Stressed out selling home

DebB49

I’m in the middle of selling my house, it has been in the market since end of January had an offer but buyer hadn’t even out their house in the market and still haven’t. Estate agent was useless so changed agents a couple of months ago and after 3 weeks got a buyer, accepted iffer £10,000 under asking price. They asked I I was in a change as they wanted to move urgently, they are first time buyers I said I. Oils stay with my mother if necessary and put furniture etc in storage.

I’ve since found a house and everything is going through, they had the survey done about 5 weeks ago mortgage their mortgage company agreed the mortgage, they wanted to moved at the end of September then during half term end of October my house probably won’t be ready by then but I said ok and I’ll just move in with my mother for a while.

No they want to get electrician round and gas safety certificate which they are paying for done in a couple of weeks also a tree surgeon to check trees, I have a large garden and now want to move during the Christmas school holidays, one of them is a teacher. I don’t mind but why leave it this late, I’ve already signed the contract and thought everything was ok.

I don’t expect anything bad to come up but you never know all my estate agents says to me I have to remember they have children and they want to check it’s all ok. I offered to get a gas safety certificate from British Gas and my estate agent said he thinks they wouldn’t trust this? I’ve already agreed to purchase indemnity insurance as they have insisted on this and I have no objection.

This is my first house sale I’ve lived here for over 39 years my children have left home and I’m down sizing I don’t know why I’m stressing I’m not usually like this.

Am I just being an idiot lol?

mdori003

you aren't being an idiot.

Moving house is extremely stressful - even if things go smoothly if you are anything like me there is a voice in your head saying "but what if..."

Sorry if i've missed this but when you say you've signed a contract is that for the purchase of a new house? Is there a deadline that you need to complete by? Or a deposit that is at risk if you don't have the sale proceeds by a certain date?

I will say off the bat that you are being extremely accommodating and they would be pushing my patience at this point!

cattie

Surveyors always advise buyers to get a professional in to check things such as electrics, gas etc. so are only following this advice. It's better for you anyway as British Gas would charge you for a certificate if you were to call them in, so you'd be out of pocket.

The tree surgeon thing is good idea too from their perspective, as even cutting back a smallish tree can cost hundreds of pounds. I think I paid around £450 for a pear tree in my last house to be cut back. Buying a house is a big commitment & sometimes people are wise to be overly cautious rather than just charging things along.

I can understand how stressful this has all been for you, but when a potential buyer hasn't even sold their own house it's pointless to accept any offer they make. EA should have told them to come back with an offer once they had a firm offer on their property as they were not proceedable until then.

Buying & selling is usually extremely stressful, so you're certainly not alone in feeling this way. Hopefully your next home will be your last & you'll never have to face this prospect again. Hope everything goes smoothly once vendors have had their checks done.

DebB49

Sorry I didn’t explain things that well. No the house I’m buying is being sold but the couple selling have separated she’s completed her documents but he hasn’t, I’ve signed the contract on the sale of my house as my solicitor when sending it that everything has been agreed so I stupidly thought everything was ok, now they want all these safety checks. They mentioned the trees a few weeks ago but nothing else.

I just find it all so stressful.

DebB49

Thanks I understand you should see the survey on the house I’m buying I cried when I saw it and called the surveyor and he explained he has put it all in just to cover himself but did it was a great house in a great location.

I’ve offered to help pay towards the trees.

martindow

DebB49 wrote: »

the couple selling have separated she’s completed her documents but he hasn’t,

This rings alarm bells for me. Separating couples often have one person living in the house who has no incentive to get the sale moving as they don't want to move out. The other person is looking forward to getting some cash from the sale and eager for it to happen.


Hopefully it goes well but there have been some stories of very slow sales in these circumstances.

Sibz

If the sale of your house is not completed, what is stopping you from informing the EA to continue marketing it for another buyer? Surely that would give the will they/wont they buyers some encouragement to get a shift on and finalise... Also - you may get another more reliable buyer along.

If it's not totally completed is there anything stopping your potential buyer from pulling out and leaving you back at square 1? There's unfortunately the risk that they could be stringing you along in case a preferred option for them falls through.

The last thing I want to do is give you more to stress about, maybe have a word with your solicitor to better understand where you stand with the current situation (he at least in this process should be looking out for your interests - as he/she's getting your business regardless? If it IS legally completed surely there would be a set date, and these further checks pointless in relation to the sale?

DebB49

Update, I got an electrician out just for advice he said the electrics are not dangerous but they’re not up to current codes and it probably does need a rewire which the buyer is aware of and why I accepted a lesser offer.

They still want their electrician around which is fine but they asked this a month ago and still haven’t done this.

They have now asked for me to take out an indemnity insurance for a restrictive covenant for a 1 metre by 20 metre part of my garden which I have no idea about and for the whole cost of the property. My solicitor just went back and said it is not necessary so I won’t be doing this. He told me he had done this and they were being ill advised or just completely taking the P.

I spoke to my estate agents yesterday to ask if there was any progress with them sorting out their safety checks and he said they’d managed to get a plumber to come and inspect the water tank in the loft, I hadn’t heard they wanted to do this before.

It’s getting beyond a joke now. But they are not answering the estate agents calls or emails they told him they want to move over the Christmas school holidays and I think they’re dragging it out to do this. I can’t get time off work over Christmas so that’s no good to me and the house I’m buying will be sorted to move at the end of this month which was when my buyers originally said they wanted to move.

lindens

i would push back against the xmas holidays thing., there is still plenty of time to complete the move in october half term. Anyway lots of people HAVE to move in over a weekend - yes it's hard but lots of people do it. i think you've been flexible enough and i wouldnt stand for this dictation of moving dates personally. they are the ones holding it up not you

fairy_lights

DebB49 wrote: »

It’s getting beyond a joke now. But they are not answering the estate agents calls or emails they told him they want to move over the Christmas school holidays and I think they’re dragging it out to do this.

I'd tell the estate agent to start marketing the property again, if they don't appear to be doing anything to proceed with the purchase it's time to start looking for other buyers.

Mnd

I agree, put it back up for sale, you need another route to make some progress