Keeping for sale property on market after accepting an Offer

Germanshepherdsmum

Anyone making an offer on a property should insist that it’s immediately taken off the market if the offer is accepted.

Yes, absolutely.

We’ve had the opposite happen to us twice. We have found a buyer and so we have also found ourselves a new property. Then a couple of weeks before exchange of contracts, just when everything has been done, the buyer has come back to us and said they can only afford to pay a lower price, otherwise they’ll pull out. At this stage we haven’t wanted to lose our new property and all associated expenses already incurred and so reluctantly we’ve agreed to their new price.
We must have been unlucky because that has happened twice to us.

No, Scotland doesn't have a better system because many sales go to sealed bids and because once accepted the offer is final, many people, particulalry young people trying to buy their first house, can end up paying for surveys and other searches for house, after house, after house, without ever succeeding in making a purchase. On one occasion I heard of a couple going through this procedure 10 times before finally succeeding in purchasing a home.

House buying is protracted and difficult and beset with problems, no matter where you are buying or how the local system works.

Sadly, in England, until contracts are exchanged, nothing is binding. I believe Scotland has a better system…….

Unfortunately the buyer can’t rely on a survey commissioned by the seller unless the surveyor agrees in writing to have a duty of care to the buyer and to maintain professional indemnity insurance for x years. Few will do this without a significant payment, and why should they?

I think the seller should have the survey done & the buyer should be able to view- it. My DM paid for 4 surveys- all the houses fell through unfortunately at great cost to mum- last house she viewed she didn’t bother with a survey- luckily the lady selling gave mum a look at her old survey she had done when buying 6 yrs previously- all good, house is perfect

Estate agents usually ask for the name and details of your selling agent, and they check with them.

Are estate agents not supposed to vet any person wishing to view a property eg have they a property to sell, provisional approval for a mortgage. I know they used to. If no longer their task, other than take pictures for Your Move, what do they do?

We haven’t had ‘for sale’ signs Lesley because we didn’t want any chancers, who would indeed have dropped in in vain.

Very interesting but yes stressful we are just putting our park home on the market praying for a quick smooth sale added stress emigrating to Australia our family there one in Melbourne one in Perth we are hoping to rent my daughters house in Perth💕✌️

I know it’s off topic but something else that annoys me is when people are selling their house and not having a for sale sign displayed
The number of times we have searched in vein to view the location of a house before making an appointment to view with an estate agent is amazing

Firstly I wouldn’t accept an offer from someone who didn’t have a complete and short chain and then I would insure my legal fees. Secondly, if I make an offer which is accepted, it’s on the condition that marketing ceases immediately. I then check. If I find that property for sale anywhere 3 days later I will call and withdraw my offer- unless I see my wishes carried out there and then. Honestly I think you have to be tough because people don’t always mean what they say. And you have to be prepared for disappointment- but you can minimise your loss of money.

You withdrew on the day before exchange? Did you not issue an ultimatum as regards agreement on a completion date? He wasn’t messing just you around, everyone in the chain was being messed around - and you pulled the plug on all of them.

The system in England is seriously flawed. Three months ago we had a buyer for our house and they suddenly pulled out at the point of exchange of contracts. At the eleventh hour, and after several viewings, they decided our house and garden were too large and just walked away. This was devastating for us as we then lost the house we wanted to buy as we were no longer "proceedable". The final straw was having to pay a substantial bill from our solicitor for the work they had done to get to the point of exchange. Understandable but painful for us. To cut a long story short, after 6 months of ups and downs, and hard work preparing to downsize, we are exhausted. We cannot face going back into the fray of the housing market and will stay put. Not what we had hoped for in our 80s. Advice to others: don't wait until you are 80 before taking steps to downsize.

Years ago we made an offer on a property after accepting an offer on ours. The issue was that a person further down the chain kept delaying the exchange. He abused his position as a chief inspector of police ( allegedly trustworthy?) to keep asking for dates, for asking that his daughter (who did not live with him) be added to the sale etc. So in the end - the day before the exchange but no agreement on a date- we pulled out. In hindsight it was the best thing but if he had not messed us around the sale could have gone through. We had spent thousands of pounds on legal costs as did our buyers but they did not help us by not pressing him for a firm date in the months of the sale.

Unfortunately ReadyMeals, no deposit is taken until contracts are exchanged, unless you are buying from a developer when you will be required to pay a small non-returnable reservation deposit.

Germanshepherdsmum

Anyone making an offer on a property should insist that it’s immediately taken off the market if the offer is accepted.

