Trusting the seller to pay up

eddddy

getmore4less said:

NameUnavailable said:

Speak to your solicitor. I think they can agree with the vendors solicitors to a retention upon completion (at the agreed purchase price) so they effectively hold back £2K rather than paying in full and then the vendor returning £2K.

maybe you missed this bit.

I spoke with my mortgage broker on Friday and I've learnt that in any way they gift the £2200 it will have to go through my mortgage lender if goes through the solicitor. My mortgage lender has a massive wait (taking 4-6 weeks atm) when it comes to dealing with this kind of stuff. The seller says they'll withdraw the offer if it takes a month to complete and they'll stay put instead.

A 'retention' isn't a 'gift'.

It's money that's held back by the solicitor to pay for things like repairs. See: https://www.fridaysmove.com/glossary/retention

For example, it happens on almost every leasehold flat sale - the solicitor retains some money in case service charges (e.g. the cost of repairs and maintenance) is higher than expected. Mortgage lenders don't have a problem with this.

However, with leasehold flats the retention is typically only £250. It may be an issue if the retention is £2200.

Ask your solicitor if a retention of £2200 (as opposed to a gift of £2200) needs to be reported to the lender. 

Hannimal

Scotbot said:
Ask the seller to pay you directly upfront  before exchange without involving solicitors. Will the seller really pull out of a sale that they have agreed to? If they do they will almost certainly have to pay the agent fees (unless it's an online agency in which case they already have) and they will definitely have to pay solicitor  fees.  Pulling out will cost them more than you at this stage.

It's PurpleBricks

Hannimal

eddddy said:

getmore4less said:

NameUnavailable said:

Speak to your solicitor. I think they can agree with the vendors solicitors to a retention upon completion (at the agreed purchase price) so they effectively hold back £2K rather than paying in full and then the vendor returning £2K.

maybe you missed this bit.

I spoke with my mortgage broker on Friday and I've learnt that in any way they gift the £2200 it will have to go through my mortgage lender if goes through the solicitor. My mortgage lender has a massive wait (taking 4-6 weeks atm) when it comes to dealing with this kind of stuff. The seller says they'll withdraw the offer if it takes a month to complete and they'll stay put instead.

A 'retention' isn't a 'gift'.

It's money that's held back by the solicitor to pay for things like repairs. See: https://www.fridaysmove.com/glossary/retention

For example, it happens on almost every leasehold flat sale - the solicitor retains some money in case service charges (e.g. the cost of repairs and maintenance) is higher than expected. Mortgage lenders don't have a problem with this.

However, with leasehold flats the retention is typically only £250. It may be an issue if the retention is £2200.

Ask your solicitor if a retention of £2200 (as opposed to a gift of £2200) needs to be reported to the lender. 

This is a freehold. I am no sure if that changes anything. I'll try again to get in touch with the solicitor, haven't been successful past few days so starting to panic  

eddddy

Hannimal said:

eddddy said:

getmore4less said:

NameUnavailable said:

Speak to your solicitor. I think they can agree with the vendors solicitors to a retention upon completion (at the agreed purchase price) so they effectively hold back £2K rather than paying in full and then the vendor returning £2K.

maybe you missed this bit.

I spoke with my mortgage broker on Friday and I've learnt that in any way they gift the £2200 it will have to go through my mortgage lender if goes through the solicitor. My mortgage lender has a massive wait (taking 4-6 weeks atm) when it comes to dealing with this kind of stuff. The seller says they'll withdraw the offer if it takes a month to complete and they'll stay put instead.

A 'retention' isn't a 'gift'.

It's money that's held back by the solicitor to pay for things like repairs. See: https://www.fridaysmove.com/glossary/retention

For example, it happens on almost every leasehold flat sale - the solicitor retains some money in case service charges (e.g. the cost of repairs and maintenance) is higher than expected. Mortgage lenders don't have a problem with this.

However, with leasehold flats the retention is typically only £250. It may be an issue if the retention is £2200.

Ask your solicitor if a retention of £2200 (as opposed to a gift of £2200) needs to be reported to the lender. 

This is a freehold. I am no sure if that changes anything. I'll try again to get in touch with the solicitor, haven't been successful past few days so starting to panic  

It applies to Freehold as well as leasehold.

The only difference might be that solicitors usually expect a 'retention' for leasehold, so include the extra work in the fee they quote.

Solicitors don't expect a 'retention' for freehold, so they don't include the extra work in their quote. So they might charge an extra fee for the extra work involved.

greatcrested

Scotbot said:

Ask the seller to pay you directly upfront  before exchange without involving solicitors.

Haha! Seller is not likely to do that. What if Exchange never happens?

OP is quids in and walks away......

But as said above there are only two routes:

1) formal, legal, binding - via solicitors

2) informal, not legal, not binding - based on trust