Is it ok for me to contact the house seller directly?

Hannah2809_2

Hi,

I am 8 weeks into the process of buying my first flat.

Our hold up is with the sellers. They needed to provide us with new lease packs as the ones the sent have passed the 3 month expiry date, our solicitor requested this from them 6 weeks ago and it has still not arrived.

Secondly, the lease says no wooden flooring in the flat, but the flat does have wooden flooring, so we have requested indemnity insurance.

I have had no updates from them for over 2 weeks and i don't know what they are actively doing. My solicitor says she will let me know when she is updated.

Would it be ok for me to give the seller a ring so i can make life simple and ask where the hold up is? Or is calling a seller directly not very professional?

Thanks in advance!

Dukesy

We had major issues with our house - it was a complicated purchase to start, but then it seemed that the solicitors just entered into some kind of battle all of their own. The vendors solicitor blamed our solicitor for hold ups (which we are pretty positive was not actually the case) and we had their EA ring us to say that if it didn't move fast, the house was going onthe market. At that point, I got on the internet and found the sellers phone number (executors in a deceased estate, so not resident at the property) and got in touch with them. I think this saved our purchase.

Frankly, in some circumstances, I think contacting the seller is the only way to go. When we sold our last house we were actually in regular contact with the buyer, which made the sale a very swift and pleasant one. It probably breaches etiquette, but I'd do it.

Hannah2809_2

thanks for taking the time to respond, appreciate your advice

partialycloudy

We wrote ours a letter when we were buying ours and gave them our contact info when the sale was taking a long time (6 months with no chain). That gave them the chance to get intouch or not depending on if they were comfortable to do so.

tim123456789

I don't understand.

Why should a pack of data from the FH about the lease and (presumably) past accounts expire?

It's all historice data. Asking for it again is not going to change the information inside it.

thelem

If you do get in contact with the vendor directly, use it only as a way of prompting them to move the process along. Do not give them any instructions, and do not trust anything they tell you directly (even if it's written down). Instead make sure everything goes through the solictor - that way your solicitor will know all the facts and you'll have a much stronger case if you later need to sue your vendor or solictor.

phoebe1989seb

During our last sale (2011) we were in direct contact with our buyers throughout the process - in fact they even invited us our for dinner to celebrate exchange of contracts, which was a nice gesture but a bit OTT if you ask me

From their second viewing (around the time they offered on the house) they presented us with their contact details, at which point it was hard not to give ours in return. They had a particular week earmarked for completion as the chain above was pressurising them and they were so smitten with our house they felt it necessary to keep in close contact in case something went wrong.

TBH though, it became a little annoying as they took every opportunity to call and text with mundane queries - such as how far from the ceiling did a certain light fitting hang

Even after completion they sent us the occasional text about goings on in the neighbourhood - even though we'd moved some 200 miles away and we weren't interested anyway!

So, whilst it's useful (and perhaps necessary sometimes) to be in direct contact with your vendor, IMHO it can wear a bit thin if liberties are taken

Hermoine

Sometimes its easier to go through the estate agent - they can pass messages on and can often provide you with a bit of context.

Hannah2809_2

Thanks everyone.

I contacted the seller directly and i found it very useful. It gave me a little insight into what type of people my sellers were and it became apparent that their solicitor had provided them with very little information about what we were asking for and she seemed pretty in the dark :-/ .... it seemed her solicitor may have been a personal friend of some sort as she was 'meeting them for dinner' . She was very nice though and assured me she'd be happy to do what was required.

I won't be calling directly anymore unless absolutely necessary, but i'm definitely glad i did

Hannah2809_2

It was updated account information to ensure that all accounts were still clear and no debt had accumulated.... also to prove all previous builing works had been fully paid off.

It clearly stated that it would expire in 3 months and a new one would have to be requested after that point for it to be valid information

tim123456789 wrote: »

I don't understand.

Why should a pack of data from the FH about the lease and (presumably) past accounts expire?

It's all historice data. Asking for it again is not going to change the information inside it.