House advertised on estate agent and Rightmove website for 24hrs max.

Times_Are_Hard

I accepted an offer on my property a few months ago (via an estate agent) and registered with other reputable EA's in surrounding area telling them our criteria for what I want to buy. After a month or so, one EA called to say they have a property coming onto the market soon and do I want to view before it does. I viewed and put an offer in (including I wanted it off the market as well) which was accepted, all good so far.
A week or so later I saw it on Rightmove with just 1 picture and basic description, no floorplan etc. Also saw it on the EA website.
I was expecting it to be marked as 'sstc' after 24hrs, but now I cannot find it anywhere. EA assures me they are definitely selling and looking for a property they want.
My question is, wouldn't the property legally have to be on these websites marked either as 'sstc' or 'under offer etc?
It's been about 2 weeks since my offer was accepted via email.

princeofpounds

There's no legal compulsion to advertise as SSTC.

davidmcn

Times_Are_Hard said:

I was expecting it to be marked as 'sstc' after 24hrs, but now I cannot find it anywhere. EA assures me they are definitely selling and looking for a property they want.
My question is, wouldn't the property legally have to be on these websites marked either as 'sstc' or 'under offer etc?
It's been about 2 weeks since my offer was accepted via email.

I'm not sure what your concern is - you've had your offer accepted but you want to see it being advertised? There's no general legal obligation to advertise the property at all, or to advertise the fact that an offer has been accepted in principle.

youth_leader

When I offered on my purchase, I was concerned about this too.  I rang the vendor's EA and she told me that the property would be marked SSTC once the vendor had given them her solicitor details.  It took ten days, and I received the Memorandum of Sale email.  Have you had this yet?

AdrianC

When we bought this place, there was no STC flag placed on RM... all the way from our offer being accepted at the start of February through to completion in mid-May. Then, about a week after completion, it was just removed from RM completely.

It's all down to how the EA handle flagging internally. In the case of the EA we bought through, I suspect simple incompetence and technophobia.

If you're concerned about how committed the EA are to your purchase, then get a friend to ring them and inquire as if from a totally unrelated innocent's position... But remember that once the memorandum of sale's been issued, the EA's work is pretty much done - it's down to the solicitors to get the sale moving. The EA can come in handy as a communication route, but not much more than that. If the chain isn't complete yet, then the chain simply isn't complete yet...

Natbag

They'll usually only mark it as 'Sold STC' once all of your identity checks are complete and they have seen proof of funds such as a deposit, mortgage in principle and your sale memorandum(s) if applicable. That all took a couple of weeks for us.

eddddy

Times_Are_Hard said:

A week or so later I saw it on Rightmove with just 1 picture and basic description, no floorplan etc. Also saw it on the EA website.
I was expecting it to be marked as 'sstc' after 24hrs, but now I cannot find it anywhere. EA assures me they are definitely selling and looking for a property they want.
My question is, wouldn't the property legally have to be on these websites marked either as 'sstc' or 'under offer etc?
It's been about 2 weeks since my offer was accepted via email.

So is your worry that it was some kind of 'half-hearted offer for sale', and the sellers may not be serious - because the property was only on rightmove for 24 hours, and it only had basic details?

That seems unlikely. Have you had a memorandum of sale from the EA? Have your solicitors established contact with the seller's solicitors?

I guess it's possible that the seller's contract with the EA said the property would be advertised on rightmove - so they put brief details and one photo up for 24 hours, in order to meet their contractual obligations.

moneysavinghero

If the property was only on Rightmove for 24 hours maybe it was put on in error and when they realised that it was off the market they removed it.

Falafels

I don't understand why you'd want to see it advertised, if your offer has already been accepted and the purchase is proceeding.
If anything, it's a sign of good faith on the part of the vendor; you can be pretty sure they're not trying to get further offers or potentially set you up for the gazumping championships!

There's no legal obligation to have properties marked as 'Under Offer' or 'SSTC'. Indeed, it can be annoying to contact an EA about a property which is ostensibly for sale on Rightmove, only to be told that it is actually SSTC and not available - which happened during our search for a house.

Times_Are_Hard

Thanks for replies, I'll have to ask for the memorandum of sale. EA already have my ID's.
I'm waiting for my solicitor to confirm correspondence from vendor solicitor.
Perhaps it will reappear on the websites and as sstc when further into purchase etc.

eddddy

Times_Are_Hard said:

Perhaps it will reappear on the websites and as sstc when further into purchase etc.

It may do - if the EA want's to enhance their image.

The main reason EAs advertise 'SSTC' properties is to say "Look how good we are. We've sold lots of properties." 
(Unless the properties are repossessions etc)

But a possible downside is that a few people see an 'SSTC' advert as meaning they can jump in and gazump. If there's no 'SSTC' advert, that's less likely to happen.