House buying - the legal stuff

leftieM

I posted over in the housebuying forum but no joy so I'm trying the locals! The system here seems different to GB.
I lost a buyer for my house recently. It was 9 weeks down the line and I think my ignorance let it go that far - if I had known what to expect then maybe we could have got a new buyer sooner. So what should happen when? The EA was on about the new buyers coming in to sign but does that mean anything? Is there any legally binding moment before completion? The EA was pretty vague about that.
So if anyone who's been through this can offer advice I'd be very grateful. I'm wondering if I should ring the solicitor regularly for example to keep them on their toes!

SteveyJC

AFAIK until both parties have signed, there is no "argreement", well, legally anyway. Look on the bright side though, your house will prob sell for more now!

Keep a careful eye on the estate agent. I wouldn't trust them with a jar of s**t!

IvanOpinion

I got caught by this back in the early 90's .. except I was the buyer. We had got our house sold, had found another house and agreed a price. The buyers of our house had signed, we went in and signed both contracts (one to sell one to buy) and the peron we were buying off was to sign later that day. Six weeks later she had still not signed but kept giving excuses about being ill, having trouble ageeing a price on the property she was intereted in etc. ... a couple of days prior to the agreed completion date she still had not signed but was promising she would get in ... we had removal vans an everything arranged.

At 3PM on the day prior to the move she decided she no longer wanted to sell. We had no choice but to get out of our old house and had 24 hours to find somewhere to live .. fortunately the estate agent had a conscience and felt so bad about what had happened he managed to find us a rental property.

I asked my solicitor about making a claim to cover expenses related to the house including survey fee etc. He said I had not claim since nothing was agreed. Ever sine then I make sure that I am second person to sign any contracts.

Ivan

leftieM

I suppose there is so much trust involved in this process. I'll talk to the solicitor about not sending our contracts off to the buyers before the vendor has been in to sign her's. I'll keep on to the EA. They tend to need a nudge to keep on top of things I've discovered (the hard way!)
It was so ironic really - I was worried about being gazumped and thought our buyers were sure things - they seemed so keen. Instead our vendor has been a dream and the solicitor twice said things should be happening more quickly with our buyers. The EA made soothing noises and we sailed on in ignorance.

ginger_nuts

A guy a work recently told me he was going to remortgage his house and buy an ex NIHE flat for his FIL .The flat owner had agreed to sell for £50,000 .
The guy remortgaged his house( Fixed rate for 2 years) a week before he was due to sign the contract for the flat .The flat owner then decided £50,000 was to cheap and increased the price to £70,000 and then to £90,000.The guy now couldnt afford the flat but cant repay the extra £50,000 without a penalty.

when I bought my last place the EA asked for £1000 deposit just to keep the buyer happy .If everyone where to give the EA £1000 thats a lot off interest on someone elses money .

nelliebag

Ive bought and sold a few houses over the years and now work for an IFA - my advice is that the contract for any property is not legally binding if there are any sujective clauses in it (whether buying or selling) ie contract signed subject to: survey: mortgage; seller having agreed another property; planning permission for say garage etc. The money's not yours until its in your pocket and the house is not yours until the keys are. Buyers and sellers can back out for numerous reasons and thats the way it works in Northern Ireland unfortunately. Ive also bought in Scotland and there you have to put your money where your mouth is to show that you are a serious buyer/seller and there are serious penalties if you back out. Hope this is helpful (sorry its not cheery).

nelliebag

Ginger nuts
separate comment on your friend's situation with the remortgage - if he didnt draw down (ie use) the mortgage then the lender shouldnt have too much of a problem except that your friend has probably forked out a fair amount in fees.

leftieM

I've got to face it - there is no way I can bypass the stress of this situation!!

IvanOpinion

LegftieM, house selling and buying is stressful, however you just have to handle each problem as it arises. Since 9 weeks has passed I would be inclined to push the price of your house up a bit. Once everything eventually gets signed sealed and delivered you will look back on it as nothing more than a minor irritation .. things will work out for the best

ivan

NAR

LeftieM, the price must have increased by at least £5000 in 9 weeks, so increase your price accordingly.

leftieM

Maybe it wasn't clear from my OP but we've agreed the sale again and are going through the legal process for the second time. And yes, the house did seem to rise in value in the intervening period. There was an embarrassingly large difference between sale price 1 and 2 which I was a little shocked at tbh. We put the house back on at the first price we got for it as that was what we needed but there were a few interested parties and the price got pushed up.....what can you do!