Mortgage Advise

kier333

I am a FTB and had found a flat i wanted my offer was accepted and mortgage was approved, i had the valuation done and accepted so i paid the booking fee £999. I found out Friday that the vendor is now thinking of dropping out of the sale and renting the property instead of selling. Can anyone tell me how this will affect me?

I have looked at another flat over the weekend and if the vendor pulls out for the sale i will proceed on purchasing the other flat i viewed subject to an offer being accepted. I spoke with my bank and as the first flat was £155k which the approval and booking fee setup on and now the second flat is £120k they are telling me i may have to repay the booking fee, is this normal?

Thing is as its £35k less i dont see a problem plus i will put down a higher LTV.

The bank is HSBC.

Any thoughts?

bob79

If you haven't exchanged contract, then the seller is allowed to pull out (presuming you are in England/Wales).

You should never actually pay a booking fee. You simply add it to the loan, that avoids this problem since the loan only becomes binding when the funds are drawn (at completion of the sale).

The booking fee is for a specific product. If you take a mortgage with a different LTV for the new flat, then that is another product and HSBC might be formally correct that a booking fee will have to be paid again. Seems a bit silly though, so if I were you, I would ask to speak to the bank manager to have this sorted.