At Breaking Point - 1 year sale

fackers_2

As title suggests, I'm now at breaking point with this whole scenario... I'll try keep it brief. 

Selling a one bedroom flat with courtyard in the centre of the City. We had a healthy offer pool at above asking price and selected the most appropriate. She then backed out the week we were about to simultaneous exchange and complete. Found a new buyer (in December) who offered asking price, it's now been 5 and half months and we finally understand what all the delay was (I've been chasing weekly since end of March since we were reassured most of the paper work had been done...

Problems include:
1 - Sale was delayed due to solicitors prioritising sales ahead of stamp duty holiday deadline
2 - 42 queries from the buyers solicitor incl some that were so pedantic (according to our sol) and our sol for not answering thoroughly
3 - Now we finally have found out 3 weeks ago that the buyer has had 2 mortgage offers rejected and now the 3rd offer is about to be pulled unless the ground rent amount (£300PA) is drastically reduced (looking online it should be max £250). GR management has said no and a indemnity policy isn't an option apparently.

So now we've decided that we're likely to put it back onto the market for the 3rd time. We're looking to make a loss of around £15k since the flat has been vacant since August and it's completely empty of furniture and character. And also to pray that we can actually sell it to someone who actually can afford the flat. 

We seem to have become prisoners of ground rent management company and that we're in what seems a never ending cycle of the flat being priced at FTB's budgets. 


Rant over but can anyone support with our position and offer sound reasonable advice on how to proceed?

princeofpounds

Sounds like you are caught in the AST trap. It's a shame your solicitor didn't realise this earlier - it would have been a problem from day 1. You might need to be looking into a statutory lease extension which will set your ground rent to zero. If your lease it already long, it won't cost that much. 

I would remove your flat from marketing, dump your solicitor and estate agent. Get a new solicitor, sort out the ground rent, then remarket. Sorry about all this, but you will be able to sort it eventually.

teachfast

Absolutely standard practice for solicitors, I'm afraid. They don't even see anything wrong with this sort of things. You'll hear a million excuses on here for their crapness, but none is true: they just don't really care. 

I do feel for you, our recent move neatly finished us off. All delays due to 'professional' incompetence and sheer disdain. 

Crashy_Time

fackers_2 said:

As title suggests, I'm now at breaking point with this whole scenario... I'll try keep it brief. 

Selling a one bedroom flat with courtyard in the centre of the City. We had a healthy offer pool at above asking price and selected the most appropriate. She then backed out the week we were about to simultaneous exchange and complete. Found a new buyer (in December) who offered asking price, it's now been 5 and half months and we finally understand what all the delay was (I've been chasing weekly since end of March since we were reassured most of the paper work had been done...

Problems include:
1 - Sale was delayed due to solicitors prioritising sales ahead of stamp duty holiday deadline
2 - 42 queries from the buyers solicitor incl some that were so pedantic (according to our sol) and our sol for not answering thoroughly
3 - Now we finally have found out 3 weeks ago that the buyer has had 2 mortgage offers rejected and now the 3rd offer is about to be pulled unless the ground rent amount (£300PA) is drastically reduced (looking online it should be max £250). GR management has said no and a indemnity policy isn't an option apparently.

So now we've decided that we're likely to put it back onto the market for the 3rd time. We're looking to make a loss of around £15k since the flat has been vacant since August and it's completely empty of furniture and character. And also to pray that we can actually sell it to someone who actually can afford the flat. 

We seem to have become prisoners of ground rent management company and that we're in what seems a never ending cycle of the flat being priced at FTB's budgets. 


Rant over but can anyone support with our position and offer sound reasonable advice on how to proceed?

Isn`t that how things are normally priced, their bank decides the budget in the end though?

getmore4less

fackers_2 said:

As title suggests, I'm now at breaking point with this whole scenario... I'll try keep it brief. 

Selling a one bedroom flat with courtyard in the centre of the City. We had a healthy offer pool at above asking price and selected the most appropriate. 

How big was the pool and what made them most appropriate?

getmore4less

one point on a previous thread.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6255285/buyers-solicitor-asking-such-specific-questions-help#latest

That title brings up 

12 Church Street Newport,

NP20 2BY

Tenure: Freehold
are you sure they were making enquiries about your property.
had a typo looks more reasonable with the right number

fackers_2

Ok so we had the call to say the buyer can't secure a mortgage after almost 6 months and 3 mortgage applications / offers later. We are so angry that the Estate agent never told us about the first mortgage being pulled or the 2nd until very last minute. They lose their fee but it's little to them compared to what we've now lost. We're likely to put it back on the market asap with a different Estate Agent and go from there. Since the lease holder won't accept a drop in rent or a lease extension agreement we are needing to have better luck with buyers. *praying for a cash buyer*

The buyer stalled the sale to buy her time to secure a mortgage and in turn by delaying things until the last minute no one could help with the ground rent agreement that was causing a sticking point and thus leading to her now having to live with her ex for 5 months and no property on the other end. 

The system needs to be fairer and have more protection for sellers!

getmore4less

If I found the right one having 2 others in the block for sale won't help
One SSTC on at £115k  
Also a sale Dec 2020 at £122k

fackers_2

getmore4less said:

If I found the right one having 2 others in the block for sale won't help
One SSTC on at £115k  
Also a sale Dec 2020 at £122k

They don't have a courtyard (ground floor) or their own access hence why it is higher value. Just simply had bad luck with a buyer. we're aware it happens from time to time. 

fackers_2

getmore4less said:

fackers_2 said:

As title suggests, I'm now at breaking point with this whole scenario... I'll try keep it brief. 

Selling a one bedroom flat with courtyard in the centre of the City. We had a healthy offer pool at above asking price and selected the most appropriate. 

How big was the pool and what made them most appropriate?

9 bidders. All but one were over asking price and 2 cash offers. We went with the person who was a FTB and was giving all the right signals... My partner was trying to be more sentimental when selecting the purchaser.

NameUnavailable

The ground rent issue is going to be a problem (most likely) with any buyer requiring a mortgage.

Remarket for a cash buyer only or put it up for auction (proper auction, do not even consider 'modern method').

The other option is to pay for a lease extension via the official route and your ground rent will reduce to zero, but you need to consider if the cost/delay is worth it versus selling now at a reduced price to get a cash/investor buyer.