Agent won't let me view repossessed house!

aralkaa

Hi there,

I'm desperate for a piece of advice from somebody who was in the same situation. A couple of months ago I've arranged a viewing of a lovely property which, unfortunately, was cancelled at the last minute as somebody put an offer in and it was accepted. Since then I've viewed a couple more houses but nothing was big/cheap enough in our part of Scotland. Recently I was told by a friend that if a house is a repo (and this one is) the estate agent is under obligation to keep advertising it untill the exchange. So this morning I've e-mailed the agent and was told that they haven't exchanged the contracts but the bank suspended all viewings and will not accept any more offers at this stage. Now I have a strong suspicion that the price they're getting for it might be less than I'm prepared to offer and as a first time buyer with mortgage sorted I feel that they should at least let me view it. I've asked the agent to give me seller's details so that my solicitor could try contacting him but they refused. Are they allowed to do that? I honestly can't understand why the seller wouldn't even want to hear about other offers? Seems just a bit weird, as after all they have a duty to get for repossessed house as much as they can.

Is there anything I can do about it?

sonastin

In England, I would suggest looking on the land registry website to find out which lender has the first charge on the property and then trying to track down their repossessions department. Does Scotland have a similar register that you could check?

kingstreet

Is the property mortgageable?

aralkaa

Yes it is. It's actually in a pretty decend condition. Maybe a couple of '2' on home report, but that's about it.

kingstreet

There's a boiler attached to any central heating system?

I guess there's an easily visible bathroom and obvious kitchen fittings from what you've said...

aralkaa

I haven't seen the actuall property as my viewing was cancelled but the home report clearly states that it offers adequate security for normal mortgage lending. It also says that there's a combi boiler in the kitchen and I've seen bathroom/kitchen pictures- all the fittings are there.

aralkaa

I've just had a chat with bank's possession team. Person I spoke to had no idea why would the viewings be suspended but 'if it says no further viewings then there's no further viewings'. Not very helpful, is it? Well, I guess that's it then

roger196

This is , I believe the position in England, I realise the Scottish legal sytem is different.

The seller of a repo property is bound to get the best possible price. This reduces the value of the shortfall that the unfortunate owner is still liable for, (assumes he does not go bankrupt). Explain to the repossession team that someone could contact the previous owner and inform him that the best possible price was not obtained. That the amount recoverable would be likely to be reduced by the courts by the estimated undervalue.
If you get nowhere with this chat, have a chat with the bank's complaint team.

rpc

I may be wrong, but I think gazumping during missives can be difficult. Although no binding contract exists until conclusion of missives, I remember my sol telling me that Law Society rules preventing them from continuing to act if their seller client attempts to accept a better offer after one has been accepted.

This seems to be covered by http://www.lawscot.org.uk/rules-and-guidance/section-f/division-c-conveyancing/guidance/gazumping,-gazundering-and-closing-dates

That probably explains why there are no further viewings.

steve1980

You've not viewed the property, you're going on the information in the Home Report and you want to gazump someone!

Let is be and move on.

roger196

rpc wrote: »

I may be wrong, but I think gazumping during missives can be difficult. Although no binding contract exists until conclusion of missives, I remember my sol telling me that Law Society rules preventing them from continuing to act if their seller client attempts to accept a better offer after one has been accepted.

This seems to be covered by http://www.lawscot.org.uk/rules-and-guidance/section-f/division-c-conveyancing/guidance/gazumping,-gazundering-and-closing-dates
That probably explains why there are no further viewings.

The following para from the above appears to give a letout

Different considerations may apply however to sales of commercial property and to sellers owing statutory or fiduciary duties to others.
Here the seller owes a duty to the original owner to minimise the shortfall. An interesting point to discuss with the repo team.