There are a number of reasons why people sell and rent back:

• Facing repossession
• Mortgage arrears with your lender
• Unable to re-mortgage
• To free up cash from your home equity
• Kids are at good local schools
• You just don’t want to leave the family home
• No HIPs pack needed
• No need to refurbish or update your home

Sell and Rent back schemes involve someone paying cash for your home. As you know, house sales can take many months to complete and your buyer will often pull out at the last minute without notice.

By selling to a cash buyer, you are assured of a fast transaction. Contracts can be exchanged within 48hrs and completions in days. In return for selling your home for a discount, your mortgage and secured loans are paid off in full and you receive the cash difference tax free.

Simply follow the advice within the next few paragraphs and you can be sure that your sell and rent back experience is a positive one.

The basic rules are:

• Don’t trust anyone who promises you 100% of the market value - it’s a con!
• The highest offer price is not always the best deal
• The lowest rent is not always the best deal
• Beware of companies offering 5 to 10 year rental agreements
• Never pay any upfront fees whatsoever
• Make sure your legal fees will be paid in full
• Would you trust the buyer as your landlord?
• Always ask for a Buy Back option if you want one

A good sell and rent back offer is one that solves your financial problems in a satisfactory way, and allows whoever buys your house to maintain your home as a landlord without having to put up your rent for no reason other than financial gain.

Beware of companies offering 5 to 10 year rental agreements.
Rental contracts in the UK are governed by an Act of Parliament.

The standard rental contract is called an AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy). This AST gives both you as the tenant and the landlord as owner certain rights which cannot be changed or altered.

So any company offering you a rental agreement for longer that that is offering you a piece of paper that is entirely worthless.

In fact, almost all owners of sell and rent back properties will buy your house for cash and then remortgage to take their money back out.

Mortgage companies will not allow a landlord to offer an AST for longer than 12 months at a time. But, you needn’t worry about that if you are wishing to rent back your home for the long term. Any AST can be renewed at the end.

Genuine landlords love tenants who stay for a long time because it saves us time and money.

Whoever buys your house to rent it back makes their profit over the long term rise in property values.

They are getting your house at a discount, so why should you pay any fees up front to sell and rent back your home?

If anyone asks you to pay anything in order to sell your home, walk away. A genuine ethical landlord will never do this.

Most cash property buyers will offer to pay some of your legal fees. Almost all of them cap the amount at £500.

But, guess what? The actual cost of solicitors for selling your home (especially if a 48 hour exchange is necessary to stop a repossession order) is more likely to be closer to £1000.

To the buyer, this is not a great deal of money, but you are selling because of financial issues, so why should you have to pay the difference of £500? Make sure the buyer will cover all your conveyancing fees on completion.

Your circumstances today may not be the best but what if they change for the better in the future?

You might want to buy back your home. Any ethical sell and rent back landlord should give you the option to do this in the future and give you a discount as well!

Sell and rent back can be a truly positive step as long as you deal with an ethical company or buyer.

Our promise to you is:

• We guarantee our offer price in writing - no last minute bargaining
• We charge no fees whatsoever
• We pay ALL your legal fees, not just the first £500 that others pay
• We don’t charge for a valuation
• Fixed agreed rent for up to 2 years
• We can exchange in as little as 48 hours
• We can offer you a Buy Back option with a future discount
• We operate a code of conduct to ensure 100% transparency