Q. I plan to sell my rental investment in the next couple of months, but am not sure whether to serve notice on my tenants first so I can market with vacant possession or wait until the property goes under offer?
A. Purely from an agents perspective our job is far easier when there are not any tenants in occupation. Whenever there are tenants still in occupation it tends to cause a certain amount of disruption to marketing, especially any kind of spontaneous viewings. As a rule most tenants require 24 hours notice of any proposed viewings, which of course is reasonable as this is their home, sometimes however this lack of flexibility can actually lose prospective buyers as they are often just in the area for the day.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that most tenants would rather you not sell, so it’s in their best interests not to tidy up the property before viewings the way that perhaps an owner occupier would. On the other hand, you could have fabulous tenants who will accommodate the sale, that being the case it would be cost effective to let them stay if they are happy too, as long as possible up until exchange and completion. It’s also worth bearing in mind that investors are often keen to purchase with tenants in occupation.