Memorandum of Sale

Braboor

At the end of March, I had my offer for a property accepted & received a letter from the vendor's Estate Agent the following day. I asked for a Memorandum of Sale & the EPC (which was not available at the time of my viewing).

Since then, my solicitor & I have repeated the request several times. Over a month has passed & neither has materialised. We have been told they will be sent when the vendor has found a new home & had an offer accepted.

It seems to me that they are rewriting the rules & are not taking my offer seriously. I did offer the asking price as I wanted the transaction to run smoothly. I don't know how to get things moving & I am worried my buyers will be expecting me to move soon. I had thought booking a structural survey would spur them on but it would be an expense I would rather pay with more certainty the deal was going ahead...

Any advice appreciated.

sparky130a

A MOS in itself means very little.

But a month in? That would tell me they're not serious about selling.

kingstreet

If the chain isn't yet complete, chasing the MOS seems pointless.

Why not wait for the chain to form then everything should start to move normally?

Routine advice is not to go bounding off applying for mortgages and having legal work done until everyone is at the same point. This will ensure no wasted money.

glentoran99

the EPC should be available though when I sold my house it was included on the brochure

Braboor

I recently reminded them about the EPC, for no other reason than to remind them things should be done properly. The fact that there was none prepared for the sale shows some degree of apathy. I am annoyed as this is an old property in need of work, without a survey I will not know if it is a money-pit & I should walk away. I do suspect they are not keen to sell but I did offer the asking price!

sulphate

The EA should have ensured the EPC was done when it went to market.

I think it is standard practice to wait until the chain is complete before sending any paperwork out. How much contact are you having with the EA? Is the vendor actively looking for a property and viewing houses? A good EA should be getting updates from them as they will want to make sure the sale goes through also.

Braboor

The EA has been 'unavailable' for most of the month. I did get a call (the first) on Monday, to assure me the EPC is coming & the vendor is looking for a new property. I did not get any reassurance from this call & was left with the feeling they may be expecting me to move into rental.

Surrey_EA

I'm afraid the arrival of a memorandum of sale is unlikely to provide any greater certainty than you have at present. It is not a legal document, and exists only to identify who the buyers and sellers are, along with their respective legal representation, and the price that has been agreed.

An EPC must be ordered, but not necessarily produced, before a property can be marketed. They are also largely useless, in my view!

Braboor wrote: »

Any advice appreciated.

Keep looking at other properties to buy if the vendor hasn't found, and don't spend any money yet.

sulphate

Braboor wrote: »

The EA has been 'unavailable' for most of the month. I did get a call (the first) on Monday, to assure me the EPC is coming & the vendor is looking for a new property. I did not get any reassurance from this call & was left with the feeling they may be expecting me to move into rental.

How can the EA have been unavailable for a month? There should be more than one person in their office that will speak to the vendor and provide you with an update. I would chase this.

Braboor

How can the EA have been unavailable for a month? There should be more than one person in their office that will speak to the vendor and provide you with an update. I would chase this.

You would have thought! I kept being told 'sorry, I'm new here, I'll take a message' & when I did get an Agent, I was advised the person dealing with this was on appointments or on holiday...

eddddy

Braboor wrote: »

You would have thought! I kept being told 'sorry, I'm new here, I'll take a message' & when I did get an Agent, I was advised the person dealing with this was on appointments or on holiday...

What sort of EA is it?

Is it a local 'high street' EA who gets their fee on exchange/completion?

Or is it an online EA - perhaps the kind that charge a fee up-front (so they don't really care whether the sale completes or not)?