Offer accepted but house still on the market

ES13

Hello all,

We're first time buyers and put an offer on a house nearly three weeks ago which was made on the condition that the house was taken off the market / marked as SSTC. The offer was accepted but the house remained on the market. We chased about this and were then told that there had been a higher offer from someone who had viewed the property when it was previously marketed by a different estate agent. We refused to increase our offer because it was suspicious timing and after a couple of days we were told the seller had again accepted our original offer.

We reminded the estate agent that our offer was on the condition of marking it as SSTC and he kept responding by saying he would 'see about it' or would 'try' and assured us that they're not allowing anyone else to view the property which we checked by getting a friend to ask to view the property. The owner lives abroad and the estate agent has now said that he will ask him about taking the property off the market when he sees him in a week.

We have instructed solicitors, have a mortgage broker and everything in place to proceed quickly. The estate agent has said we're fine to proceed with the mortgage application and surveys but we're obviously reluctant to as it appears to us as if the seller isn't serious about accepting our offer. We are in a rented property at the moment and would like to proceed as quickly as possible as our landlords have decided to sell the property. We have told the estate agent that from our point of view the offer has not been accepted so we will continue to view other properties but that hasn't seemed to have sped anything up. I would understand if the seller didn't want to take the property off the market for a specific reason but at the moment it just seems like either the seller or the estate agent is playing for time.

Is this kind of delay usual? Are these early warning signs? Any thoughts much appreciated, thank you.

Stubod

..yep playing for time on the off chance of getting a higher offer...not a lot you can do unless you offer to withdraw, but I guess you really want the property?

iampetesmith

You could tell them you're going to withdraw your offer if they don't mark it as SSTC, but that will probably just make the vendor accept someone else's offer anyway. The longer you go into the process, the less likely it is that they'll accept someone else's offer over yours as they won't want to start all over again.

On another note, has your landlord given you a date when they want you to move out by? We were in exactly the same position, we were already looking for a house when the landlord announced that he was selling it. Just tell them that you've put an offer in on the house, so you're going through the conveyancing process and ask if you can stay until it all goes through. We did that with ours and he happily carried on taking rent for it until our purchase went through. Even then, they can't force you out on the date they want anyway as it has to go through court first, but I'd have thought the landlord would rather wait a bit longer for the keys than have the hassle and cost of starting court proceedings.

Remember that just because you want it to go as quickly as possible, all sorts of things can come up that can delay it. For this reason, don't think there are deadlines or time limits as this causes the most stress with buying a house. Just keep the landlord informed of the progress and they should be ok with it. Our purchase should have taken 3 months, but there were all sorts of problems so the landlord got his keys back 6 months later instead and was fine with it. You're right at the start of the process and no one can say when you'll complete yet as so many things can happen in between, so keep relaxed and let things move along without worrying about the time. As long as you sort out all of your paperwork and tasks as soon as you get them, it's just a case of waiting for everyone else. You will need to chase people and push a bit, but you should get there in the end. 

eddddy

The EA has to follow the seller's instructions - and it sounds like the seller wants the property left on the market.

So it's just down to negotiation between you and the seller, via the EA.

• You can refuse to proceed with your mortgage and surveys until the property is taken off the market
• The seller can refuse to take it off the market, because you won't proceed with your mortgage and surveys

I guess it depends who gives in first, or who walks away first.

AdrianC

"Marking it as SSTC" is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It is quite literally just a little banner on RM. No more, no less. The more important question is whether they're continuing to show it to putative buyers.

If you suspect they are, then get a friend to phone up and enquire about it.