Offer to rent house until have funds to buy

We viewed a house yesterday that we would be interested in. We are not currently in a position to buy, but will be before the end of the year. The house has been on the market for some time. We put it to the auctioneer that we would rent the house for a period of time, after agreeing a price to buy it when our funds become available, it will be a cash purchase.

Has anyone heard of this, would it be possible?

There is no interest in the property at all from any viewers.

M

Anything is possible if the vendors agree. I'm sure there is some attraction in this kind of arrangement provided you enter into a binding contract now with a definite closing date in sight. I'm sure there are arguments for both sides of this- should you bind yourself to a house in a falling market ( where there is no other interest) for a set price- should the vendors bind themselves to the same arrangement when another potential purchaser could come along etc etc. But as I said, it is possible, if everyone agrees.

You have a few options.

1) You can simply agree to rent the house as any normal tenant does.

2) You can agree to buy the house at a set price but this would not be binding until you exchange contracts which you could delay until all the funds were definitely in place.

2A) You can agree to buy the house now at a set price on the understanding that if the sellers get someone prepared to close sooner than the end of the year, they are free to do so. There is no legal difference between 2) and 2A), but you would both understand that the house is still on the market.

3) You could legally exchange contracts now with a closing date deferred to the end of the year. This would be binding on both sides.

If the seller needs the money now to buy a new house, then this would not be attractive to them. But if the security of having a buyer is important to them, they might well go for it.

Thanks for the replies and opinions, good to hear that other people thought this might be acceptable. The house is empty, owner in retirement home now and family member looking after affairs. We put it to the auctioneer that we would agree on price and even if market got worse, we would still give this, as location perfect for us, houses don't come up in this area too much. House needs a lot of work but is perfectly habitable for a year or so.

M