When should a buyer reasonably expect property to be taken off the market?

moneysavingplumber

We are attempting to buy a house at the moment. Originally the agent, during negotiations, suggested all viewings would be cancelled and the house taken off of the market once a satisfasctory offer was received. Once the offer was accepted, he then stated it would remain on the market until the survey was booked-in by the lender. Today I received confirmation of the sale, stating that it will remain on the market until the survey has been carried out :mad:, and seems to suggest it will stay on the market virtually until completion.

I'm about to stick a rocket up the agent, who is predictably unavailable to take my call at present.

What is reasonable to expect here?

Thanks in advance.

ILW

Unless you have agreed in writing that it is a condition of your offer that it will not be marketed any more, they will probably leave it on until exchange. They would be daft not to as all sorts can go wrong.

moneysavingplumber

ILW wrote: »

Unless you have agreed in writing that it is a condition of your offer that it will not be marketed any more, they will probably leave it on until exchange. They would be daft not to as all sorts can go wrong.

That's fair enough, but this situation gives the impression of hanging on for a higher offer, which could happen anyway I know (unlikely in this climate though), but doesn't offer any gesture of good faith to me or any gesture of committment to sell to me, as it's not even marked as 'sold STC' on their listing.

Estate agents making false promises....who'd have thought it eh?

Cannon_Fodder

Disagree with ILW. If they say until survey booked/performed, then it should come off at that point, as it could be weeks/months until exchange.

Should a buyer have to fork out for a survey, without a reassurance from the vendor that it will not be wasted money?

Which party has the upper hand will vary with the market activity in any given area, or the level of interest in any given property.

Ideally both sides should give a little and use common sense. Its hardly difficult to reinstate a Rightmove ad, if taken 'offline' for 72 hours until the buyer discovers they can't get a mortgage/survey. EAs should keep phone numbers of those expressing an interest who were too late in case it falls through, etc.

Agents might be fed up dealing with those buyers who don't even have a mortgage lender in mind, let alone a product lined up, so would want to push the buyer along to instruct survey quickly. Sort of fair enough.

As getting your survey instructed/booked could take less than 24 hours, it could be off the market tomorrow, if you push on with it.

RenovationMan

The house we bought was still advertised as 'for sale, subject to contract' after we moved in. The For Sale sign had a 'sold' panel nailed on quickly after we had an offer accepted but only for about 3 weeks until our structural survey came back and we requested the previous owners to do some remedial work. The 'sold' panel quickly came off and was never put back on. I ended up having to take down the For Sale sign myself a couple of weeks after we moved in. As revenge I sawed up the wooden bits for my wood burning stove and threw away the plastic 'for sale' bit.

The estate agent website still has the house details (with 'Sold' status) and I'd like them to stop showing potential burglers the inside of our house. Does anyone know if I can stop them listing our house?

ILW

moneysavingplumber wrote: »

That's fair enough, but this situation gives the impression of hanging on for a higher offer, which could happen anyway I know (unlikely in this climate though), but doesn't offer any gesture of good faith to me or any gesture of committment to sell to me, as it's not even marked as 'sold STC' on their listing.

Estate agents making false promises....who'd have thought it eh?

Just get them to put their promise in writing.

googler

RenovationMan wrote: »

The estate agent website still has the house details (with 'Sold' status) and I'd like them to stop showing potential burglers the inside of our house. Does anyone know if I can stop them listing our house?

Tell them they no longer have a valid instruction to 'sell' the property, and sugggest that if they don't remove it, you'll tell the local Trading Standards office.....

sonastin

RenovationMan wrote: »

I ended up having to take down the For Sale sign myself a couple of weeks after we moved in. As revenge I sawed up the wooden bits for my wood burning stove and threw away the plastic 'for sale' bit.

My OH threatened to post his board through their letter box if the EA didn't come and remove it immediately once he'd moved in. That got it shifted pretty quickly :rotfl:

I think it is fair enough that it stays on the market until you have booked a survey because you could be one of those buyers who goes round making offers on places for fun.

Once you've committed some money to the purchase though, its only fair that it is at least marked as "under offer" or "sstc" to give you a fighting chance at buying it. Touting for new buyers while you're doing your best to get to exchange is just plain rude :cool:

Nanao_2

I was in the exact situation as you a few weeks ago, the house would not be taken off the market until the survey had been done. I got some advice here and after finding out more about the house it made sense to me about why this was the case.

Read here
Also FTBFun was in a similar situation as well.

(Our purchase fell through in the end but not because of this, it was due to other reasons.)

jozbo

I'm a bit confused with the order that things run -
If you make an offer and have it accepted, do you have to wait until your mortgage is sorted (my bank said 4-8 weeks) before you can book the survey (via them)?
Or do they do the survey before they have agreed to lend?
OR is this why it's best to go with an independent surveyor as they will do it ahead of the mortgage being agreed and so the property can be taken off the market sooner
?

Jowo_2

sonastin wrote: »

...
I think it is fair enough that it stays on the market until you have booked a survey because you could be one of those buyers who goes round making offers on places for fun.

I agree about the timing - a property should stay on the market until after the survey when it should be marked as 'sold subject to contract' if the sale is still proceeding.

My mate accepted an offer for their flat from a cash buyer who demanded on the day the offer was accepted that the property was withdrawn from the market and marked 'sold'.

This was politely rejected, saying it would remain on the property websites until a survey was arranged but that all potential viewers of the property would be told that it was under offer.

Around 2 weeks later, the buyer, who hasn't arranged a survey but dallied waiting for another viewing with a relative, then pulls out.

If the seller had accepted their demands 2 pull it off the market at that stage, they would have wasted 2 weeks of marketing by a timewaster.