Estate agent keeps asking me questions...

AdrianC

jjlandlord wrote: »

This is going to be a long thread...

Tell them that you'll spend money on mortgage application and survey once they confirm notice has been served on the tenant.

^ THIS. With bells on.

Reading through the OP, I was absolutely with the EA - "Four weeks? !!!!!! are you playing at"? - but the vendor's at least as guilty of mickey-taking. He needs to get the tenants out, then you need to firmly extract digit.

RAS

Eejay wrote: »

My husband works full time and Saturday was the first mortgage appointment he could get so I don't think we could really go much faster, despite what the EA seems to think.

If your husband did not realise that his mortgage in principle had expired and he could not be bothered to take a day or even a few hours off work to sort out the new appointment as a matter of urgentcy then the EA and vendor will be concerned about how seriously he takes the deal and how fast he will act with regard to all other processes.

However no solicitor worth their salt will allow you to exchange before the property is vacant. If the vendor gives notice today it could be 6-8 months before the property is vacant if the tenants refuse to move out.

the vendor cannot have his cake and eat it but the slow pace at which you have moved so far is not going to give him/her confidence that a prompt S21 notification is going to be rewarded by prompt action on your side.

Eejay

We met one of the tenants when we went to view the place - they apparently have somewhere lined up (I think they're maybe in the process of buying) and they seemed like a genuine/honest person (they were happy to point out little flaws in the property but were mostly positive about it so we appreciated their input!). I could have misjudged them, of course.

I have read quite a few threads on here and understand that it's risky to do it this way - we ideally want it sorted by Autumn, but we are currently renting (we didn't want to be part of a chain whilst we sold our old place, but I suppose we've kind of ended up in one - we're nearly up to completion but it's taken a couple of months so far thanks to a few fibs from the buyer!) and have this property until February at the earliest so we are in no big rush. This doesn't mean we're delaying mind - there's quite a bit we'd like to do with the property before we move in so the sooner it's sorted the better in a way. We've got a baby on the way so I don't want to be rushing to get everything done in just a few weeks!

I guess because we've been fairly 'laid back' about this side of it, I object to the EA ringing me and having a go about it when it's none of my business. If he'd phoned my husband, at least my husband would have some sort of response to give, but I felt like I was just getting a telling off when I have done absolutely nothing wrong! We also gave a £500 deposit to have it taken off the market (it's refundable if anything goes wrong, but it's just kind of to show we're serious about wanting the house) and we're not exactly made of money, so it's not as though we're just playing games.

My husband has spoken to him now anyway and apparently "he is worried about time taken" and something about "we can take on tenant for a month". The latter does concern me a bit to be honest and I reckon that could complicate things even more (my husband does have experience of being a landlord though so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds).

jjlandlord

Eejay wrote: »

I guess because we've been fairly 'laid back' about this side of it, I object to the EA ringing me and having a go about it when it's none of my business. If he'd phoned my husband, at least my husband would have some sort of response to give, but I felt like I was just getting a telling off when I have done absolutely nothing wrong!

You need a reality check, here.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would say the EA keeps ringing you because you are both going to be buying this house together obviously, ie because of being a married couple.

I guess it hasn't even occurred to the EA that the house will be in your husbands name only (for whatever reason you are doing that).

I wouldn't understand myself why only one of a couple was telling me they were involved with a house purchase and would expect them both to be fully au fait with the purchase and it honestly wouldn't matter which one I asked a query, as either of them would be able to answer/make a decision/etc.

I'll admit to being puzzled about the scenario you describe, ie husband is buying in a way that implies he is a single person.

Maybe if you explain to the EA why there is this rather unusual arrangement of a couple not operating as a couple and tell him that hubbie is acting like a single man in this respect and to regard you in the same light as a friend or lodger (ie rather than as the mans wife) then maybe he will phone only your husband instead of either of you.

Eejay

RAS wrote: »

If your husband did not realise that his mortgage in principle had expired and he could not be bothered to take a day or even a few hours off work to sort out the new appointment as a matter of urgentcy then the EA and vendor will be concerned about how seriously he takes the deal and how fast he will act with regard to all other processes.

Actually I think I've got that one a bit wrong. We wanted to put an offer on a house so we arranged a new appointment, but then someone offered higher and we didn't want to get involved in a bidding war so we left it. We still had the appointment arranged though, and as it turned out it was on the day after our offer on this house was accepted (and as I explained, we had a 'plan B' anyway). We let them know we'd got a new one and paid the deposit the following day to have it taken off the market. The main delay was getting the following mortgage appointment - because we arranged it on the same weekend as the other, my husband couldn't speak to work to see about getting time off - and also he wants to keep as many holidays as possible for when the baby is here.

mrginge

You seem to be missing the most important point.
Let's see if you pick up this subtle hint....

:cool::p:D:money::)

You CANNOT exchange until the tenant has LEFT!!!!!


:T:cool:;):o:mad::cool::beer:

Tell your husband (since you apparently have nothing to do with this) to ring the EA up and tell them that you go no further until the tenant has gone and you get vacant posession.

Eejay

jjlandlord wrote: »

You need a reality check, here.

Nope. It's all in my husband's name so it's not me that should be dealing with it - if anything has been done 'wrong', my husband is to blame

The reason we aren't doing it as a 'couple' is because I'm a student (and a poor one at that lol). The EA has been told - my husband said he asked him last time not to ring me. I don't mind answering really basic stuff, but I don't want to be giving him answers to things I'm not sure about - which is most of it.

liuhutOz

I really think that you (or your husband) need to be concentrating on the tenant that is living in the house. Even if they do seem nice, they might not move out when the 2 months is up, they are then sitting tenant and it will need to go through the court system. I recently sold a place and got the tenant out before selling. IMHO the seller is being greedy by trying to get rent right up until completion. You really need to make sure that the people are out so ensure that there are no complications later.

eddddy

Hi Eejay

Maybe you and/or your husband should try to demonstrate to the EA that you are serious about buying - either by progressing the mortgage or by clarifying the situation with the tenants.

Based on what you say, I wouldn't be surprised if the EA was already phoning around other prospective buyers who showed an interest in the property.

It would be horrible if the next call you got from the EA was to say the vendor has decided to accept an offer from someone else, because you're moving so slowly.