Estate agents ... not sure about trusting them...

tostaky

We are selling two BTL flats, to buy a house (to live in).
We accepted an offer on Flat A back in October and we were hoping to exchange but the sale fell through as we had a nightmare solicitor and the buyer couldn't get a mortgage extension two weeks before we were meant to exchange.... 
Perhaps we were optimistic, but we put an offer on a house and it got accepted a week BEFORE we knew the sale of Flat A was going to fall through.
The estate agent from the house said, you dont have the money fr the deposit so the house has to go back on the market while you sort out your finances. We agreed.
Within three weeks, we had an offer on Flat B, so we said to the estate agent, we want the house!. But he said: I have another buyer so the seller will have to make a choice. He also said, well actually how solid is your chain? i need to check your buyer so he rang the estate agent of Flat B to do some due diligence (which doesnt satisfied him that much apparently).
Anyway, it has been dragging for a week, we dont know if we should tell the bank to organise the survey (estate agent said no). 
I am not sure I understand what the estate agent is doing, i fear there is more to it than what he is saying.
Since we had an offer accepted, shouldn't the house be ours to buy? I know it went back onto the market but we were there first?
Anyone been in that situation? How should we tackle it? Thank you!

sc32365

Hello

It appears you are just asking if you should be sold the house as you had the offer accepted first. 

Unfortunately until exchange the seller could decide at any point to go with another buyer so nothing you can do in this situation if the buyer chooses someone else.

lonibra

To put it bluntly, the EA clearly sees you as flaky buyers. Not saying that you are but it looks like that's how he perceives it. So if he had a more "proceedable" (in his eyes) buyer and you to choose from, he'd probably go with them.

Nothing is contractual until exchange, not on your side and not on the vendor's.

Falafels

The estate agent is acting for the vendor, not for you - though it can be easy to lose sight of this! - which is probably why you sense there's more to it than you're being told. So you can reliably trust him/her to get the best deal for the vendor.

You've had one sale fall through already, so it makes sense that the EA is checking that your other one is solid; the vendor has another buyer that you know about, and there could be more. Sadly, the notion of 'first come, first served' doesn't apply in this instance as it really is the vendor's decision, and the agent is working for them. If the vendor has several potential purchasers then they may well take a while to make a decision; someone who's chain-free is likely to be more appealing than someone who isn't, someone with a large deposit more appealing than someone without, and so on. The vendor's estate agent is under no obligation whatsoever to be sharing this kind of information with you.

As to what to do... if you haven't had your offer accepted, it's wise not to waste your money on a survey which could come to nothing. It's just an awful waiting game, and it's been my experience that the house buying/selling process puts years on your life. All you can do is hang on in there until you get a response. If this process really drags on then start looking elsewhere.

Good luck!

eddddy

Your post isn't too clear... but it sounds like you need to sell flat A and flat B in order to buy the house

But it reads like you have only accepted an offer on flat B (and the sale of flat A fell through). If that's the case you're not proceedable, so it wouldn't be surprising that your offer on the house isn't being accepted.

But if you mean that you have accepted offers on both flat A and flat B... then you're still a bit of a risky buyer, because your purchase is dependent on 2 sales going through.

Or do you mean you only need to sell one flat, in order to purchase the house?

Salemicus

No, you shouldn't organise a survey because you haven't had an offer accepted. House buying doesn't work on the principle of "dibs." There is nothing for you to trust the estate agent about. He hasn't made you any promises, and anyway, it is the vendor, not the estate agent, who will accept or decline your offer.

I recommend you make yourself as proceedable as possible by selling the additional properties, and continue to view other houses.

tostaky

Thanks  everybody - thats my feeling, there is nothing i can do to tip the balance in my favour.... 
i know we are seen as flaky but thats not our fault...
yes we are looking at other houses. But there is not much on the market at the moment.
And yes we only need to sell one flat - the other flat will be used  for the renovation work

SDLT_Geek

tostaky said:

Thanks  everybody - thats my feeling, there is nothing i can do to tip the balance in my favour.... 
i know we are seen as flaky but thats not our fault...
yes we are looking at other houses. But there is not much on the market at the moment.
And yes we only need to sell one flat - the other flat will be used  for the renovation work

Are you having to allow for the extra 3% stamp duty land tax?  Or perhaps you sold a home which you had lived in within the last three years, so you meet all the conditions to be "replacing your only or main residence".

Falafels

tostaky said:

Thanks  everybody - thats my feeling, there is nothing i can do to tip the balance in my favour.... 
i know we are seen as flaky but thats not our fault...
yes we are looking at other houses. But there is not much on the market at the moment.
And yes we only need to sell one flat - the other flat will be used  for the renovation work

Good luck with all this!