When is a property taken off the market?

jennfercain

Hi

I'm a FTB and have put in an offer for a house in Manchester. The asking price is £139,950 and I have offered £135,000. I have also informed the EA that this will be the most I will offer.

If my offer it accepted (I believe it will be as they're taking there time deciding) will the property be taken off the market? I did tell the estate agent that I would like the property to be taken off the market if the offer was accepted

When enquiring about other properties, I have found that upon ringing the EA's many are sold STC. If I was buying one of these properties I would be unhappy that it was still being advertised as this increases risk of someone putting in higher offer once I've gone ahead with the survey.

Could I give the EA a time scale in which I want the property to be removed from all of the advertising web sites (four in this case)? Would this be a reasonable request.

Thanks

ginger_nuts

have you any reason to think the EV or vendor will continue to show the property if your offer is accepted ?
They are often advertised as sold stc .An EA may take your details if you enquire about a property that is sold stc so if the sale falls through the EA may have another buyer lined up .
you can request the EA remove the property from websites but they dont have to and they work for the vendor and not you.

Tiger_greeneyes

If your offer is accepted but the vendor wants to continue marketing, I would make it a condition that the house is taken off the market once my solicitor is in touch - or at the very latest, when my survey is booked. You need to prove your commitment, sometimes

You may well be lucky - they may withdraw from the market immediately... although your is £5k lower than the market value - so it's anyones guess what they'll do.

Fingers crossed it all works out for you

jennfercain

I've just had my offer accepted and I've found out that the property will be marked as 'under offer' on the web sites and the EA is in the process of asking if the vendor would mind taking the property off the market, we are the only people to have made an offer so hopefully no one else will offer more.

Thanks for peoples advice.

Tiger_greeneyes

If the vendors refuse to stop marketing, try talking to the EA again - ask them to request the vendor gives you a chance to prove your good intentions by putting a temporary embargo on marketing for a couple of weeks until your survey is booked - that way you can prove you're serious as you'll have spent money backing up your commitment to buy.

The EA will try their best for you as they want to hang onto you - you're the only person to have made an offer, after all

courtjester

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

The EA will try their best for you as they want to hang onto you

The EA will try their best for you because they want to hang on to a sale ANY sale.... even though they are *supposed* to be acting for the vendor, not you.

There is no legal right to exclusivity to a property and you can't demand that a property is taken off the market merely because it is under offer. You can certainly ask and some vendors will agree, but this is part of the negotiation.

Buyers really need to offer some consideration in return for this one-sided arrangement - like a non-refundable deposit or the full asking price conditional on no more viewers /offers for an agreed period - only if the deposit is provided and an agreement drawn up is any of this binding - either side can pull out of the sale without liability to the other at any time...

The term 'sold stc' or 'sold subject to contract' is meaningless legally. It arises from the regulations imposed on estate agents about having 'SOLD' signs outside properties, which no longer advertise the property, but are there solely to promote the agent - this is contrary to planning regulation and hence agents are required to show the fine print "subject to contract" on the sign to demonstrate that supposedly they are still marketing the house and the sign is justified. SSTC has come into common parlance due to this practice, but it remains a completely worthless term.

Tiger_greeneyes

courtjester wrote: »

The EA will try their best for you because they want to hang on to a sale ANY sale.... even though they are *supposed* to be acting for the vendor, not you.

"Supposed to be" being the operative phrase, Courtjester, I'm either a cynic or a realist