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House selling problems.

Nikki211188
Posts: 3 Newbie
Hi all
I am hoping someone can help me? We sold our house subject to contract back in September to a chain free couple and were still having problems before we exchange/ complete. The main problem we currently have is that the buyers solicitors are requesting a deed of easement as they believe part of our driveway is owned by the council ( a corner plot of land to the front of the garden was sold to the council in 2011 when a guided bus route was being built). Firstly when we purchased the property 5 years ago, we were nor aware of any issues. ( unless you work in conveyancing, who would be) secondly, in the 8 years since the land was purchased, we have never had any issues. Anyway, at first we refused to do this and offered an indemnity instead however the buyers solicitors refused this. We then said we wouldn't be applying as we have not had any issues but they wouldn't budge on this. We finally gave in and had to pay for this ( reluctantly) at 600. The timescale for a deed of easement can be a minimum of 3 months but the buyers solicitors didn t raise this issue until the end of November. We had agreed we would complete in January so even when they first raided it, it wouldn't have been enough time. The next issue is that they are telling us they want an indemnity of the shed we have in the back garden as they don't believe it's within permitted development. We have advised it is under 15 sqm so we have refused this. They won't budge on this either. ( we have Said we would rather tear the shed down than fork out another £300). Finally the buyers have now come back asking us to reduce the price as their surveyors have noticed damp. We also had a quote done and ours came to 600 however the buyers surveyor came back at 2500. They Said they trust their surveyors so they believe the cost is right. Due to all the issues and timescale of at least another 3 months we asked if they would enter a contractual exchange of contract binding them to purchase the property in the condition a deed of easement is approved or within a 4 month period. If neither of these happen in the timescale then the buyers have a right to withdraw. This was flat out refused with no negotiation. Our concern is the house has been off the market for 5 months now with at least another 3 further months to go and we want some certainty the buyers wont pull out right at the end. Are we being unreasonable? Any help with all my questions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for such a long thread. Obviously shows the stress I am going through
I am hoping someone can help me? We sold our house subject to contract back in September to a chain free couple and were still having problems before we exchange/ complete. The main problem we currently have is that the buyers solicitors are requesting a deed of easement as they believe part of our driveway is owned by the council ( a corner plot of land to the front of the garden was sold to the council in 2011 when a guided bus route was being built). Firstly when we purchased the property 5 years ago, we were nor aware of any issues. ( unless you work in conveyancing, who would be) secondly, in the 8 years since the land was purchased, we have never had any issues. Anyway, at first we refused to do this and offered an indemnity instead however the buyers solicitors refused this. We then said we wouldn't be applying as we have not had any issues but they wouldn't budge on this. We finally gave in and had to pay for this ( reluctantly) at 600. The timescale for a deed of easement can be a minimum of 3 months but the buyers solicitors didn t raise this issue until the end of November. We had agreed we would complete in January so even when they first raided it, it wouldn't have been enough time. The next issue is that they are telling us they want an indemnity of the shed we have in the back garden as they don't believe it's within permitted development. We have advised it is under 15 sqm so we have refused this. They won't budge on this either. ( we have Said we would rather tear the shed down than fork out another £300). Finally the buyers have now come back asking us to reduce the price as their surveyors have noticed damp. We also had a quote done and ours came to 600 however the buyers surveyor came back at 2500. They Said they trust their surveyors so they believe the cost is right. Due to all the issues and timescale of at least another 3 months we asked if they would enter a contractual exchange of contract binding them to purchase the property in the condition a deed of easement is approved or within a 4 month period. If neither of these happen in the timescale then the buyers have a right to withdraw. This was flat out refused with no negotiation. Our concern is the house has been off the market for 5 months now with at least another 3 further months to go and we want some certainty the buyers wont pull out right at the end. Are we being unreasonable? Any help with all my questions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for such a long thread. Obviously shows the stress I am going through
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Comments
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Get the easement sorted - should have been something noticed by your solicitor.
If you can get the damp fixed for £600 - sort that too.
Tell your buyer what you are doing and if they haven't exchanged within 7 days of the damp being sorted then you will be re-marketing the property as you do not feel they are committed buyers.
You appear to have been reasonable in asking for what you have. It's a 2 way street in being reasonable imo.0 -
We went back to our solicitors when purchasing the property and they said as we never raised any concerns they wouldn't have checked. We offered to take 1000 off the asking price and would discuss contributing to any other costs they might occur in the meantime in the condition they did the conditional exchange of contracts and this was rejected. They are first tome buyers so I understand they are just going on the advise of their solicitors but there is no negotiating with them0
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I know you are emotionally invested but you need to be a little more bullish about the situation.
