Purchasing a house on Gumtree

iker89

Hello

Wasn't sure whether anyone had been through a similar situation so thought it would be best to ask the question here.

Myself and my wife have seen a house advertised on Gumtree which was advertised at £275,000. We went to view this and decided we would like to proceed with making an offer.

We are in Scotland so a Home Report was necessary and we requested the seller had this completed (his first mix up as I understand you cannot legally advertise a property without a Home Report). The Home Report valuation then came back at £300,000 and he has since said he will not accept less than the valuation.

There is currently a tenant in the house which he has not disclosed on his advert (his second mix up as this goes against Gumtree's terms) so their removal would need to be arranged.

I have a feeling I'm clutching at straws but is there anything from a legal stand point which would give us some bargaining power when making an offer, or has anyone had a similar situation?

Apologies if this has been posted in the wrong section or if this isn't a question allowed on here, but thought it would be no harm in asking.

Thanks in advance.

googler

iker89 wrote: »

I have a feeling I'm clutching at straws but is there anything from a legal stand point which would give us some bargaining power when making an offer, or has anyone had a similar situation?

Regardless of where advertised, the seller will need a solicitor to act for them. Ask for details of the solicitor to whom your offer should be sent, and get your solicitor to make your offer, in writing, for £275k (or whatever intermediate figure you choose), with any conditions that you wish to impose on the offer.

Wait.

The seller and their solicitor must then accept, decline outright, or negotiate.

Don't get into negotiation directly with the seller. Leave this to your solicitor and theirs. That's what you pay them for.

iker89

Thanks for the reply googler.

The seller provided the Home Report and we acknowledged the report and said we'd be in touch through solicitors. It was after that he responded with the £300,000 comment.

agrinnall

I would be very, very wary of anyone selling a house on Gumtree, and with the issues you have already uncovered I would walk away and find another property.

G_M

gumtree?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Run.

gettingtheresometime

Many moons ago we had difficulty in selling our then property so advertised it in the freeads newspaper.


We did have one couple come and see it but we think they were just having a nose.


Had they wanted to buy it then I would have proceeded as if they had come through an EA....ie all the paperwork and searches would be done by a solicitor.


Offer what you think the property is worth as you would have done if you'd seen the property in an EA and if the buyer is unhappy then you can decide whether to walk or up your offer.

always_sunny

just don't do a bank transfer directly to the seller account!

davidmcn

iker89 wrote: »

I have a feeling I'm clutching at straws but is there anything from a legal stand point which would give us some bargaining power when making an offer, or has anyone had a similar situation?

Nothing "legal", no. The tenants seem to be the main problem as nobody knows for certain when they'll be gone, and generally the seller sounds an idiot.

As for the price, offer what you want, I presume you've done your research to back up the £275k being a fair price? Are similar properties selling easily and for the HR valuations? Up to you whether you want to negotiate directly or go via solicitors.

iker89

Thanks for the responses and advice.

Fortunately I'm not daft enough to do anything without being through a solicitor so no worries there.

iker89

davidmcn wrote: »

Nothing "legal", no. The tenants seem to be the main problem as nobody knows for certain when they'll be gone, and generally the seller sounds an idiot.

As for the price, offer what you want, I presume you've done your research to back up the £275k being a fair price? Are similar properties selling easily and for the HR valuations? Up to you whether you want to negotiate directly or go via solicitors.

We thought the £275,000 was fair and properties do sell fairly quickly where we are looking. The seller made the mistake of saying he was strapped for cash so there is should be some negotiation there.


Any negotiations will be dealt with through solicitors.

booksurr

iker89 wrote: »

Thanks for the responses and advice.

Fortunately I'm not daft enough to do anything without being through a solicitor so no worries there.

Ok, so the mere fact you were looking on Gumtree to find a house in the first place indicates you were after a "bargain" from someone looking to save themselves an agent fee.

Therefore either your 275K offer remains a bargain or it doesn't. Since this is Scotland and the rest of the process has to go through solicitors then whether you up your offer is your choice. If you clutch at straw and "get legal" over the gumtree failings it could just as easily backfire on you with a vendor who becomes bitter and digs in