Landlord turns to Spring for stress-free sale

Being a landlord turned into a nightmare for Carol when tenants destroyed her Darlington flat. Following months of trying to remove the troublesome tenants, Carol didn’t want to risk renting the flat out again and instead made the decision to sell. Wanting a quick sale to avoid any further stress and expense, Carol turned to Spring to help her find a solution.

Carol had owned her much loved Darlington flat for 18 years, and when she married Andrew in 2018, the couple decided Carol would move into Andrew’s Hartlepool home. “Andrew’s house was closer to work and offered us more outdoor space for our Springer Spaniel, Millie”, explained Carol. The couple decided to keep Carols flat and rent it out. “We thought it was a great idea to rent my flat out and keep it as an investment for when we both retired”, said Carol. “Unfortunately, the tenants trashed the flat and when I finally got the keys back, I was heartbroken to see the damage and destruction they had caused”.

Selling up

To avoid any more ‘tenants from hell’, Carol and Andrew decided they wanted to sell the flat and do so as quickly as possible. “We’d just had enough and wanted to sell up”, explained Carol. The vigilant couple looked at all the costs of selling the flat through an estate agent and the numbers didn’t add up. “My local estate agent told me that they could sell the flat easily enough, but conveyancing would take a minimum of 12 weeks, which would mean us paying the mortgage on an empty flat for months”, explained Carol. “We also needed to fully renovate the flat as it was in such a state, plus keep paying the bills and mortgage during the refurb. When we added in the estate agency fees, it just didn’t make financial sense for us to sell on the open market”, said Carol.

Avoiding extra costs

Wanting to sell the flat quickly to avoid any further expense, Carol discovered Spring’s homebuying service after reading positive reviews on Trustpilot. And, after further research on springmove.com, the couple decided a Spring sale was the best way forward. “I spoke to Marcus throughout, he’s a smashing guy. Marcus explained the process to us, and we felt at ease straightaway”, complemented Carol. “Two local independent estate agents came to value the flat, and all the way through the sale Marcus, and also Hannah, kept us updated at every stage”. From Carol’s first contact with Spring, to the day the flat completed, took a total of just 5 weeks. “Selling to Spring was ideal for us. We didn’t have to pay for the expensive refurb, and it gave us the speedy sale we wanted. The whole process was quick, transparent and in line with all the promises on Spring’s website”, explained Carol. “We also used Spring’s panel solicitor, Gains & Wilkins, who were great and allowed us to choose our completion date which was really helpful”.

Moving forward

Now the stress of the flat is behind them, Carol and Andrew have paid off their mortgage and have a healthy nest-egg ready for when they begin retirement next year. “We have already planned our first holiday to Iceland, it’s somewhere we’ve wanted to go since we got married, we can’t wait”. All the Spring team wish you every happiness for the future – enjoy your retirement!

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