You know the type. The estate agent breezes in, clocks you’re selling a tenanted place which is easy because investors love “income”, as if the rent magically pays for itself and nobody ever argues about mould, notice periods, or who broke the hob.

Then you try to sell house with tenants and discover the valuation is closer to performance art than maths, the viewings turn into organised humiliation, and the legal side starts pulling faces in the background, especially with the Renters Reform changes looming. The gap between the pitch and the process is where your money goes to die.

First, valuations. Most agents quote vacant possession value because it sounds lovely in your living room and helps them win the instruction, but a buyer taking tenants in situ is not buying your “home”, they are buying a bundle of rights, obligations, and limited control. In real terms, investors commonly price in a discount, often around 10 to 20 percent depending on rent level, condition, and tenancy status, so a £300,000 house can land at £240,000 to £270,000 once it is sold with tenants, and that is before anyone notices the rent is £250 a month under market and the EPC needs work.

Next, viewings. You can give 24 hours’ notice, you can ask nicely, you can promise it will be quick, and you can still end up touring buyers through yesterday’s curry, three drying racks, and a tenant who decides to “work from home” right in the centre of the room, answering every question with the warmth of a parking fine. Even cooperative tenants have limits, and once momentum stalls, buyers drift off to cleaner, emptier options.

Then the legal hurdles. You cannot just decide you want vacant possession and press the Section 21 button forever, not with the Renters Reform direction of travel tightening grounds and timelines, and not with court delays that can turn “two months” into “see you next year”. If your tenant pays on time and knows their rights, you are negotiating, not commanding.

Now the buyer pool. The minute you market a property with tenants, you cut out owner occupiers, first time buyers, and anyone wanting a refurb, leaving mainly landlords, and that pool has been shrinking under tax and regulation, including the 5 percent stamp duty surcharge and the restriction of mortgage interest relief that turned plenty of portfolios from clever to pointless.

Finally, the handover. Deposits, prescribed information, certificates, rent apportionments, keys, meter readings, arrears, repairs, and the awkward moment when the tenant asks who to call and nobody wants to answer. Get deposit protection wrong and you are staring at penalties up to three times the deposit, right when you thought you were done.

Still think selling a tenanted property is “straightforward”. Or is it just straightforward for the agent. If you are going to sell house with tenants, are you pricing reality, or buying the brochure version of your own situation?