Sellers have "accepted" our offer, but have nowhere to go.

The_Big_Seedy_Bun

Hey,

We're first time buyers and are renting at the moment. The landlord will want us to commit to another 6 month tenancy in a few months so I'm obviously keen to be gone before then. (There's no way we can afford to cover mortgage and rent).

We put a few offers in on a place we liked some weeks ago, all of which were rejected.

The EA messed us around a bit, dangling the carrot, and after a while eventually called again yesterday to dangle the carrot again.

To cut a long story short I said we'd need to see the property again before re-committing to our last offer and I didnt want to hear anything else about these sellers unless they'd accepted our final offer.

"Well, really, they have... subject to them finding somewhere to move to, and they've been looking really hard. Obviously its less than they wanted for it but... anyway when can you come for your third viewing?". He said.

I'm unclear as to what this really means. Would we be within our rights to ask for the property to be taken off the market, but not start committing ourselves to mortgage and legal fees until the sellers have decided where and when they are going to go?

I really dont want to commit to these costs and find in two months they still haven't found somewhere they like as then we'll probably have to pull out of the sale.

What would usually happen in these circumstances?

goldengirl28

OH this is an interesting one.

what will you do if it takes them 6mths to find somewhere to live?

Are they fully commiting to you? i would worry with them messing you around, would be a shame if the kept having viewings and took a higher offer 3 mths down the line

i'm in the opposite situation to you.

accepted and offer on our house, put an offer in on the house we liked, hubby got redundancy notice (he has a job interview in same company (different department, next week, so he might not have to leave) .

spoke to our buyer and explained the situation and he said he would progress slowly as he is living with family , so in no rush. the house we like they have put back on the market as they need to sell urgently (getting divorce)

when reduncancy sorted out we may put offer back on the house or buy somewhere cheaper that my wage can afford

forumgrazer

We had this happen to us twice already and have lost almost 5 months waiting for them to find their perfect property. Luckily we managed to postpone our valuation at the time. I'd only consider spending money on surveys if there was a real commitment to a realistic timescale or that they move into rented. If you can speak to them one to one (either on a weekend/evening viewing) or via email you'll get a better sense of their motivation. Meanwhile keep looking - we've now found somewhere that's much better and much cheaper.

The_Big_Seedy_Bun

Thats interesting thanks.

We will meet them again on the weekend for the third viewing. According to the EAs they have found somewhere and changed their minds several times. Certainly at viewing #1 and #2 they were all set to move into a chain free place.

So something has gone wrong with that.

I am concerned theyre flaky sellers. They dont need to move they just want to.

The house was valued between £220k and £240k. Our Best and Final Offer, which we made after it had been on the market only a couple of weeks, was £220k.

They turned all the offers down with no attempt to negotiate and eventually the EA said he thought they wanted £240k. Obviously some weeks later they have started to rethink: but, my concern is theyre just going to try and use their proceedable position to try and knock down other vendors; and if they dont succeed they'll just meander along.

The EA is no help and just wants to push us into committing to the property and using their finance services.

We cant wait months as we will have to re-sign our tenancy in 3 months (we'd pretty much resigned ourselves to this) , or affford to walk away from all the arrangement fees,. But I dont want to lose the house.

Dont know what to do really.

G_M

as we will have to re-sign our tenancy in 3 months

Why? If the LL wants you to sign a new 6 month contract, politely decline. You will then automatically become periodic tenants.

Your tenancy will roll on month by month. The terms are exactly as before except that the LL must give you 2 months notice and you must give him 1 months notice (broadly. come back here for precise advice when you are giving notice).

If the LL insists on a new 6 months, try to find out why. At the end of the day, if you refuse to sign it (as it commits you to 6 months) he has only 2 options
1) let you go periodic or
2) give you notice (which he has to do properly anyway, via a S21 notice giving you 2 months notice)

If he does that, he immediatly has the expense of a void (gap between tenants with no rent) + advertising + new tenant vetting etc etc.

Most LLs would rather keep a good tenant in situ as long as possible.

forumgrazer

You're in a very good position to buy so keep that in mind through all this. If you want to move in three months you're going to need to get things going now - the average time for conveyancing is 8-12 weeks. This being the case flaky sellers are not a good idea. Try not to advance this sale with valuations etc until you get some reassurance that they can meet your timescales.

Meanwhile keep looking for other chain free properties if the 3 months is critical. I'd also keep in touch with your mortgage advisor to check that the application doesn't get closed down due to inactivity if things go on hold - this cost us 3 weeks waiting to get the application reopened when our advisor wasn't able to confirm we were still proceeding over xmas. You can usually change properties fairly easily if your mortgage amount and LTV doesn't go up.

Good luck... and enjoy venting to MSE

princessamy86

Why do you have to re-sign your tenancy? Could you not move on to a periodic tenancy which is on a month by month basis? If you signed for, say, 6 months and that is nearly over then it would automatically roll over on to a periodic tenancy without you having to sign any new contracts.

The_Big_Seedy_Bun

I've spoken to my mortgage broker and he said some products dont apply fees until exchange, others apply them at the point of application. The mortgage market it so small at the moment we might not get much choice.

The solicitors are no sale no fee.

The tenancy the LL uses (sort of) year long AST, the first 6 months are fixed, the last 6 months are periodic. He then asks you to repeat this arrangement for another year.

I haven't brought up with him about going periodic and not committing again. He's a decent enough guy so he may go for that, or he might not.

I dont especially want to upset him as we may need him for a reference if this buying thing doesnt work out.

If we were definitely going to be able to buy a place we could go into a short term let, or, god forbid, stay with the in laws. But this would have to be very temporary.

delmar39

Look at this another way. Your seller isn't looking at other properties until they've accepted a firm offer on theirs, which is the right way of doing things really. How would you feel if in 2 years time someone viewed your property and made an offer, only for you to find that they hadn't sold yet or accepted an offer on the place they're selling? The person who has bought our place didn't start looking until they had accepted an offer and on the basis that they had done we accepted and took it off the market. Some sellers won't even entertain viewings if the potential buyer isn't in a position to proceed.

They've obvioulsy realised your in a good position to proceed so have accepted your offer. Insist they take it off the market. If the rent situ applies as G_M sets out above then don't proceed with shelling out money for valuation and mortgage fee until they've had an offer accepted on a place. Get your mortgage offer sorted and then proceed when you're certain that they're moving along.

G_M

The tenancy the LL uses (sort of) year long AST, the first 6 months are fixed, the last 6 months are periodic. He then asks you to repeat this arrangement for another year.

Doesn't really make sense. Can you post the exact wording? And are you approaching the 6 month point or the 12 month point?

Either you have a 12 month fixed term contract (prehaps with a 6 month break clause?), or a 6 month fixed term. A contract of 12 months with the last 6 months being periodic does not make sense.

However, whatever the wording, when it expires, there is no reason not to go periodic. A 'decent' (and sensible) LL will not kick you out just because you've chosen to go periodic.

The_Big_Seedy_Bun

I dont want to get too sidetracked about the tenancy because its not the main issue. Lets just say I would really like to ensure that if the seller accepts our offer that we can minimise the chance of them taking a long time to find somewhere.

Or at least reduce our exposure to the risk of having to pay solicitors and arrangement fees before they have had reasonable time to do so.

Any ideas on how to, accept their acceptance, as it were. If we do and assuming they dont change their mind again.