Making our offer

nementai

*Update: offer went in, and was rejected, now comes the fun part!*

Just looking for some advice on making our offer.
I've read Andrew Smith's guide and written the following based on his advice.
Current sticking point is the lack of a HIP - apparently it was put on the market before they were needed (makes me worry if it's really been on that long tbh...). Are these the legally required searches? We'd like them to pay a. to save us cash and b. to show they're committed.
The timescale is also a bit of an ad-lib. They're "moving in with family" so in theory can go as soon as we can, but I wanted to make sure it doesn't drag on and on. Are these timescales reasonable, given the need for searches etc. We aren't in any real rush.

X and X have decided that we wish to purchase Y.
We have funds in place with a mortgage agreed in principle (proof attached), and are in a position to instruct a solicitor immediately upon the offer being accepted.
As we are also currently in rented accommodation, we are in an excellent position to make the purchase swiftly.
Bearing that in mind, we wish to offer £££ subject to the following conditions;
All future and current viewings are cancelled
The property is withdrawn from the open market immediately and we have exclusivity over it
The sold board goes up within 48 hours
The searches usually provided as part of the HIP pack (Local Authority, Drainage and Water, Environmental and Parish Liability searches) be provided by the vendor
Exchange of contracts occurs within 12 weeks, with completion to follow no more than 4 weeks after exchange.

Doozergirl

You might as well just ask for an additional amount off the property rather than the searches as the searches required for a HIP are not necessarily as good as those required for purchasing a house with a mortgage. I imagine your solicitor will want to do this themselves anyway.

I wouldn't say that not having a HIP is any indication of a vendor's commitment to sale. They are next to useless and anyone with sense could get away without paying for one then they would. If I was your vendor I wouldn't have one either. Even if they'd have paid for one when they'd started marketing it would be out of date anyway. Pointless, pointless things. Chancel liabilty (you refer to as Parish) and Environmental searches are not legal requirements for HIP at all.

Investigate why they're moving in with family. People often say random things like this when they actually mean they haven't found anywhere themselves yet but why haven't they already moved in with the family if it's important to do that?

nementai

Thanks - good point about moving in with family. I feel like there's something fishy going on with their situation but haven't met them yet - we've been going through the EA who we don't trust as far as we can throw him, and getting very vague replies. That's why I wanted to put a time limit on completion really, to hurry them along. We are going to try to set up a meeting though, as I'd like to understand what's going on a bit better.

Re: the HIP, which searches are required with a mortgage? I've had trouble working through the quotes we have for conveyancing as they all seem to include different things. We're not going to miss anything potentially serious without the HIP searches are we?

Plus you mention price, we're offering very low (reduced recently from £150 to £130, we're not paying over £117 and are starting at £105. According to zoopla, nearby properties etc. £117 would seem fair given the work needed). Should I include the issues we have in the offer letter to justify the low offer and discourage too high a counter-offer?

nementai

OK, we've met the vendors, and put some of our fears to rest.
We're planning on making the offer tomorrow, question is, how do we do it? Phone? Email? Take a trip out to the office with a letter?

And is the below suitable?

(I realise I've become my Mum - I'm worrying about everything! )

X and X have decided that we wish to purchase X.

We have funds in place with a mortgage agreed in principle (proof attached), and are in a position to instruct a solicitor immediately upon the offer being accepted. As we are also currently in rented accommodation, we are in an excellent position to make the purchase swiftly.

Bearing that in mind, we wish to offer £105,250 subject to the following conditions;

- All future and current viewings are cancelled
- The property is withdrawn from the open market immediately and we have exclusivity over it
- The sold board goes up within 48 hours
- Vendors are free of chain (i.e. can work to our timescales; our proposal being that exchange of contracts occurs within 12 weeks, with completion to follow no more than 4 weeks after exchange)

We have reached this figure based on the amount of essential work needed on the house, the searches that we would need to commission, and the currently falling property market, as well as our strong position to purchase very quickly.

Swipe

With all those conditions it sounds more like a demand than an offer.

nementai

They're what's recommended in the post above...
The stuff about exclusivity etc. are pretty standard aren't they?
And the last one is because the vendors are moving in with family, we don't want them faffing for months. Too much you think?

Swipe

Many EAs won't want to withdraw it immediately from the market. Instead they like to parade them as SSTC until completion to show sellers they can shift houses.

Doozergirl

Parading them as SSTC generally means it's off the market and they're not accepting any more viewings. No more viewings is what you want.

OP, all that stuff is what anyone would ask except demanding that the vendor moves to the beat of your drum on timescales. You are the ones with flexibilty here and therefore need to be a little more patient. Do you know what the vendor's plan are? being able to exchange quickly is great, demanding it is asking for trouble. These things take time - sometimes it's quick, sometimes it's not. Ultimately you are not in control of how fast this moves, there are so many outside parties involved that demanding is going to leave you frustrated.

It's exciting but if you are in rented accommodation then you are really looking to make the move fit with your contract, therefore probably a delay between exchange and completion as you should never give notice on your rental without exchanging first!

nementai

Thanks.
That's a fair point. What I was going for was for the vendors not to decide they want to start looking for a house afterall, and dragging this out for 8,9,10 months.

Worth toning it back to '- Vendors are free of chain' only, or take it out all together?

Doozergirl

nementai wrote: »

Worth toning it back to '- Vendors are free of chain' only, or take it out all together?

I don't think you understand what that means otherwise you wouldn't be asking that of them. You're telling them that they cannot buy another house concurrently with selling their own. They have to sell you the house and get out without you waiting for them to find another house to buy at all.

What they do is all about communicating with them, not telling them what to do. I don't think anyone would intentionally want things to drag on for 8,9 months. Sometimes it happens though.

Take that line out altogether, organise another viewing and ask them what their plans are

nementai

Sorry, should have made that clearer. They are planning to move in with parents, and are advertising as being chain free.
I'd just like to stop them changing their minds and starting looking!
It was a collagues' husband, who's a search agent afaik who suggested it in principal.
I guess you're right though, that's something that can come through discussion and doesn't have to be part of the conditions.
Thanks.
So today is the day - do I call or email?