Why should property under offer be taken off rightmove?

harrup

Didn't want to hijack another poster current thread but I have a question:

I've often read that a prospective buyer insists that the property is immediately taken off rightmove/primelocation and the EA's website once their offer has been accepted.

Just wondered whether this was a reasonable, usual request?

Whilst I understand the potential buyer's desire for this action....I'm a tad unclear why the EA & vendor would aquiesce to this demand. Simply due to the fact that an accepted offer is not legally binding.

Reason I'm asking: several years ago one of my previous (elderly) neighbours was trying to sell his house. The gentlemen he thought (!!) he sold it to - e.g offer accepted, house removed from websites, no further viewings accepted, etc - faffed him around for 8 months...and then disappeared without rhyme or reason.

From what I recall, after the time-waster had left, my neighbour insisted that the house remained on the EA's site and rightmove until STC. Which it did. It first showed "under offer" and then "STC". Memory slightly hazy but I think (ex) neighbour even accepted viewings until STC and the buyers - my new neighbours - were ok with that.

So what is the acccepted norm in this respect?

evoke

The buyer usually makes the offer on the condition that the vendor removes it from the market. I can't see much wrong with this situation. The buyer wants the reduce the chance of getting gazumped. The seller takes the risk that the buyer might pull out but a buyer wouldn't normally insist on the property being taken off the market unless he/she was fairly serious.

hazyjo

To have spent 8 months selling seems a bit extreme. Maybe your neighbour was slow in returning documents, etc, or couldn't find somewhere to go... with only one side of the story, it's hard to form an opinion and think that's how every house purchase should be. I wouldn't feel very comfortable at all, buying a house while it was still on the market and still receiving viewers. It can cost an awful lot of money to get to exchange, plus if in a chain, it would be a nightmare to lose it and for everyone remaining to be forced back to square one. Sometimes you have to put a little bit of trust into property selling/buying. If someone was buying and hadn't had a survey done, or instructed solicitors, I'd be making threats after around four weeks to not sell it to them. Mind you, our buyer took several weeks to get his survey done, but then the EAs knew him and had said he was doing stuff overseas then starting a new business in Brum. No saying he won't run away before exchange, but he has been using solicitors, paid us cash for a number of items, and had a full structural survey done.

I definitely wouldn't contemplate buying something that was kept on the market. Stressful enough as it is!

Jx