Exchange of Contracts - 10% deposit

PottyHouse_2

delmar39 wrote: »

Thanks for this. I'll get in touch with our solicitor now that I'm a bit clearer. Our purchase is a strange one in that the house isn't on the market - we came across it through my brother in law who works for the firm building it (a local family firm) so for a small deposit the builder agreed that it would be ours for six months to give us time to sell, which we did. So, as things stand, we don't have to pay anything to secure it it's just a case of selling and paying full price. The builder isn't expecting us to do this until the 26th Feb, so I'm trying to get our sale secured asap so we can commit to getting the new place kitted out prior to moving in.

Hope this helps ??

I think I guessed you were buying a "new build" from the wording you were using.
If I recall rightly when we bought our "newbuild" and were selling our first property we put down a £500 reservation fee to secure the property with the builders. I guess thats what you did ??
That was in the June.

We then exchanged contracts with Buyers and House Builder in the July - our Buyers were FTB with no property to sell so we exchanged pretty quickly - property was due to be completed in the September which is when we SHOULD have completed ! (*the house WAS NOT FINISHED UNTIL THE DECEMBER - just to let you know!!).

So I guess we paid the 10% deposit to the Builders in the July so they had us by the "danglies" so that we could not pull out without losing a lot of money (see above*) whatever then happened in the "chain" - vice versa for our Buyers !

(to clarify again the 10% came from the equity of our property, we did NOT have to find 10% CASH of the purchase price).

1. I think you need to subtract your "deposit / reservation fee" from the purchase price.

2. I don't think this would be enough of a deposit on which you would exchange contracts - it should normally be 5 or 10%.

3. Although our house wasnt finished as promised this was through a National Housebuyer on a site of more than 80 homes - hopefully yours is a "one off" and will be finished in time !!!

4. Your Solicitor should be able to clarify and explain everything, that is what you are paying them for.

Good luck !

delmar39

PottyHouse wrote: »

Hope this helps ??

I think I guessed you were buying a "new build" from the wording you were using.
If I recall rightly when we bought our "newbuild" and were selling our first property we put down a £500 reservation fee to secure the property with the builders. I guess thats what you did ??
That was in the June.

We then exchanged contracts with Buyers and House Builder in the July - our Buyers were FTB with no property to sell so we exchanged pretty quickly - property was due to be completed in the September which is when we SHOULD have completed ! (*the house WAS NOT FINISHED UNTIL THE DECEMBER - just to let you know!!).

So I guess we paid the 10% deposit to the Builders in the July so they had us by the "danglies" so that we could not pull out without losing a lot of money (see above*) whatever then happened in the "chain" - vice versa for our Buyers !

(to clarify again the 10% came from the equity of our property, we did NOT have to find 10% CASH of the purchase price).

1. I think you need to subtract your "deposit / reservation fee" from the purchase price.

2. I don't think this would be enough of a deposit on which you would exchange contracts - it should normally be 5 or 10%.

3. Although our house wasnt finished as promised this was through a National Housebuyer on a site of more than 80 homes - hopefully yours is a "one off" and will be finished in time !!!

4. Your Solicitor should be able to clarify and explain everything, that is what you are paying them for.

Good luck !

Thanks for this v helpful! I've emailed our Solicitor for a steer in the right direction. Our new build is on a plot of land in the middle of a village so you're right a one off. Like I said above, it isn't on the market and as it's a small building firm all their available trades are working on it around the clock. We go in every week and it's almost done. However, we have a fallback in that we can stay with the inlaws for a week or two if we sell and don't buy at the same time. Most important thing is for us to sell. Thanks again for taking the time to reply - I appreciate you giving me the benefit of your experience. Stressful times....!

G_M

Why on earth do people pay solicitors good money and then not get them (the professionals) to explain what is going on.

This confused thread is so unecessary - ask the professional you are paying!

delmar39

G_M wrote: »

Why on earth do people pay solicitors good money and then not get them (the professionals) to explain what is going on.

This confused thread is so unecessary - ask the professional you are paying!

Thanks for this. If you read the etiquette of this forum you'll see there's no such thing as a silly question! That's my first point. My second point is that my solicitor is out of the office today so I'm trying to establish what the process is before she gets back tomorrow by using the knowledge and experience of the people who contribute to this forum. So, by going through the confusion above, I'm now in a position to ask my solicitor a less confused question! This might not be helpful to you, but it is to me. Plus, there would be no forum if we all used the professionals to give us advice. So, I am going to ask my solicitor as you suggest, but I was trying to establish my facts via this site first, which I am totally entitled to do!

PottyHouse_2

G_M wrote: »

Why on earth do people pay solicitors good money and then not get them (the professionals) to explain what is going on.

This confused thread is so unecessary - ask the professional you are paying!

Nobody is making you read this or making you reply !

PottyHouse_2

delmar39 wrote: »

Thanks for this. If you read the etiquette of this forum you'll see there's no such thing as a silly question! That's my first point. My second point is that my solicitor is out of the office today so I'm trying to establish what the process is before she gets back tomorrow by using the knowledge and experience of the people who contribute to this forum. So, by going through the confusion above, I'm now in a position to ask my solicitor a less confused question! This might not be helpful to you, but it is to me. Plus, there would be no forum if we all used the professionals to give us advice. So, I am going to ask my solicitor as you suggest, but I was trying to establish my facts via this site first, which I am totally entitled to do!

Too right, as a House Buyer/Seller myself this whole situation is so stressful and can become the bain of your life!!

Its good to get simple advice, thoughts and sometimes opinions(!?) from like minded or those in similar situations from a FORUM like this one.

Sometimes your Solicitor may be busy or in meetings so this is a quick and easy way to get an immediate response !!!

GSXRCarlos

with respect, ring your solicitors

they work for you, ring and get them to explain

then ask them to confirm in writing (email) so you have a record of what has been discussed

delmar39

Thanks for all your comments. I know that I should be asking my solicitor this question, but as mentioned above she is not available today so I was after some quick, straightforward and good humoured feedback before getting in touch with her tomorrow.

mrsw1983

To be fair, I've just asked my solicitor the same thing, and he said he's not yet ready to draw up the financial statement and he'll let me know how much we have to pay on exchange once he's done that!

delmar39

mrsw1983 wrote: »

To be fair, I've just asked my solicitor the same thing, and he said he's not yet ready to draw up the financial statement and he'll let me know how much we have to pay on exchange once he's done that!

Thanks for this. I'll hopefully get some feedback from my solicitor today. How's the whole process going?