Real Story
A Tenant Who Stopped Paying: How We Bought Priya's Leeds Buy-to-Let With Sitting Tenants Still In Place
Ten months of rent arrears and a stalled Section 8 process had turned Priya's Leeds investment flat into a source of constant stress. We bought the property with the tenants still living in it — no eviction required before completion.
A buy-to-let that turned into a burden
Priya had owned a two-bedroom flat near Kirkstall Road in Leeds since 2016, letting it out through a local agency with no issues for years. In late 2023, her tenants lost their jobs and stopped paying rent. By the time Priya came to us, she was owed £7,400 in arrears and had spent months trying to start formal proceedings.
The flat itself was in reasonable condition, valued at around £118,000 with vacant possession — but with rent-paying tenants no longer paying and no clear end date to the legal process, most buyers and even many cash investors weren't interested in touching it.
An eviction process that kept stalling
Priya had instructed a solicitor to start a Section 8 notice, but the process moved slower than expected, and every month of no rent was a month of mortgage payments coming entirely out of her own pocket. Over eight months, she faced:
- Court backlogs pushing her possession hearing back twice, adding months to the timeline
- Two investor buyers who withdrew once they learned formal eviction hadn't been completed
- Continued mortgage payments on a property earning her nothing, month after month
How BP Properties actually helped
Priya needed a buyer who understood tenanted property and wasn't put off by an ongoing legal process — not another investor who'd walk away at the first complication.
We assessed the situation properly
Our team reviewed the tenancy history and the stage Priya's Section 8 notice had reached, and gave her a clear, honest picture of what buying with sitting tenants would mean for both parties.
We bought with tenants still in place
Rather than requiring vacant possession, we made an offer of £94,000 reflecting the arrears and the ongoing legal process, and took over the tenancy — and the Section 8 process — directly as the new landlord.
Completed in 11 days
With no vacant possession required and no chain, our solicitors completed the purchase in 11 days, and Priya stopped covering the mortgage on a non-paying tenancy from that point on.
Why non-paying tenants scare off most buyers
Most residential buyers need vacant possession to get a mortgage, and most investor buyers want tenants already paying reliably. A property stuck mid-eviction, with arrears mounting and an uncertain court date, falls into a gap that the open market often can't price or process quickly.
That leaves landlords like Priya paying two costs at once: the mortgage with no rental income to offset it, and the legal fees of an eviction process that can take 6 months or more from notice to possession.
What it meant for Priya
For Priya, the biggest relief was simply not being the one responsible for the situation any more. She told us afterwards that the constant back-and-forth with solicitors and court dates had made the flat feel like a liability rather than an investment — and having a buyer take that on directly let her walk away with a fair number and no ongoing involvement.
Details in this story have been adapted to protect the seller's privacy; amounts and timelines reflect a typical case of this kind.
Got a tenanted property causing you stress?
Non-paying tenants, mid-eviction proceedings, rent arrears — we buy tenanted property as-is, take over the situation, and pay you in cash.
Get My Cash Offer Now