Wont take house off the market

SuperSaverSue_2

We had an offer accepted on a house we liked but halifax wont put a sold sign up! Our surveyor has been instructed to do the survey and the money has been taken out of our account so it should be done really soon, still halifax wont take take it off the market.

They say they will tell people who enquire that its under offer but can still go see it, there isnt nothing stopping a new bidder offering more than us and we lose the house which I think is bad seeing as though we've spent out on surveyor.

I dont know what to do, I cant demand they put a sold sign up can i?

AJ1982

Assuming this is not in Scotland, this is the nature of the market im afraid. A house is only considered sold with legal bounds upon exchange/completion. Chances are on websites they will mark it as STC (easier than changing a side) but there is nothing to stop new viewings/new offeres. Sadly by law an EA must pass all offers onto the vendor. Unless the vendor has said otherwise, eg no offers below a certain price.

AJ1982

Sorry, just to add the positive side, shouldnt be a problem, a sale is a sale, esp in this current climate. If you get into a contract war, your Solicitor is legally obliged to tell u as such. I would say carry on as normal and enjoy ur new home.

PoorDave

EAs are in the tricky position at the moment of "do we put a sold up to show we're a good agent getting sales, or leave it to see if there's any more interest?"

At the moment if you're selling, some back up interest in a buyer's market does no harm!

PeteMc

A similar thing happened to me, the EA put a Sold STC on their website with a still view tag on it. I said if they didn't take it off they might as well put For Sale back on. Needless to say they took it off.
I don't know if anyone did view/offer after I started the buying process but I bought the house.

carpetbelly

personally with the house the misses and her bros are trying to sell I don't think we'd want to put a sold board up until exchange... But then I would also tell them to not entertain any other offers while they have someone going through with the necessary's to get into that position. It's one of those catch22's in todays market.

Doozergirl

Is it the house a repossession?

Agents aren't really interested in selling a house twice. They just want to move on to selling the next house.

If it's a repossession though, what you are describing is normal practice.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Quite frankly in this market, nobody will want to go into a bidding war by offering more!! If your offer is reasonable it will stand up to any newcomers, also watch out the EA trying to talk the price up with Bogus Buyers (have been known to happen). Stand firm wait to see what the survey report brings up, you might get a valuation under what you have offered, now there's another problem to consider!!

AMD

jog

When we have put an offer in on a house in the past we have said that it is a condition that they don't do anymore viewings, and put up a sold sign. However I suspect that legally they wouldn't have to go along with this as I believe that the seller is not obliged to sell to you until you have actually exchanged contracts. Probably worth pushing your solicitor / mortgage company to move things along. Certainly last time we moved nothing seemed to happen unless we kept ringing and asking for updates. I spent several weeks ringing the estate agent, solicitor and mortgage company to push to get things done.
Good luck

ohyespleasethankyou

As has been said, unless you have put in a silly offer, you are unlikely to be gazumped. It is pretty common to keep the property available and in the current climate that is fair enough. I have lost count of the number of friends I have who have 'sold' their house only for the buyer to pull out.

Debt_Free_Chick

I think it's down to the seller - they decide whether or not to take further viewings/offers.