In Spain, there are two million rented homes, according to the Tax Agency; and there is a common concern among many of the owners of these properties: can you sell a flat with tenants inside?
The experts at HelpMyCash.com, a website dedicated to financial and real estate comparison, assure that it can be done, although they warn that it is not a conventional sale and that a series of specific legal procedures must be taken into account. What are these procedures?
The duration of a rental contract is five years, as long as the owner is a natural person; or seven if it is a legal person. When the decision to sell the property is made, this term, in general, must be respected until its expiration, so whoever buys the property will in all probability be an investor seeking to monetize their savings through rent.
There is, however, an alternative: negotiate with the tenant to leave the house early. And although it should be borne in mind that, in this case, the tenant usually asks for financial compensation, selling the vacant home will make the operation simpler and faster than expected. HelpMyCash specialists recommend seeking advice from a real estate expert to mediate the negotiation, or to facilitate the search for investors willing to buy a rented home.
Unless otherwise specified in the rental contract, the tenant has the right of first refusal. This means that if the owner decides to sell the property at a certain price, the tenant has priority to buy it for that value. For this reason, the tenant must notify the tenant in writing —preferably through a burofax— all the conditions, such as price or expected date of sale, although there are exceptions.
The tenant may have expressly waived his right of first refusal in his rental agreement. If so, HelpMyCash experts advise sending a notice to inform you of the sale, although the tenant will not have priority to acquire the property. Likewise, this right does not apply when the same owner sells several homes that are in the same building to a single buyer and jointly.
And they point out that if the tenant has the right of first refusal, but the owner does not notify it properly, the tenant can cancel the sale.
From the moment the house is rented, the tenant has the right of use. Therefore, the owner needs his consent, yes or yes, both to access the house and to show it to potential buyers.
And they add that there are other issues that must be taken into account when selling a rented property, such as the price or the sales strategy, which change depending on whether it is sold to an investor or a family that wants to move into the home as soon as possible. Having professional advice facilitates the operation, especially when it comes to more complex transactions such as the sale with a tenant.
