Survey and Searches

OliviaANJ

Hello

I would be really grateful for advice, as a buyer, regarding the accepted progression of survey and searches.
To give background: we are not first time buyers, we have sold our house and we are renting in the area we wish to purchase in - we are also largely cash buyers with an approved very small mortgage. In our prior home sales and purchases the conveyancing formula was textbook (lucky for us, and I realise we are in a lucky minority there),

A month ago we approached an estate agent (amongst others) with a number houses on their books which we would be interested in viewing - they asked us what we were looking for, and we also mentioned what would be a problem for us, specifically that we are not interested in purchasing a leasehold. They asked us what our position in the market was, and we were honest. After a couple of misses we found a house we liked. We promptly placed an offer which was accepted - we provided a mortgage descision in principle immediately.

Fast forward a month later and our solicitor has not received a contract pack from the vendors - containing contents and property info form (despite contacting them when chased up) - we have paid our solicitor to conduct searches, but they are waiting on the vendors solicitor for information. I contacted the estate agents to see if there was anything remiss. The estate agent claimed that the vendor’s solicitor is waiting on our solicitor to book our valuation and home survey before releasing information - (but that is something we arranged with our lender - to be conducted permitting the search results). The estate agent then claimed that we were “doing things the other way around and that’s not how we do things here”, and tried to insist that we conducted the survey prior to the property search and contract pack. (Our solicitor is one we have liaised with before and has always been first rate)

Which brings me to my queries!! (Thanks for your patience if you’ve made it this far)

The house is situated in a row of leaseholds (of a different build) but it is not one itself, and is a fairly modern build and it is advertised as freehold, which we made sure to double check with the estate agents (we realise it is not their responsibility on this front to ensure 100% accuracy). The house being a leasehold would be a deal breaker for us, which is why we don’t want to commit money to a survey until the search indicating tenure materialises. Considering we mentioned this on a few occasions before even viewing the property, we are concerned that they may be trying their luck. Has anyone else experienced this? I tried ‘googling’ this query and it it became apparent from a previous review left that this particular estate agent has previously advertised a property as freehold, demanded the survey before the searches which the buyer agreed to, for the property to be revealed as leasehold, thus the buyer losing money on two counts

Does the vendor even want to sell? We have mentioned our position in the market, and we are serious buyers. We are happy to provide direct evidence of our mortgage offer, but how many hoops should we jump through to prove we are serious without the vendor’s solicitor providing us with the essential information? It is time we could spend looking elsewhere. In our previous purchases the contract pack/contents form was sent within 2 weeks of our accepted offer, and our search results were received in a similar time frame.

Why pay for a survey, when bad things may be revealed in the search? I.e. flood risk etc

Massive thanks in advance to anyone who has a few sage words of advice!!!!

da_rule

You can do things in what ever order you want. However you need to be mindful that if you annoy the seller and they put the property back on the market then you may end up losing it and all of the money you’ve spent on searches etc.

Linton

The estate agent cannot demand anything without the approval of the vendors. In this situation surely the discussion is between you and the vendor working through your solicitors. The EA isnt in the loop, his job is done as soon as your offer was accepted.

Why should the vendor commit money on the contract pack if you are showing no commitment?

You have made your requirement for freehold clear and presumably the vendor has confirmed this. Why would they lie? When buying a house you have to assume good faith on both sides. If you do not trust the vendor dont buy, they may threaten to pull out at the last minute.

G_M

Pay £3 and download the property Title. Check for freehold/leasehold.

I don't understand why everyone does not do this before even making an offer. (Pay another £3 and get the Plan too).

https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/eservices/FindAProperty/view/QuickEnquiryInit.do

OliviaANJ

Thank you all for the comments, definitely helped me to appreciate things from another perspective.

I am not sure how we can further prove our commitment, if that is a concern to the vendor. As soon as our offer was accepted, we instructed our solicitor the same day and paid for searches. We cancelled other house viewings some of which with the same EA). Our mortgage is finalised pending arrangement and results of survey which we said we are happy to arrange the minute the search returns. Speaking to the EA was very helpful, and it was our solicitor and family who suggested we phoned them. We only learned from the EA, a month down the line, that the vendor’s solicitor wanted the survey first - they didn’t mention this to our solicitor. Yet after our offer was accepted our solicitor immediately contacted theirs and they have not responded.

I am not sure about us antagonising the vendor, when we simply haven’t heard back. It would seem that this process would be smoother if the vendor’s solicitor responded to ours.

OliviaANJ

When we were sellers it would never have been a problem which order the buyer wished to proceed - I’d never expect the buyer to take my word on something. It just so happens that all of my experiences have been searches then survey.

OliviaANJ

Sorry for the spam - but they haven’t actually taken it off the market either.

Socrat

You can check tenure on the Land registry website and go from there .

You can ask your solicitor to send a letter to theirs explaining that you are a very keen buyer but trying to work within a certain time frame and ideally looking to complete within xyz. If your lender has instructed a valuation and you can send EA proof of funds, that should be sufficient.
Home buyer's survey is for your peace of mind so it's a bit strange that they are waiting for it, unless they know something and expect there to be an issue..