Interested in a house previously sold STC

Help1234 · 18 August 2017 at 6:32PM

Hello, I am interested in a house that was previously sold STC that has now come back on the market. We asked the estate agent when arranging the viewing why it had fallen through as it had been sold for 1-2 months. The estate agent said the buyers had got quite far into the process but thinks they had then had a change of heart. She's going to double check though.
I am wondering if the estate agents need to disclose the reason if it was due to something coming up on the survey? Obviously if there is something on the survery it would be good to know from the beginning so we can decide whether to progress, rather than go through the whole process, losing a few thousand on fees only to find out the same thing and also pull out.

toc25 · 18 August 2017 at 7:04PM

Same thing happened with the house we are in the process of buying. It was sstc for about a month then went back on the market. I was suspicious but the vendor and estate agent told me the same thing, that the previous buyers own buyer pulled out.

I don't think they are allowed to lie to you but I suppose they could be quite vague about it if they didn't want you to know the truth. In our case the survey was fine and we are about to exchange contracts very soon.

phoebe1989seb · 18 August 2017 at 7:12PM

Afaik, under Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations estate agents now have to tell you stuff such as why a sale fell through - if say it was because of a dodgy survey.

In practice though I'm not sure how many adhere to this.

For example, when we bought this house at the end of 2014 I asked the vendor's EA (via email so I had a 'paper' trail) about a previous sale that fell through. He said it was because of a relationship break down. He did disclose some info regarding works the aborted buyers planned to do, but when asked specifically about the survey, he said no info was available.

We have since discovered several issues that I believe may have discouraged a buyer who was reliant on a mortgage - we were not.

knightstyle · 18 August 2017 at 7:29PM

Write a letter or email asking why and insist on a reply to it, not word of mouth.

loveka · 18 August 2017 at 7:56PM

They all lie. We have twice offered a house and it's been blatantly obvious that issues would have come up in previous surveys.

That said, my house went back on the market after 3 months and our buyer had genuinely just changed her mind.

Help1234 · 18 August 2017 at 9:23PM

Thanks I will ask for something in writing. I am wondering if i proceed and something major comes out in the survey that was lied about by the estate agent, would the estate agent be liable for any costs I incur due to breach of the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations?

Thrugelmir · 18 August 2017 at 9:37PM

Help1234 wrote: »

Thanks I will ask for something in writing. I am wondering if i proceed and something major comes out in the survey that was lied about by the estate agent, would the estate agent be liable for any costs I incur due to breach of the consumer protection from unfair trading regulations?

What do you regard as something "major"?

Help1234 · 18 August 2017 at 9:39PM

Something that would make me and other potential buyers pull out despite being months into the buying process and financial loss

Yazmina · 19 August 2017 at 8:25AM

I had this on the house I'm buying. The estate agent said the previous sale just took ages and the vendors decided to pull out. The paperwork I eventually received from the vendor's solicitor said that the previous buyer failed to get a mortgage. The estate agent wasn't lying but in the end I decided to only rely on information received in writing from the solicitor.

moneyistooshorttomention · 19 August 2017 at 9:39AM

Agree with asking in writing and getting a reply back in writing - then you have a paper trail. The EA should tell you these days of major issues uncovered by survey.

There is another issue that has raised itself in this thread though. The house itself may not have issues - but there might be neighbours creating issues (attempted landgrabs/noise/etc).

Wise to have a viewing specifically with a weathereye to thinking "Now if I was neighbour next door and just 'wanted what I wanted for myself' regardless of how fair, or otherwise, I was being - then what would my hopes/plans possibly be re house next door (ie the one you are thinking of buying)?".

Can you see that the neighbour might want to build an extension and whether that could be done without any attempt to land-grab any of "your" house (even if just in the sense of having eaves of an extension overhanging your garden)?

Can you see that any of the boundaries are done some other way than being walls? (eg fences that might mysteriously move when they get replaced? open plan and no clear visible marker of boundary being "right there") and so on?

Whether the neighbour has a lot of vehicles and hasnt got space to park a lot of cars/their visitors cars?

None of those things matter if you've got an unselfish person for a neighbour and always will have an unselfish person for a neighbour - but if the neighbour is a selfish one (and there's one heck of a lot of them about.....) then it might...

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Interested in a house previously sold STC

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