Can I sell a house with a sitting tenant in it?

Yes — the tenancy transfers with the property, so nobody has to be evicted for the sale to happen. The buyer becomes the new landlord, the tenant's rights and deposit protection continue, and the rent is yours until completion. The realistic buyers are investors and cash buyers, at a discount to vacant value.

How much less is a tenanted property worth?

Recent market data put properties sold with sitting tenants at roughly 20% below comparable vacant homes on average. A regulated tenancy under the Rent Act 1977 — lifetime security and a fair rent — is much steeper: typically 40–50% below vacant possession value.

Can I still evict my tenant in order to sell?

Not with Section 21 — it was abolished on 1 May 2026. Selling now means using the selling ground with four months' notice, a court hearing if the tenant doesn't leave, and a re-letting restriction if the sale falls through. It's a route to vacant possession, but it's slower and less certain than it used to be — take legal advice on your specific tenancy.

Tenant in place · landlord exit

You can sell with the tenant still living there. Nobody has to be evicted first.

You're not in crisis — the numbers stopped working, the rules keep changing, and you want out cleanly: a net figure, a date, and no drama for a tenant who's done nothing wrong. That sale exists. Here's what it pays and how it works since the Renters' Rights Act.

1 May 2026Section 21 abolished — every assured shorthold tenancy converted to a periodic tenancy, fixed terms gone (NRLA)

4 monthsthe notice now needed to sell with vacant possession — plus a court hearing if the tenant stays put

≈ 20%the typical discount to vacant value when selling with a sitting tenant — rising to 40–50% for a regulated tenancy (Property Rescue)

First question: what kind of tenancy is it?

Everything — the price, the process, the timescale — hangs on this. Tap each one.

1Assured periodic — most tenancies since 1 May 2026

If your tenant was on an ordinary AST, they're now on a periodic tenancy: no fixed term, no Section 21. You can still sell — either with the tenant in place to an investor or to us, with their tenancy simply continuing under a new landlord, or with vacant possession via the selling ground: four months' notice, a court hearing if it's contested, and a re-letting restriction (reported as 12 months) if the sale then falls through. Take advice before serving anything.

2Regulated — Rent Act 1977, usually inherited

A tenancy that began before 1989, often arriving with an inherited property: the tenant typically has lifetime security and a registered fair rent, and there is usually no route to vacant possession at all. The open market prices this hard — typically 40–50% below vacant value. The one consolation is real: that discount is bigger than our date-based one, so on a regulated tenancy our offer tends to look reasonable rather than painful. Auctions are genuinely competitive for these too, and we'll say so.

3Not sure — common, and worth ten minutes

When did the tenancy start, and is there a registered "fair rent" with the Valuation Office? Pre-1989 with a fair rent points to regulated; anything that was an AST is now periodic. Inherited the house with the tenant and no paperwork? That's exactly the situation we see most. Tell us what you know in the form — tick "tenant in place" — and we'll work out the type with you on the phone before any figure is fixed.

General information, not legal advice — tenancy law changed on 1 May 2026 and the details matter. Sources: NRLA, Section 21 abolition · The Independent Landlord, Renters' Rights timetable · Property Rescue, sitting-tenant values. Last reviewed August 2026.

The 2026 reality, without the spin

Section 21 went on 1 May 2026. If you served notice before the deadline, claims had to be issued by 31 July — that window has closed. Selling with vacant possession now means the selling ground: four months' notice, a possession hearing if the tenant doesn't leave, and a restriction on re-letting if you change course. It works, but it's six months to a year of process, void periods and legal fees — priced against a vacant-possession sale that is no longer guaranteed to happen on any particular date.

Which is why selling tenanted deserves a serious look. The tenancy transfers with the property: your tenant keeps their home, their deposit protection and their terms; you keep the rent until completion; and no court is involved because nothing is being contested. If your tenant has been good to you and the guilt of serving notice is half the reason you've been putting this off — that's not sentimentality, it's a real cost, and selling tenanted is the route that doesn't incur it.

Your three honest routes

Priced against each other the way you'd price them yourself.

Serve notice, sell vacant

The selling ground, four months' notice, then an ordinary sale at full vacant value. If price is everything and you can absorb a slow, contested-possession worst case, this recovers the most — on a date nobody can promise you.

Four months minimum before you can even market it empty; a court hearing if contested; a re-letting restriction if the sale falls through; void months with no rent while you pay the mortgage.

Sell tenanted on the open market

Investor buyers and auctions take tenanted stock, typically around 20% below vacant value — the yield does the selling. For a regulated tenancy an auction is genuinely competitive and may match or beat us; we'd rather you knew that here than discovered it later.

A thin, professional buyer pool that negotiates like professionals; months of marketing; completion timed to their diligence, not your diary.

Sell to us with the tenant in place

We buy tenanted — periodic or regulated — with no notice served and no court involved. The tenancy continues, the rent is yours until the day we complete, and the completion date is yours to choose. The offer is made knowing the tenancy type and the rent, so it doesn't move at survey.

The price is below vacant value — 65–82% of the property's realistic tenanted value depending on the date you choose, shown before you give us anything.

The clean exit: one buyer, one date in writing, £500 a day on us if we're late — and your tenant keeps their home.

The questions exiting landlords ask

What happens to my tenant if you buy?

Their tenancy continues with us as the new landlord — same terms, same deposit protection, statutory rights intact. Nothing about the sale requires them to move, and we don't buy tenanted property in order to empty it by the back door. If your tenant asks, you can tell them the truth: the house is being sold, their home isn't.

Do I tell my tenant I'm selling?

Selling tenanted, there's no legal requirement to give notice of the sale itself — but we'd encourage it, early and straight. Tenants who hear it from you cooperate with the one visit we need; tenants who hear it from a stranger's letter don't. We handle our part discreetly and there are no boards, no open days and no stream of viewings either way.

Rent arrears — does that kill the sale?

No, but tell us. Arrears change the numbers, not the possibility: we price on the realistic position, including what's owed and how the tenancy has actually run. Like everything disclosed up front, it's protected by the price promise — it can't be used to move the figure later.

I've got a portfolio, not one house. Can you take several?

Yes — tenanted portfolios are the same conversation multiplied, and one completion date (or a staggered set you choose) usually nets more than selling them off one by one with voids in between. Call us on 0191 249 3969 rather than filling the form in five times.

Get a net figure and a date

There's no obligation and nothing to sign. We'll give you a figure in writing, with our reasoning, and you can take it to anyone you like before you decide.

Or call us: 0191 249 3969 · 8am–8pm, seven days

Own the whole block, not just one tenanted house? See selling a block of flats.