Offer accepted, house still on market

ED2

Hello all,

I've recently had an offer accepted on a house. Its been 6 months since I started searching and I've had some bad luck along the way, sellers pulling out for no apparent reason, a house failing a survey.

The house which I'm hoping to buy now, is on the market with no less than 4 different agents. Naturally, I'm keen to have the property off the market, at the very least tagged as 'under offer,' before I start paying hundreds of pounds on conveyancing fees and a survey.

I'm all cash and have provided proof of funds plus my solicitors details, to the EA.

I can understand their point of view, they want a back up plan in case I decide not to buy. I at the same time, don't want to lose the house at the price agreed. I'm thinking that the best compromise would be for me to ask that they at least instruct all the agents to place an 'under offer,' tag before I pay the money for a survey next week.

Having bought a house before, I know that once the offer has been accepted the games tend to begin, which I'm hoping to avoid and it not turn into something out of a kindergarten playground.

Thoughts much appreciated, thank you.

kilby_007

I would tell them you want the house taking off the market immediately, as they have accepted your offer and you are proceedable. I would refuse to continue with the sale until this happens.

ellie27

If I was the seller I would say you show some commitment to buying the house, eg by instructing solicitor/arranging survey and then when I see that's in the process I would put it 'under offer'

ED2

I arranged a survey straight away, I'm not instructing the solicitor to move forward until after the survey, as that would incur fees. As I said though, the EA has the solicitors details and knows that I've taken all the steps to move forward.

kinger101

Normally, with a single agent, they'll mark it SSTC once they've checked your financials. With multiple agents, it becomes more difficult. One of the agents might decide to continue marketing as it gives them a slim chance of getting fees (as opposed to none).

I'd be emphatic about not starting anything until it goes SSTC.

kilby_007

ellie27 wrote: »

If I was the seller I would say you show some commitment to buying the house, eg by instructing solicitor/arranging survey and then when I see that's in the process I would put it 'under offer'

That's not how it works. You make the "gentleman's agreement" (or a gender neutral agreement for the 21st century) at the point that an offer is accepted and the house goes SSTC immediately. That is the widely accepted way that the offer process works. There has to be a level of trust from both sides and if the vendor starts tit-for-tat immediately saying that they don't trust the buyer's ability to proceed without good reason to suspect they're timewasters, then there's no reason why the house shouldn't go SSTC. The only time this differs is if the buyer is not proceedable, and needs to sell their house first, and then usually "under offer" is used. If the offer is too low, and the vendor wants to keep their options open to higher offers, then the only fair option is to reject the buyer's offer, or put it on hold - not to ask the buyer to proceed with the sale without removing it from the market!

ED2

kilby_007 wrote: »

That's not how it works. You make the "gentleman's agreement" (or a gender neutral agreement for the 21st century) at the point that an offer is accepted and the house goes SSTC immediately. That is the widely accepted way that the offer process works. There has to be a level of trust from both sides and if the vendor starts tit-for-tat immediately saying that they don't trust the buyer's ability to proceed without good reason to suspect they're timewasters, then there's no reason why the house shouldn't go SSTC. The only time this differs is if the buyer is not proceedable, and needs to sell their house first, and then usually "under offer" is used. If the offer is too low, and the vendor wants to keep their options open to higher offers, then the only fair option is to reject the buyer's offer, or put it on hold - not to ask the buyer to proceed with the sale without removing it from the market!

I'm inclined to agree with you. I've done everything I possibly can do within 24 hours of the offer being accepted, including turning up at the office in person with proof of funds. I'm considering not paying for a £500 survey until they have instructed all the agents to place a SSTC on their ads. That shows me that they are serious about accepting my offer and we can all proceed.

ED2

Whether an agent should place an 'under offer,' or a 'sold subject to contract,' seems to be very debatable...

kilby_007

ED2 wrote: »

I'm inclined to agree with you. I've done everything I possibly can do within 24 hours of the offer being accepted, including turning up at the office in person with proof of funds. I'm considering not paying for a £500 survey until they have instructed all the agents to place a SSTC on their ads. That shows me that they are serious about accepting my offer and we can all proceed.

Yes I would do that. Unfortunately estate agents only work with people who show some assertiveness. If you're nicey-nicey about everything they'll just assume you're a pushover and take you for a ride. You'll soon realise how fickle they are. Any sniff of a buyer getting cold feet and they'll move oceans to get the seller to hurry up and keep the buyer on side, and vice-versa. They'll play to whoever is the most likely to walk away. I've seen estate agents turn against their own clients if they can change circumstances to work in their favour.

... my very dim view of estate agents. :rotfl:

ED2

kilby_007 wrote: »

Yes I would do that. Unfortunately estate agents only work with people who show some assertiveness. If you're nicey-nicey about everything they'll just assume you're a pushover and take you for a ride. You'll soon realise how fickle they are. Any sniff of a buyer getting cold feet and they'll move oceans to get the seller to hurry up and keep the buyer on side, and vice-versa. They'll play to whoever is the most likely to walk away. I've seen estate agents turn against their own clients if they can change circumstances to work in their favour.

... my very dim view of estate agents. :rotfl:

That's been my experience also unfortunately, you do indeed have to show them assertiveness. I'll be politely but firmly stating my terms tomorrow morning.

sparkapuss

My Father in law is 94 in very poor health, and his wife has just left him, could it get any better. Enter the sharp practice EA, got him in his confused state to sign a sales contract, which contains a clause that if an offer is accepted on the house then the 16 week contract is frozen until such time as the house is sold or the buyer pulls out. An offer was accepted three days after it went on the market/The EA immediately removed the property with no further viewings and with no notification to us. It appears they have also overvalued it by about £10K, after 5 months of dilly dallying about the buyers withdrew. Easy to say but I knew they were time wasters when I clapped eyes on them, anyway upshot is that the EA is now holding Father in Law to ransom and will not release him from contract, they have produced nothing else than a couple of wasters. So this is the other side of the coin.