Advice re request to to pull house from market

deprivedofsleep

Hi folks,

looking for some advice with regards to asking a vendor and EA to remove a property advertised as for sale off the market, so that it's marked 'under offer' or 'sold stc'

When our offer was first accepted they refused to take it down because understandably they wanted to see an AIP/ proof of solicitors before they took those actions. They also said at this point that the vendor would not be taking any further viewing and any interests they received from that point on would be kept on file.

We have now provided them with both AIP and solicitors details who has been instructed to proceed with the sale, but now the EA are saying they don't mark their properties 'under offer' only 'sold stc' and that they won't do this now until they have access for survey. They have also then said as a commitment from the vendor that there will be no further viewings and any interests received will be left on file! That's exactly what she said at our first request!!

We feel they keep moving the goal post for us and we have moved extremely fast to meet their requests. We also feel that they are taking the p*$s to put it lightly. We are chain free and we have a feeling the vendor want to move quickly as it is a divorce situation.

I feel like pulling out on the principle that they keep playing games and going back on what was originally agreed. What can we do to a=have them take the property down?

gemmalouanna

Just get the survey booked in for next couple of days then problem sorted.

I think it is pretty standard to only see an offer as serious once the buyer books in survey. We didn't put an offer in for our house until our buyer had booked their survey.

deprivedofsleep

gemmalouanna wrote: »

Just get the survey booked in for next couple of days then problem sorted.

I think it is pretty standard to only see an offer as serious once the buyer books in survey. We didn't put an offer in for our house until our buyer had booked their survey.

surely we have shown a great level of commitment incurring legal costs as well as financial, and what about the the vendor's attempt to show a heightened commitment by not actually doing do?

GAH

I don't think it is unfair of the agent to mark the property as under offer or sstc until you have a survey booked, as up until this point no financial commitment has been made.

After this the agent shoud change the status though.

You aren't able to force the agent to change the status though.

It really comes down to how honest the agent/vendor is about accepting viewings though, they maybe just keeping it on and taking names of people that in the event you pulled out, they have people they can contact.

I would imagine it is more the agent wanting to keep it on than the vendor, so if they won't take it off, maybe a direct conversation with vendor would help.

Again it comes down to the discretion of the vendor, but just because a property is marked 'under offer', this doesn't stop previous viewers coming back and making offers.

gemmalouanna

In my experience of buying houses what you have described is what always happens....no more viewings on the house to give you chance to sort mortgage, survey, instruct solicitor etc.

Are you not waiting for the survey results to see if the house is ok before paying the solicitor to go ahead with searches etc?

Itismehonest

I think many vendors & EAs are now less inclined to take a property off the market because there have been so many more instances of deals falling through due to buyers not actually being in a position to proceed.

You sound like you have been completely up-front but you might be surprised at how many people aren't & who try to look like they are in a position to buy when, in fact, they aren't & just want the property removed from the market to give them more time to try to find the funds. There's even examples of this sort of thing being discussed on MSE.

From a vendors point of view it makes sense to be sure that there is nothing obvious which will stop the sale going through before committing themselves to refusing other viewings & taking their place off the market.

deprivedofsleep

GAH wrote: »

You aren't able to force the agent to change the status though.

It really comes down to how honest the agent/vendor is about accepting viewings though, they maybe just keeping it on and taking names of people that in the event you pulled out, they have people they can contact.

I would imagine it is more the agent wanting to keep it on than the vendor, so if they won't take it off, maybe a direct conversation with vendor would help.

Hi, thanks for the reply, this is exactly my thoughts but i'm not sure if it is considered underhand to speak to the vendor directly. Is this ok to do?

pmlindyloo

Personally I always think it is a good idea to keep in contact with the vendors.

My experience is that EAs often 'do their own thing' whereas they should be acting on the instructions of the vendor. This may become more apparent as the sale progresses. Always good to have direct contact so that you and your vendor know exactly what is happening.

Having said that I would try to look at the issue re: the current status of the property from the point of view of the vendor and would agree that house sales do fall through and the vendor would want to keep all options open.

GAH

deprivedofsleep wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the reply, this is exactly my thoughts but i'm not sure if it is considered underhand to speak to the vendor directly. Is this ok to do?

Yes, When I have bought and sold in the past I have always maintained a good relationship with people I bought from. I think it shows you are that bit more serious.

I always swapped numbers, then that way you can contact directly if you wanted to re-view to measure up curtains and other bits.

I would say its more than likely the agent are keeping it on, to make it look like they have more properties available than they actually do, and they can also still have new applicants enquiring but diverting them to other properties.

deprivedofsleep

Plindyloo & Gah,

when we spoke to the vendor on our visits she was extremely nice, honest and open to discussions. she said to us from the very start that she was very straight forward and seemed true to this from the onset and she also mentioned that she expects the same from her buyers. we left those visits with a gut feeling that that she was exactly that and haven't changed our minds about her since. our only regret is that we didn't leave our details. my partner normally leaves his card, but he forgot them.

now what has been happening in our communications with the EA just seems completely contradictory. I have at times felt like writing a quick note of our details and posting it through her letter box, but what do i write -we don't trust your EA (after she told us how impressed she was by them) and we would prefer to exchange details so we can communicate directly? I don't want any bad feeling I just want to be able to communicate directly if the vendor is ok with that.:(

motherofstudents

I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Yes, buying and selling houses is stressful but I don't think the EA has done anything wrong. It is normal practice until the survey has been done. If you do want to write a note to the vendors maybe just say you meant to give your contact details when you viewed but forgot so here they are if you have any queries. That would leave it up to the vendor to contact you if she feels she needs or wants to. Good luck with it anyway, I hope it all goes smoothly for you (or as smoothly as these things can!)