Problems in chain, what would you do?

amandacat

I am at the top of a short chain, I am selling my house, which is currently rented out and chain free, my buyers are selling their shared ownership house to first time buyers.

I accepted the offer on my property in December and gave notice to my tenants of 2 months, they then gave me one month's notice as they found somewhere else meaning I hope to complete quickly to reduce the amount of money I will lose through having no rental income and still having to pay the mortgage.

I have no concern with my buyers, they have already completed the survey and have their mortgage offer.

However, I found out today that their buyers are having difficulty getting a mortgage. My EA has told me not to worry because apparently another buyer is currently being approved by the housing association, meaning if the original buyers can't get a mortgage there will be another buyer ready to step in.

I am now wondering if I should sit tight and hope things work out or if I should put my house back on the market?

eddddy

In these circumstances, I'd tend to follow your EA's suggestion.

Your EA's top priority is to get a quick sale (in order to get the fee in their pocket asap). If they thought that putting your property back on the market would get a quicker sale, they would probably say so.

If you want to do more investigation, phone the other EAs further down the chain to ask how things are going, first hand. (But remember to treat everything they say with a touch of healthy cynicism.)

jonathanrolande

Hey Amanda,

Difficult one. I would give it a week and see what happens then remarket if need be – you must look after your own interests first – your buyer should understand that if they are sensible.

Hope that helps in any way!

Loopy28

If it was me, I would give it a few days and see what happens.

Your buyers have their mortgage offer in place so that is half the battle. It sounds like their buyers could still get their mortgage and even if they don't, there is someone else to take their place. It might delay things slightly but if you put it back on the market now, unless you are lucky and get a cash buyer, you could have buyers who are in an even longer chain or still need to try and get a mortgage so no guarantee of things being any quicker.

I would keep a close eye on it with your EA and solicitor, ensure you know what is going on and if after a week or so it looks like nothing is moving on, put it back on the market. If you do it now, you could lose your buyers and unless you have a really fast housing market in your area, might not secure new ones quickly.