Buying a house from a charity

Kamaya

Good morning all,

Looking for a bit of advice. We've found a property that we wish to buy, however the estate agent has advised us that the property is owned by the church, with the following statement:

"In accordance with our clients charitable status the property will remain on the market until exchange of contracts, and our clients reserve the right to consider any offer that is forthcoming."

Just a bit concerned that we could go through the entire process, stump up for surveys, arrange mortgage etc., only to be gazumped by them.

Is this standard procedure for a property being sold by a charity?

Thank you!

davidmcn

Yes, it's the slightly peculiar policy which tends to be adopted by trustees, repossessing lenders etc, as they think this is the way of achieving the best price, even though it puts buyers off.

00ec25

if you consider it, it is no different to a non charity. Until exchange you have absolutely no guarantee that any vendor won't accept a gazump even if they have agreed to take it off the market or an EA has listed it as SSTC but it still appears on Rightmove

Davesnave

Kamaya wrote: »

Is this standard procedure for a property being sold by a charity?

Yes, and it's the same for repossessions.


The seller has to show they obtained the best price at the time of marketing and they have no sentimental interest in who buys.

AdrianC

00ec25 wrote: »

if you consider it, it is no different to a non charity. Until exchange you have absolutely no guarantee that any vendor won't accept a gazump even if they have agreed to take it off the market or an EA has listed it as SSTC but it still appears on Rightmove

<nods> The only difference is that a corporate vendor with a duty to get the maximum return is completely up-front and honest about it.

AnotherJoe

I think there is a difference, most private sellers will not continue to market the property, nor will they switch sellers midsale for an extra few quid, both for moral reasons and pragmatic ones, eg they will likely have an onward purchase they don't wish to jeopardise.

"So be careful out there folks"

eddddy

It's also worth bearing in mind that the EA will probably 'gently' deter people from making higher offers.

Once an offer is made, the EA will be looking forward to being paid their fee in, say, 10 weeks.

If somebody else jumps in at week 5 and offers more, that will push the EA's pay day back 5 weeks.


(And if the new buyer is only offering, say, £2k more - the EA will only get £20 to £30 in extra fees - which isn't worth the 5 week extra wait.)

gingercordial

Yes, this is standard.

But as the treasurer of a charity (which I am) I would still be mindful of a bird in the hand... So if I received a higher offer I would consider it in the context of needing to restart the process and so taking longer until we got our money. If it was only a few thousand higher and the new prospective buyer needed a mortgage I would probably not bite. If it was £100,000 higher and a cash buyer with proof of funds ready to go I might consider that's better for us - but that's the case for any property seller who can have their head turned.

Kamaya

Thank you all, really appreciate your feedback.

We have placed an offer on the property, have to wait for the 'committee' to meet up to vote on it now though!

Robin9

The Church moves very slowly and its legal systems crawl.

One issue that can crop up is that vicarages have been built on church land and there have never been any boundaries established.