Pulling out of house purchase- what do we need to do?

Rosy_Apple

Hi all,

As you may have seen we are pulling out of our house purchase following the results of a structural survey. We have not yet exchanged. On the day we recieved the survey (Tuesday) I instruced the Solicitor to halt any further work as we believed we were going to pull out. We have now decided that this is definitely the right thing to do and wondered if anyone would be able to tell me what the next steps are please?

I think the people I need to inform are the mortgage offering bank, Solicitor and Estate Agent. Does this need to be done formally via letter or can I ring? Do I need my solicitor to help?

Many Thanks,
RA

googler

Your sol should write to the selling agent or sol

If you're not going to buy anything, and you're not continuing to market your own home, having pulled out of this one, then you need to establish termination terms for both your solicitor and your estate agent. Read contracts or terms of engagement.

Mr_Moo_2

.... plus reactivate all those Rightmove alerts you'd cancelled

Rosy_Apple

googler wrote: »

Your sol should write to the selling agent or sol

If you're not going to buy anything, and you're not continuing to market your own home, having pulled out of this one, then you need to establish termination terms for both your solicitor and your estate agent. Read contracts or terms of engagement.

We are first time buyers so have never signed anything with the Estate Agents. Is there anyway we can do this ourselves? Could we write a letter to the Estate Agent informing them we are pulling out (we would phone before hand).

With the solicitor I will read the contract and see what we need to do. We only instructed him a week ago and he was on holiday for the week so he shouldn't have got very far!

Is it possible to do without using a Solicitor?

Rosy_Apple

Also... any thoughts on when/how to inform the mortgage bank?

Many thanks for all advice.

onlyroz

We pulled out of one house purchase and immediately started on another - and so we just informed the solicitor to halt proceedings on the first purchase and then start dealing with the second. As a result of this we had to pay a few hundred ££ to pay for the work that the solicitor had already carried out. We then informed our mortgage broker that we were purchasing a different property, and he did all the necessary work to sort out the mortgage.

Rosy_Apple

We don't think we are going to be buying anything now

onlyroz

Then all you should need to do is inform the solicitor and pay up any money owed. Then tell the mortgage lender that their services are not required, and inform the Vendor.

StuC75

What is it that has put you so off of buying somewhere?

Suffolk_lass

Rosy Apple - don't let this put you right off. You made absolutely the right decision paying for a full structural survey and that money was well spent, having highlighted some major concerns.

I admit to a degree of frustration at the knee-jerk reaction of so many people to the word "underpinning" without any of the advisors on your other thread having any real idea what the underlying cause was that necessitated the work. The whole point about underpinning is that the work to stabilise the property has been undertaken and it is back to being safe. If the underlying cause was (for example) tree roots compromising drains resulting in the property slumping, then that work has now completely sorted the issue and there is nothing to worry about. When we bought a house with cracks it was because a bomb had dropped in the second world war about three streets away and the cracks were left from then and no further movement. Again no worries.

Your decision in your context is the right one - as first time buyers, so by definition, less experienced, wanting to move on in a couple of years, you want your house to have good resale potential and the mere reaction of people to underpinning would rule a number of people out.

When you do look again, do not be put off. Your money spent is not lost - it is saved.

BTW, your solicitor may have been on holiday but his clerk may have already commissioned searches (unlikely but possible) - mine for our recent purchase insisted on the completion of the seller questionnaire before spending my money on searches but that may well have been initiated.

Best of luck
SL

Rosy_Apple

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Rosy Apple - don't let this put you right off. You made absolutely the right decision paying for a full structural survey and that money was well spent, having highlighted some major concerns.

I admit to a degree of frustration at the knee-jerk reaction of so many people to the word "underpinning" without any of the advisors on your other thread having any real idea what the underlying cause was that necessitated the work. The whole point about underpinning is that the work to stabilise the property has been undertaken and it is back to being safe. If the underlying cause was (for example) tree roots compromising drains resulting in the property slumping, then that work has now completely sorted the issue and there is nothing to worry about. When we bought a house with cracks it was because a bomb had dropped in the second world war about three streets away and the cracks were left from then and no further movement. Again no worries.

Your decision in your context is the right one - as first time buyers, so by definition, less experienced, wanting to move on in a couple of years, you want your house to have good resale potential and the mere reaction of people to underpinning would rule a number of people out.

When you do look again, do not be put off. Your money spent is not lost - it is saved.

BTW, your solicitor may have been on holiday but his clerk may have already commissioned searches (unlikely but possible) - mine for our recent purchase insisted on the completion of the seller questionnaire before spending my money on searches but that may well have been initiated.

Best of luck
SL

Thank you ever so much for your kind message.

I also believe we are making the right decision. The underpinning of next door is only one of the problems. The roof also has a sag and it not properly supported. Chimney breasts have been removed without proper support being added. There is damp throughout the bottom floor, airbricks have been covered and the patio needs removing to uncover.... All in all a bit of a pickle!

We had the full intention of buying and were aware we would have to take on a few issues as that is the nature of buying an older house; however, there are so many issues with this house. Our Surveyor at the moment strongly advises we shouldn't proceed and in our situation I think it is the right thing. We are really sad about the situation as we had also emotionally bought into the house but thinking logically this isn't the right place for us given the time-scales of when we wish to sell and the extent of the work it requires. I only wish this had been more obvious when viewing so noone would have had to waste any time or costs.

Thank you everyone for your help.