Property readvertised, even though SSTC.

M00nface

Not far from the start of this year, me and my partner put an offer on a house and it was accepted, one of the conditions was for it to be removed from the market, Zoopla etc. This was agreed. We are FTB and we're very quick to instruct a solicitor, arrange our mortgage and pay for our survey to be done. The survey came back with a few red flags and the house was down valued. The vendor was happy with our new negotiated price based on the remedial work that was outlined in our hon buyers report. Our next action was to get contractors /roofers etc in to get quotes for the remedial work to see if we could still afford to go ahead with the purchase knowing it needed work.

At that very point the lockdown started and we are a situation which we have no control of. Understandable to the circumstances, we aren't able to send any contractors to the property to get quotes done for the work. We have made it clear we still wqnt to proceed with down this one the lockdown is relaxed and are still serious about proceeding. 

On Friday we had an email from the EA saying that the vendor wants to readvertise the property to see what interest he still has incase we pull out of the sale. I checked today and it is back on zoopla etc but assumed it would say SSTC. IT doesn't say SSTC and it just looks like the property is readily available for a potential buyer. As FTB we aren't really sure what the standard practise is here but from reading other forums it is usually acceptable for a vendor to remove a property from advertising once the seller makes some kind of financial commitment, which we have done by instructing solicitors, doing surveys etc. The EA made clear that this isn't the vendor pulling out of the sale, Any advice? 

[Deleted User]

You can ask them not to advertise it, but they're not breaking any law.

robtam

Quite cheeky! I'd be annoyed and question why they made this decision? Especially with house prices due to fall. What's it listed as? Same price you paid?

greatcrested

It sounds like you have put the purchase on hold pending getting the quotes you want from contractors. And yet you have already negotiated a reduced purchase price based on th survey.

the sellers therefore fear/expect that once you get the quotes you will attempt to reduce the price further.

It is now time for you to commit to the purchase, or accept that the sellers will look for a buyer who is more serious.

M00nface

robtam said:

Quite cheeky! I'd be annoyed and question why they made this decision? Especially with house prices due to fall. What's it listed as? Same price you paid?

They are listing it at the original listed price. 227,500. Although it was down valued to 200,000 from the survey. Which we are happy to pay and the vendor was happy to accept. We wouldn't try to go any lower we just want to know if we can afford the work that needs to be done, and realistically can only know this from a quote from a contractor. 

M00nface

greatcrested said:

It sounds like you have put the purchase on hold pending getting the quotes you want from contractors. And yet you have already negotiated a reduced purchase price based on th survey.

the sellers therefore fear/expect that once you get the quotes you will attempt to reduce the price further.

It is now time for you to commit to the purchase, or accept that the sellers will look for a buyer who is more serious.

We have made it clear we are happy to proceed at the new price. We wouldn't go any lower. We just need to know the remedial work is within our budget. If it is not then we would move on. 

We actually intended to get contractors out immediately after our home buyers report but we can't do that currently, that's out of our hands. 

Thrugelmir

"Our next action was to get contractors /roofers etc in to get quotes for the remedial work to see if we could still afford to go ahead with the purchase knowing it needed work."

Hardly surprising that the vendor is willing testing the market. You might yet walk away. Depite offering then renegotiating. Matters aren't yet moving forward. 

M00nface

Deleted_User said:

You can ask them not to advertise it, but they're not breaking any law.

I understand they're not breaking the law. I'm just asking advice on what is standard procedure after a potential buyer has already instructed a solicitor and paid fees etc. 

[Deleted User]

Standard procedure is to ask them to take it off the market.

comeandgo

If I was your sellers I'd do the same.  You possibly do not have the money for this house repairs and could walk away leaving them with no buyer and lost months when it could be advertised.

M00nface

Thrugelmir said:

"Our next action was to get contractors /roofers etc in to get quotes for the remedial work to see if we could still afford to go ahead with the purchase knowing it needed work."

Hardly surprising that the vendor is willing testing the market. You might yet walk away. Depite offering then renegotiating. Matters aren't yet moving forward. 

Completely understandable. If there was a new potential buyer would they not also be in the same situation though? The report would come back with the remedial work that needs to be done regardless and the new buyer would still need to figure out if they can afford that work to be done.