Can I ask why the previous sale fell through?

Dollhouse123

I am currently waiting for exchange and at the enquiries stage. Some of the property information paperwork is dated 2019 so clearly the vendors tried to sell the property previously. Am I allowed to ask why the sale didn't go through?

If so, is it best to ask estate agents or solicitors?

AdrianC

Of course you can ask.
Your solicitor certainly won't know.
They could ask the vendor's solicitor, but perhaps they've changed?
Perhaps the EA's changed?

What if they say they don't know?
What if they say it was down to the buyers' personal circumstances...? How do you know that's true?

Maybe the property's just been on the market for a while, and they did the paperwork up front?

What if it was an issue with the property itself... but one that's now been resolved? You will be getting your own survey anyway, right...?

greatcrested

You can certainly ask.

The solicitor won't tell you (you're not his client) even if he knows.

The EA might answer or might not. If he does, the reason he gives might be accurate, or might not.

cattie

Yes you can ask, but it's doubtful anybody will tell you, especially if it's for a reaon that could put other buyers off. The  vendor's solicitor most certainly wouldn't tell you, even if he knew. As Adrian mentions, if a reason is given by vendors or ea, how would you know it was true? 

Dollhouse123

AdrianC said:

Of course you can ask.
Your solicitor certainly won't know.
They could ask the vendor's solicitor, but perhaps they've changed?
Perhaps the EA's changed?

What if they say they don't know?
What if they say it was down to the buyers' personal circumstances...? How do you know that's true?

Maybe the property's just been on the market for a while, and they did the paperwork up front?

What if it was an issue with the property itself... but one that's now been resolved? You will be getting your own survey anyway, right...?

Yes, this is what I'm afraid of... Asking and not getting the truth back anyway. 
Survey is all done and nothing came back as alarming

Dollhouse123

greatcrested said:

You can certainly ask.

The solicitor won't tell you (you're not his client) even if he knows.

The EA might answer or might not. If he does, the reason he gives might be accurate, or might not.

What if I ask my solicitor to raise as an enquiry? Is that going too far?

MFWannabe

Dollhouse123 said:

greatcrested said:

You can certainly ask.

The solicitor won't tell you (you're not his client) even if he knows.

The EA might answer or might not. If he does, the reason he gives might be accurate, or might not.

What if I ask my solicitor to raise as an enquiry? Is that going too far?

Will it make a difference to you buying the property? If not then I’d just forget about it, you might not get the correct answer anyway 🤷‍♀️

macman

Dollhouse123 said:

greatcrested said:

You can certainly ask.

The solicitor won't tell you (you're not his client) even if he knows.

The EA might answer or might not. If he does, the reason he gives might be accurate, or might not.

What if I ask my solicitor to raise as an enquiry? Is that going too far?

They will either comply or they won't.  
This is a business transaction, you're not trying to make friends with them. 
There could be myriad reasons why the sale did not go through. They may have withdrawn it from sale for personal or financial reasons. About a third of accepted offers never complete, so it's hardly unusual.

Neil49

There are numerous reasons why the earlier sale didn't go through, some could be due to an issue with the property, or the buyer saw somewhere else late on in the process, or their mortgage offer was withdrawn. The list could go on and on. 

If you really need to know what happened then get the EA to ask the vendor. The response will be the same as if you ask anyone else to check except that they won't charge you for doing it.

We were selling a flat 18 months ago and the whole process dragged out for 8 months before the elderly lady buying it pulled out when she discovered late in the day that she couldn't have her small dog with her despite the lease saying that she just needed written permission to do so. The managing agents got wind of the fact that she had a pet late in the process and insisted that she couldn't. She decided to pull out the day before exchange of contracts. After that, Covid set in and everything ground to a halt. We finally completed the sale with a new buyer in December. There was nothing wrong with the flat in any way. 

MobileSaver

Dollhouse123 said:

greatcrested said:

You can certainly ask.

What if I ask my solicitor to raise as an enquiry? Is that going too far?

As said, you can certainly ask but whether that's a good idea or not is something different.

If you really have to ask for your own piece of mind then ask the EA informally; an official solicitor enquiry would be unusual, could make your sellers wary and could delay the entire transaction.

What will you do if the official response from the other side is "The sale did not go through because the previous buyers decided not to proceed with the purchase"?

AnotherJoe

Dollhouse123 said:

I am currently waiting for exchange and at the enquiries stage. Some of the property information paperwork is dated 2019 so clearly the vendors tried to sell the property previously. Am I allowed to ask why the sale didn't go through?

If so, is it best to ask estate agents or solicitors?

Yes you can ask the EA and IIRC they have to tell you. Mine did.  (they also told me about the house across teh street which was a different reason)

It wasnt something that bothered me enough not to proceed so i went ahead.