have been carefully selected from the outset - and often if the property is to be sold, the best course is to first find out whether these tenants might want to buy the property themselves, notes Kotze.

'𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅'

Under South African law, a landlord is entitled to put their property up for sale at any time, but that doesn’t mean that tenant rights and obligations are automatically forfeited. Selling a rental with a tenant in residence isn’t always an ideal situation, but the laws and processes in place are designed to treat all parties as fairly as possible.

“Simply put, because the lease agreement is legally binding and was in place before, it still stands – regardless if the owner of the home decides to sell. The lease agreement goes with the home. Essentially this means that purchasing the home automatically makes whoever buys it a landlord, whether they planned to be or not. It also means that if you are the tenant, you will only need to leave once your lease agreement expires,” explains Adrian Goslett, Regional Director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa.

Anyone who purchases the property will only be able to take occupancy of the home once the lease agreement has expired and the tenant moves out.

“But if that is not possible, it is generally better to give tenants reasonable notice and then prepare an empty property for sale, with the incentive for prospective buyers being that it would be ready for immediate occupation once the suspensive conditions of the offer to purchase have been met.