Right of First Refusal - how to word it?

steampowered

MNrhubarb wrote: »

Hmm that's not good news. We are certain the HA will not buy, but they will take the whole 6 weeks to tell us this. For instance, I sent a tentative email to them 3 weeks ago asking if they would be interested if we did serve notice. They acknowledged receipt of the email and understood we were not serving notice at that time, but they never gave an answer.

So we'd be left 6 weeks down the line by which time any offer we put on a house would be in jeopardy as a seller may not want to wait that long for us to get our act together.

Conveyancing typically takes 6-8 weeks anyway. While you shouldn't exchange contracts until the 6-weeks are up, if you serve your 6-week notice as soon as you have an offer accepted, that shouldn't add much delay to the process.

The other option would be just to just go ahead and serve your notice so that you know where you stand. If the housing association accepts the offer you could then have to find somewhere quite quickly, but you could delay the process by holding back on agreeing a price so that a RICS valuation needs to be done.

MNrhubarb

I think I'll keep that letter in my bag, go home, have a cup of tea and discuss it further with the family. We haven't found our ideal property yet - we are hoping to view something at the weekend. There isn't much on the market for our budget and which ticks our 'must have' boxes.

I think you guys have just saved me from potentially making a mistake. Huge thanks to you both.