Offer accepted but agent has put property back on the market

mindmatrix

Hi,

Our offer on a property was accepted but within 2.5 weeks the agent has re-advertised the property without informing us. They've been given solicitor details and the mortage in principle. We've also kept them in the loop as we chase the infamous HSBC mortage panel solicitors for updates.

What concerns us the most is that the advert has new pictures so the action is very deliberate. Anything we can do to force them to remove it? Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

McKneff

Its pretty normal for it to stay on the market.

You should have made it a proviso when you made your offer that if it was accepted it would be taken off the market.

Unfortunately, buyers back out right at the last minute so you could tell them how committed you are and ask them nicely to remove it.

You cant force them to do anything.

ognum

Have you had a survey completed yet?

Some EAs and sellers consider the survey to be an important point on the purchase journey and until that is completed will not take the property off the market.

Why don't you phone and ask why?

cajef

mindmatrix wrote: »

They've been given solicitor details and the mortage in principle. We've also kept them in the loop as we chase the infamous HSBC mortage panel solicitors for updates.

A mortgage in principle is not a confirmed mortgage offer, when the survey is done they may not offer you the full amount you need, the agent is looking after the vendors interests you may pull out, they are entitled to keep it on the market until you are in a position to proceed.

mindmatrix

DaisyWheel wrote: »

Why has it come back on? You need to speak to the EA to find out.

If you have been dragging your heels, or offered well below the asking price, they may decide to put it back on.

You may also want your solicitor to remind the other side that the offer was made contingent on the property being taken off the market, and that if marketing doesn't stop within 24 hours you will may withdraw your offer

Hi, the asking price was £240-£250K and we offered £245K. HSBC's panel solicitors have been a bit of a nightmare though. The HSBC panel solicitors say they haven't been instructed by HSBC but HSBC says they'll instruct once they've approved the application. We have advised the EA of this and the EA was already aware of the HSBC's reputation when we informed them we'd be using them. We'll contact them tomorrow and ask them to remove it.

mindmatrix

McKneff wrote: »

Its pretty normal for it to stay on the market.

You should have made it a proviso when you made your offer that if it was accepted it would be taken off the market.

Unfortunately, buyers back out right at the last minute so you could tell them how committed you are and ask them nicely to remove it.

You cant force them to do anything.

We had asked them that we would require the property to be taken off the market and we were told the seller had agreed to this. It's just odd that they'd pulled the ad and have now made it live again. We'll contact the agent tomorrow and ask them to remove it.

cajef

mindmatrix wrote: »

We'll contact them tomorrow and ask them to remove it.

They will most likely say that when you are in a position to proceed it will then be put as 'Sold subject to contract' until then they will be keeping it on the market.

Gromitt

The vendors may be taking advice that if they leave it on the market they could accept a better offer. eg. someone who is proceedable. They might also be thinking its taking longer then they would like, and by putting it back on the market it will make you more pro-active in pushing through the sale.

The last house we bought, it wasn't even surveyed by the bank, but we did have an LTV of < 50%, which could be the reason. They still tried to charge for it however, but after a formal complaint, they refunded (they got the house date wrong despite the fact that theres a stone in the front of the house stating the year). The house wasn't removed from the market until the EA was informed of evidence of funding. The same will likely happen here.

POPPYOSCAR

McKneff wrote: »

Its pretty normal for it to stay on the market.

You should have made it a proviso when you made your offer that if it was accepted it would be taken off the market.

Unfortunately, buyers back out right at the last minute so you could tell them how committed you are and ask them nicely to remove it.

You cant force them to do anything.

Even that does not mean anything. We had this in writing and paid a non -refundable deposit and the EA still put forward a higher offer to the vendor.

DVardysShadow

mindmatrix wrote: »

Hi, the asking price was £240-£250K and we offered £245K. HSBC's panel solicitors have been a bit of a nightmare though. The HSBC panel solicitors say they haven't been instructed by HSBC but HSBC says they'll instruct once they've approved the application. We have advised the EA of this and the EA was already aware of the HSBC's reputation when we informed them we'd be using them. We'll contact them tomorrow and ask them to remove it.

There is your reason. As your solicitors are not on the job yet and no survey presumably. the Agent is looking after his client's best interests. As the problems are well known in the industry, I doubt that the Agent will take the property off RM and show it as SSTC until the survey and solicitors are in place.

About your only option is to change lenders, whereupon the agent might be a good deal more helpful.

Gromitt

I just googled HSBC Panel Solicitors and the first page seems to be people complaining about the slowness of mortgages from people taking out HSBC mortgages. Something about only having 42 companies for their entire clientelle so everything drags along. Now EAs regard HSBC as being the slowest mortgage lender around. Apparently one 'easy' transaction started in January this year took 12 weeks to complete.