We took our Suffolk cottage off the market when an offer was received. That person said it was too far from the river as she withdrew her off. She then came back again when we refused her offer.
This was in a period when the World Cup was on (England stood a good chance) and the school holidays at started so not a good time

If deposits were non-returnable the idea might be feasible.

Usually estate agents keep it there book, unless, you have asked them to take off the table after your offer has been accepted.

The last house we sold was to a youngish couple, with children. They had sold their house, so no chain but as the sale was going through our estate agent contacted us to say he had received a higher offer. EA was quite astounded when we said we would stick to the sale we had agreed. I suppose he was thinking about his cut of the sale price.

Germanshepherdsmum

In my experience they are strangers to ethics.

I agree.
My son bought his first house from someone who was using one of these companies and our solicitor never spoke to the same person twice. There didn't appear to be anyone within the company who was actually responsible for the sale.

semperfidelis

What an absolute disgrace the law is with regard to buying property. The prospective buyer does not have to make a cash deposit, even a modest one, to show good faith. Some 'offers' are made by people who are in a long chain of unknown people, with unknown finances. In my experience, Estate Agents are less than honest about this issue and solicitors don't feel it's their responsibilty to check the chain. Teamwork between solicitors and Estate Agents in non existant. Timescales may be mentioned, but there is no legal timescale for Exchange of Contracts or Completion. No wonder it all goes wrong - unless you have a cash buyer, and that doesn't always work either.
The last time I sold a property I made it clear that I wouldn't accept any prospective buyer who had a long chain behind them. Its better to be fair at the start.
When someone was found, I asked the Estate Agent to verify that they had a deposit, a mortgage and evidence of any other finance needed. The Agent did do that, and the sale went through.

This sounds harsh, but would you buy a car expecting not to pay a cash deposit, not providing any proof of how you would pay the full amount and not being able to stick to a timescale?

In Australia, once you make an offer on a property, you have to have a survey within an agreed time. If that is acceptable to you, you do then have to agree a date for Completion and pay a deposit, which you will lose if you back out.

Our last sale went through pretty smoothly. We sold without marketing so there were no time-wasters and our experienced estate agent was very competent, checking details of funding before he would even bring a buyer for a viewing. This was during early 2020 when lockdown meant that viewings were limited.
I agree with you about chains, even if you are told that all the properties are under offer there is so much to go wrong. I prefer to sell and exchange first, then go in as a cash buyer to avoid any disappointments or messing about. I didn't mind a couple of months living somewhere else whilst my belongings were in storage.

In my experience they are strangers to ethics.

And you are quite right, it could well be that he was using a cheap conveyancing company.

Germanshepherdsmum

If another contract is sent out the seller’s solicitor is obliged, under professional rules, to tell the buyer’s solicitor immediately, so a buyer should never be unaware that they are in a contract race. Perhaps the seller was using a shoddy conveyancing outfit.

I think that the vendor had pushed his solicitor to issue another contract, although whether or not the estate agent was aware we do not know. We had said our offer was dependent on us not being in a contract race - this practice was rife in our area in the early 1980's.
It took us several weeks to discover what was going on, but fortunately we did not need a survey or a mortgage inspection so at least we had not paid for that. We pulled out immediately our solicitor discovered what was going on. I should add that this was some years ago and I still feel irritated that it was allowed to happen.

What an absolute disgrace the law is with regard to buying property. The prospective buyer does not have to make a cash deposit, even a modest one, to show good faith. Some 'offers' are made by people who are in a long chain of unknown people, with unknown finances. In my experience, Estate Agents are less than honest about this issue and solicitors don't feel it's their responsibilty to check the chain. Teamwork between solicitors and Estate Agents in non existant. Timescales may be mentioned, but there is no legal timescale for Exchange of Contracts or Completion. No wonder it all goes wrong - unless you have a cash buyer, and that doesn't always work either.
The last time I sold a property I made it clear that I wouldn't accept any prospective buyer who had a long chain behind them. Its better to be fair at the start.
When someone was found, I asked the Estate Agent to verify that they had a deposit, a mortgage and evidence of any other finance needed. The Agent did do that, and the sale went through.

This sounds harsh, but would you buy a car expecting not to pay a cash deposit, not providing any proof of how you would pay the full amount and not being able to stick to a timescale?

In Australia, once you make an offer on a property, you have to have a survey within an agreed time. If that is acceptable to you, you do then have to agree a date for Completion and pay a deposit, which you will lose if you back out.