Ready, Willing and Able Buyer

steampowered

AdrianC said:

AnotherJoe said:

AdrianC said:

If the buyer pulls out, they do not fit the "ready, willing and able" test.
If the vendor pulls out, leaving the buyer hanging, they did...

The main time this could really cause an issue, assuming the vendor doesn't actually just change their mind, is if an upward chain collapses with the vendor unwilling to break the chain to preserve the sale.

Good point by NameUnavailable above though, as the buyers dont currently have their mortgage, they fail on both ready and able, so if father pulls out now, it should be OK.. (disclaimer IANAL )

Unless there's a strong counterindication to them actually being able to borrow, I think you'd be stretching.

If you take the guidance put out by The Property Ombudsman, AnotherJoe is correct.

The Ombudsman says as follows:

It has to be clearly evident that a buyer is 'ready' to exchange (perhaps they have sold their own property and are therefore unencumbered), are 'able' (they should have funds readily available to pay the deposit required on exchange and be otherwise qualified financially to proceed) and are 'willing'. 

Refer to https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/ready-willing-able-case-2 and https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/press-releases/item/ready-willing-and-able. 

I can 100% see why others might interpret the wording differently though.

Robbo66

Ready, Able and Willing means that all the legal processes have been completed, finance is in place and exchange can go ahead, you then withdraw from the sale the agent may exercise the right to get payment to cover their costs and of course this would only apply if that clause is in the contract

AnotherJoe

AdrianC said:

AnotherJoe said:

AdrianC said:

If the buyer pulls out, they do not fit the "ready, willing and able" test.
If the vendor pulls out, leaving the buyer hanging, they did...

The main time this could really cause an issue, assuming the vendor doesn't actually just change their mind, is if an upward chain collapses with the vendor unwilling to break the chain to preserve the sale.

Good point by NameUnavailable above though, as the buyers dont currently have their mortgage, they fail on both ready and able, so if father pulls out now, it should be OK.. (disclaimer IANAL )

Unless there's a strong counterindication to them actually being able to borrow, I think you'd be stretching.

WHy do they they need a counter indication of what may happen in future?

At the time the father pulls out, the buyer will neither be ready or able. Why have the word ready in there if it doesn't matter? Why not have "or if it seems likely the buyer will be ready willing and able at some point in the future"?

( You can see why this wording is discouraged)

See you in court

Pendsive

So many helpful comments here to absorb and I think the one by Eddddy may well be the one to go with. Which is speaking to the buyers and explaining the situation and seeing if they will withdraw under the circumstances, as it's still early days.and not much has been done yet. 

I've also digested a lot of what has been written about the "ready, willing and able" terminology and despite the fact that the buyers might be willing to buy, they will need to satisfy the "ready and able" criteria such as the sale of their own property, sending a surveyor around to satisfy the mortgage company, their solicitor doing all their searches etc and then be in a position to exchange if all the aforementioned is satisfactory. With this in mind it will be far better on our part to stop proceedings as quickly as possible before the buyer embarks on any of the above

caprikid1

The longer you leave it to pull out the more likely the EA could have more evidence to support a claim.

saajan_12

Pendsive said:

How far does the buyer need to go in the whole process to legally be termed a "ready, willing and able buyer"?. .

That's the $million question, hence its inadvisable to enter into these ambiguous contracts. Note other posters saying it "should" be payable upon exchange is really what a better, different contract should say. With THIS contract, that may not be the case. 

Not exhaustive but to give an idea:

• A buyer may not be ready if they don't have deposit funds in place, mortgage offer, their sale agreed yet. 
• A buyer may not be willing if they don't have any searches / surveys they intend to do to be happy to proceed (note some may be willing without these)
• A buyer may not be able if they don't have deposit funds, ability to get mortgage, buyer for their property. 

Pendsive said:

My father has signed this contract and I've only become aware of the terms and conditions of them. He is over halfway through the contract and the agency has found a buyer for the property at the agreed price. But unfortunately his health has now seriously declined and he doesn't want to move house for medical reasons at the moment. The buyers from what I understand are in the early stages and are in a chain with the house under offer. Also they have had an appointment with their mortgage broker but as for how that has gone we don't know and that was meant to have taken place over a week ago. - so likely no mortgage offer yet
There has been no request as of yet for a surveyor to come round and no contact from either the client or agent. - note depending on LTV and type of property, they may / may not have a surveyor actually visit. In fact the buyer has seems to be going very slow imo with the process, so I really don't know how great their own buying situation is.

I've now taken over the situation on behalf of my father and trying to remedy the situation the best I can. Under normal circumstances he would be happy to go ahead with the sale but unfortunately the situation has changed and the thought of moving is now depressing him, especially since the hospital and health services he needs are very close by

Then it seems the buyers are not yet ready, willing or able as they may not have a mortgage offer or their sale progressed. However if you definitely don't want to sell, then you need to act fast.

1. Contact the buyer and say you'll need to put the sale on hold due to ill health, you don't know when that will improve and advise they look elsewhere. If you're unsure of doing that through the EA, then get your solicitor to write to theirs. 
2. Then instruct your solicitor to stop work on the sale (ie not respond to enquiries etc). 
3. Inform the EA that due to ill health, you're revaluating. Don't have to actually withdraw or go into detail, just let the contract run with minimal interaction. 

Pendsive

Thanks Saajan for these points but surely a lender insists on a property survey, or does it depend on how old the property is? For example this property is pre-1930s so surely this would need a survey both internal and external done? 

eidand

Pendsive said:

Thanks for the responses and the contract states "If a sale is agreed to a ready, willing and able purchaser/buyer, the agency reserves the right to charge the full fixed fee that would've been payable upon the unconditional exchange of contracts" I'm guessing that the key phrase could be "agreed" and what exactly constitutes this, is it verbal, written or signed etc? 

That's not a standard clause. EA fees  should only be payable upon completion. I would send them packing basically.

They're trying it on basically, find you a buyer, they change their mind and you're left paying the fee anyway, for nothing. No, you only pay the EA a fee once the buyer has paid you for the property, not before.