Buying when owner has owned property for less than 6 months....

tracey_02

Hi Everyone

looking for a bit of advice - or if anyone has had a similar experience...

we saw a property we loved, put in an offer which was accepted, arranged a mortgage with Santander and everything was going smoothly. we were given a date of 28th June to get keys. Owners solicitors did not forward on title deed documents until 24th June - which were dated 14th June. we paid deposit on 24th June thinking everything would be fine.

upon examination of title deeds - it was found that the owner has only owned property for 3 months - in her own name - she has lived there her whole life and inherited the property when her grandmother died at the start of the year.

is it highly unlikely that we will now be able to get out mortgage approved? they have come back and forth - first saying they would make a decision in 4 days, then the following day it was sent to escalation mode and we would hear in 24 hours - and then after the 24 hours, they contacted our solicitor looking for more information. although it is not a straight no - we are not too hopeful. we are desperate for this property.

we feel so deflated as there is nothing else we could have done and have done everything asked of us in a timely manner.

should the sellers solicitors have advised that this may have been a problem should she not encounter a cash buyer?

apologies for all of the queries! hope someone can offer some advice

zzzLazyDaisy

tracey_02 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

looking for a bit of advice - or if anyone has had a similar experience...

we saw a property we loved, put in an offer which was accepted, arranged a mortgage with Santander and everything was going smoothly. we were given a date of 28th June to get keys. Owners solicitors did not forward on title deed documents until 24th June - which were dated 14th June. we paid deposit on 24th June thinking everything would be fine.

You are FTB's aren't you? Sorry, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it is clear that you don't understand the process.

You cannot be given a definite date to collect the keys until contracts have been exchanged, as that is when the completion date is set. Exchange cannot take place until all searches, and other documentary processes are completed. You are still in that process. I am surprised that your solicitor has asked for your deposit already as that is normally done at the same time as exchange, so you need to speak to the solicitor and ask for clarification of this. Re the landregistry deeds your solicitor just downloads them from the land registry website. Anyone can do this for a fee of £3. I suspect the documents that your solicitor is/has been waiting for are the contract and transfer documents

upon examination of title deeds - it was found that the owner has only owned property for 3 months - in her own name - she has lived there her whole life and inherited the property when her grandmother died at the start of the year.

Normally the executors would sell the house on behalf of the estate of the deceased person, but it seems that the house was instead transferred to the beneficiary. Hence the 6 month ownership problem

is it highly unlikely that we will now be able to get out mortgage approved? they have come back and forth - first saying they would make a decision in 4 days, then the following day it was sent to escalation mode and we would hear in 24 hours - and then after the 24 hours, they contacted our solicitor looking for more information. although it is not a straight no - we are not too hopeful. we are desperate for this property.

No-one on here can tell you what your lender will decide, although hopefully one of the very helpful mortgage brokers will pop up and give you some pointers


should the sellers solicitors have advised that this may have been a problem should she not encounter a cash buyer?

It is not her solicitor's job to advise you. That is your solicitor's job, and that is what they have done

To be honest I think you are panicking too soon. It may be that the lender will agree to lend once it becomes apparent that the house has been in the family for a long time. They may want to see a copy of the will/probate docs to establish this. The 6 month rule is a money laundering provision, so if they are satisfied about this they may still agree to lend (though don't take my word for that, wait for one of the mortgage advisers).

Worst case scenario, you and the seller agree to wait three months until you can proceed with the purchase.

There are very good reasons for the 6 month rule, and the lender will take their time investigating this. This is for YOUR benefit as well as the lenders. So just take a deep breath and let your solicitor get on with doing their job.

kingstreet

The lender's criteria states;-

If the property has been owned by the vendor for less than
six months, the application may be referred for investigation.
This could result in delays to completion or in some instances
the application being declined.

so it is not an automatic decline.

Only option is to wait for lender decision.

dotdash79

It's to stop cases of fraud or money laundering.

An investigation should be fine for this.

isisini

We have a mortgage with Santander and bought a house of a developer that he'd owned for less than six months (where were about two weeks out) last year.

We had the same issue (lots of escalations and ominous sounding 'this has gone to head office') but it was fine in the end, vendor's solicitor just had to be very clear about why the house was being sold on quickly.

tracey_02

Thanks for the advice everyone - we are just hoping that all will be ok! We are first time buyers and I am pregnant which is probably adding to our worry abut the house.

isisini how long did it take for you to find out you were going to be successful?

Yorkie1

isisini wrote: »

We have a mortgage with Santander and bought a house of a developer that he'd owned for less than six months (where were about two weeks out) last year.

We had the same issue (lots of escalations and ominous sounding 'this has gone to head office') but it was fine in the end, vendor's solicitor just had to be very clear about why the house was being sold on quickly.

A developer is one of the formal exceptions to the standard 6-month rule.