House buying issue

getmore4less

You have no come back at all neither does the seller if you pull out before exchange.



Your solicitor should have done hardly any work yet if they don't have the contact details.

PasturesNew

It's quite common for sellers to disappear once their house sale is underway. Maybe they're just on holiday... in fact a lot of people go on holiday once they're agreed to buy/sell a house.

So it's annoying, but probably nothing to worry about. It's only a week... lots of people get caught up doing things for a week without even thinking about it.

QTPie

i4U wrote: »

The offer was accepted about two weeks ago. I have a letter from the estate agents that my offer was accepted. But I don't have a Memorandum of Sale.

That is very bad... I think. I don't know if ALL estate agents prduce memorandums of sale, but - to be perfectly honest - I wouldn't proceed with a purchase without one: the first thing that your solicitor should do (before any searches etc) IS to make contact with the seller's solicitor. Otherwise you put the cart before the horse... (likewise with getting a survey done).

I can only guess that the seller's EA is rather rubbish... is it a small independent or a big national chain? You could try calling them and askin why there was no memorandum or sale, but it doesn't sound as though ti would help (unless the EA is stalling - can't think why, though).

QT

i4U

No, my solicitor has not had to do any work, apart from sending me a questionnaire regarding my property. However, I get the feeling they will still charge me (don't know how much) and I lose the survey fee.

Worst of all. A lot of time and effort was put into securing this and making sure the sale went through quickly.

Swipe

My solicitor stated that if the sale fell through I'd be charged £120 per hour up to the total amount quoted. So you'll probably only be stung for £120 + survey fee.

QTPie

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's quite common for sellers to disappear once their house sale is underway. Maybe they're just on holiday... in fact a lot of people go on holiday once they're agreed to buy/sell a house.

So it's annoying, but probably nothing to worry about. It's only a week... lots of people get caught up doing things for a week without even thinking about it.

Disgusting bahvaiour, though.

We were off on holiday (for 3 weeks) two weeks after out previous offer was accepted. So, as the seller, I made sure EVERYTHING was prepared before we "disappeared". All Seller's information completed the day after the offer accepted, Contract signed, even power of attorney left with the Solicitor. I also looked at rental houses to move into (found something that I liked and left a cheque for the holding deposit - only to be cashed on exchange of contracts on the sale) AND got quotes for and arranged a provisional removals date... ALL to ensure that everything could be gotten moving and nothing held up in our absence. Of course we left contact details with the EA and Solicitor and kept in touch whilst we were away. Murphy's Law, of course, the buyer went on to gazunder us whilst we were away on holiday! :rolleyes: (sale fell through, because we wouldn't submit to their demand for a £40k price reduction "due to the continuing falling market" - a month after we had accepted their original offer).

Shame that I am not your seller...

It probably IS ok... fingers crossed.

QT

QTPie

i4U wrote: »

No, my solicitor has not had to do any work, apart from sending me a questionnaire regarding my property. However, I get the feeling they will still charge me (don't know how much) and I lose the survey fee.

Worst of all. A lot of time and effort was put into securing this and making sure the sale went through quickly.

Like Swipe has said, when our sale fell through (we were the sellers who were gazundered) we were faced with a £120 + VAT bill. However our solicitor said that if we go on to sell (and we now hope to exchange contracts, with another buyer, this week), then the fees for that failed sale can be written off (i.e. they are negligable if we go on to sale). So that is good news for us.

The first thing with any sale (sorry, doesn't help now, but may do in future), is to get your mits on that memorandum of sale. The EA should send one to you and one to your solicitor.... Normally no point in proceeding any further until you get that.

QT

i4U

OK, thank you for your helpful replies.

I will keep you guys posted in the coming week.

Richard_Webster

To me it looks like the estate agent hasn't sent out the memorandum of sale giving all the details because he can't get hold of the seller to find out which solicitors he is using. Without that information he can't send out the memorandum.

The agent probably asked the seller beforehand which solicitor he would use (probably trying to get him to use one the agent got a kick-back from) but the seller may well have said that he would think about it and let him know in due course. Possibly when agent phoned to put the offer, he again asked and the seller again was vague, and didn't tell agent he was going away for a bit!

It is really frustrating, but I suspect it is more the seller's fault than the agent's.

You need to put a hold on the lender's survey as well if you can. Find some other properties that you would like to buy and tell the agents you are thinking of withdrawing your offer. When the agent does get hold of the seller he will tell him what a prat he is and how he has nearly lost (or actually lost) his buyer by messing about.

silvercar

Contact the lender/ surveyor and tell them to hold off on the sale. They should refund the survey fee if the survey is cancelled.