Bought new property at auction ?

Question

i bought a property at a auction site.
I notice that that the current tenants are still living there?
What should i do ?
are there any legal complications ???
any ideas ?

I bought the house in malaysia during a property sale ....so the legal proceedings dont worry.
I think the previous owners are still living there.

So what should i do about the current owners?

Answer 1

You bought a new property on eBay? Or you bough it at a licensed real estate auction plce? In England? Scotland? A state in the USA?

For purposes of this answer, given the hour (nighttime in the U.S., just after 8.00am in the UK) I shall assume you are in England or Wales (I can't answer for Scotland or Ireland). (For the USA the answser would depend on the written lease; or else it would likely be a month-to-month tenancy with one full month's notice to quit required; but there are rent controls (and so sitting tenants) in a very few areas like San Francisco.)

Most likely the tenant is there (in England or Wales) under an 'assured shorthold tenancy' and the answser is that you need to give two months' clear notice (i.e., from the start of a rent period) using a special form that you can buy at Oyez. http://www.oyezforms.co.uk/ (Or type out if you have a sample to copy.)

If the tenant is a statuitory ('sitting') tenant, then you are unlikely to be able to evict. Did you have a survey conducted before buying? Did you submit the usual questionnaire? Did you visit the property?

Some people have fallen for scams with respect to eBay real estate. I understand that unlike purchases of merchandise, winning a bid on real estate on eBay may not create a binding contract. eBay is licensed in a few (US) states as a real estate agent, but the whole business of selling real property that way is questionable.

Buying at an auction is risky too: we have seen people grossly overpay. But there can be bargains too. You have to examine the property in advance, survey it at least casually and figure out where your profit is going to come from. As with buying off-plan, sometimes people pay ridiculously high prices; sometimes there are bidding wars for unmarketable property. But sometimes you can find value where others don't: the whole point is to have your exit plan in advance, and a sharp pencil. And, of course, your financing.

As for Johnny D's 'Pacific Heights": that's what insurance is for. Get some. A neighbour of mine, two doors down, has lost his tenants -- and for the second time in half a dozen years his house has been wrecked by internal flooding -- a plumbing disaster. Both times his insurance is paying.

Of course there are tenants from hell in the UK too: but the biggest risk is refusal to pay rent or to leave, and court eviction can take months. But new laws at least make getting squatters out a fairly quick process.

Answer 2

Have you ever seen "Pacific Heights" with Michael Keaton?