Get the damp sorted yourself - withdraw the offer of the £1k off as the problem is now sorted.
Tell them you feel this isn't proceeding at a pace you are comfortable. On this basis, you are at the point of frustration now where they have 7 days to exchange or you are putting the house back on the market.
If they dont want you to repair the damp and can exchange in the timeframe, the alternate offer is that you will reduce the cost of the house by £600 towards repairing the damp with a surveyor they are happy with and will either leave the shed as is or have it removed.
The completion can be subject to the easement still and failure to agree to these terms will be taken as a sign that they are not committed to the purchase and you would like to ensure you are best position to the spring market if this isn't going ahead.
Don't get tangled up in their demands - make your own demands and be prepared to walk away.0 -
I think i'd be wanting some sort of Structural survey completed on the property before I completed just for a bit of piece of mind!Those who risk nothing, Do nothing, achieve nothing, become nothingMFW #63 £0/£5000
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1. The buyer's solicitor will not agree to exchange contracts until the Deed of Easement is registered. The fact that you have had no issues is irrelevant. The land is not yours and although you cross it without a problem, the solicitor wants to have "registered permission to cross over the land" in place for the buyer, as any solicitor representing a buyer would do. This is a legal issue and is what the buyer is paying his solicitor for.
2. Either offer an "allowance" of £600 to sort out the damp issue after completion, or sort it yourself because you now have 3 months leeway. Don't offer a discount - it will not speed up exchange and it certainly will not influence the buyer's solicitor in the slightest. It doesn't matter that the query was raised in November, the buyer's solicitor can raise enquiries as and when he wants to, but before exchange of contracts takes place.
3. Either take the shed with you, dismantle it or pay for the indemnity. Your choice, you instruct your solicitor which action you are taking.
You don't have to agree everything the buyer's solicitor is asking, but legal issues (i.e. the Deed of Easement) do have to be satisfied before a buying solicitor will agree to proceed with the transaction.
You could offer to dismantle the shed if the buyer required you to do this. On the other hand your buyer may secretly prefer the shed to remain as is.
The damp issue - is the property quite old? Would damp be usual in a property of this type and age? If yes, then your response to the buyer would be along the lines of this is fairly common and typical in a house of this type and age and therefore it is up to the buyer to decide what works are needed after completion. If the property is newish though and I wouldn't expect to find damp there, then I would get the work done (or deduct the cost from the sale price) and present it to the buyer's solicitor as now rectified and no longer an issue.0 -
Thanks for all your advise. A structural survey has been done and this came back as ok. Regarding the deed of easement, when this was first advised, we went to 4 independent solicitors who all said an indemnity was satisfactory as the land in question is only 1sqm. As advised above this was rejected by the buyers solicitors with no explanation.
The shed, we have had electric supply fitted so it's not as easy to take down and take with us.
The damp side is a small amount and goes up above 10cms max on possibly 3 internal walls. The reason we offered to lower the asking price is purely based on the fact, we do not have funds to pay for this work to be completed now as we have had to pay out for the deed of easement as Well as the fact, we also have 2 young children and an almost packed up house so to make sure dust and mess when we have no spare time isn't convenient for us.
The whole sale has stopped only on this deed of easement which we can't do anything about but we need some security on the buyers not pulling out which is why we suggested the conditional exchange of contracts.0 -
Nikki211188 wrote: »Thanks for all your advise. A structural survey has been done and this came back as ok. Regarding the deed of easement, when this was first advised, we went to 4 independent solicitors who all said an indemnity was satisfactory as the land in question is only 1sqm. As advised above this was rejected by the buyers solicitors with no explanation.
The shed, we have had electric supply fitted so it's not as easy to take down and take with us.
The damp side is a small amount and goes up above 10cms max on possibly 3 internal walls. The reason we offered to lower the asking price is purely based on the fact, we do not have funds to pay for this work to be completed now as we have had to pay out for the deed of easement as Well as the fact, we also have 2 young children and an almost packed up house so to make sure dust and mess when we have no spare time isn't convenient for us.
The whole sale has stopped only on this deed of easement which we can't do anything about but we need some security on the buyers not pulling out which is why we suggested the conditional exchange of contracts.
Sadly I think you will have to wait for this to happen, I know my solicitor would not exchange until the easement had been done.
We had something which happened with our sellers where we had to wait for them to submit to land registry before exchange.
It's a process that has to be gone through and the only way to get it looked at quicker was to expedite it but a process still has to be gone through
Unfortunately this is the joys of buying and selling ..very stressful. For us a 2 person chain with no mortgages took just over 3 months instead of a few weeks with no guarantees0
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