Slow house sale process and no information forthcoming - re-market? Change EA?

Pendrive

Hi all,

I accepted an offer on my house in mid-May. EA told me they checked the buyers (FTBs) had funds for a deposit, and had a mortgage in principle. I asked about an initial deposit of some kind being made in order to remove the house from the market immediately; or alternatively about keeping the house being marketed until the mortgage survey had been done and the outcome of that known. The EA said they didn't want to work like that, and asking for some kind of initial deposit might put buyers off. Meanwhile the marketing of the house should end immediately.

7 weeks ago a mortgage survey was carried out on the house. The surveyor told me at the time that for him to report back to the mortgage providers, and for them in turn to communicate with the buyers, would take about 8 working days. There are no issues with the house which I'm aware of, and the surveyor seemed happy enough - asked one or two questions, and spent less than 20 minutes there. The house, which isn't all that old, is completely empty, as it was being let beforehand, and so as a small-ish 2-up, 2-down isn't difficult to inspect.

Since then the buyers' solicitors have told my solicitor they have been carrying out searches, but also said a couple of weeks ago that the outcome of the mortgage application was still awaited. I've asked several times for an update on what the actual issue may be with their mortgage application, but the EA only says they have sent a message to the buyers. They don't ever get back with any information, nor appear to make any effort to telephone the buyers and find out what is going on.

It's now 3 months since the offer was accepted, and I feel I've had very little information on whether this sale is progressing, and whether it will go to exchange / completion at all. Indeed the lack of information seemingly being offered in response to my questions on this has become decidedly concerning.

I have a couple of questions about this: firstly, is it possible to dispense with the EA and appoint another to continue the sales process? I am really unhappy with the EA's lack of action and any information on this, in the face of increasing requests over the past 3 weeks to look into this and provide me with some reassurance / information. Does anyone switch EAs in the course of a sale process after an offer has been accepted?

My second question - at what point should / could I put the house back on the market; which would be with a different EA? I read that the average time for a sale to proceed from offer to completion is 10-12 weeks, and that is where things are now. 

I would be really interested to hear what others might do in this situation...

hazyjo

I once waited 3 weeks for a survey report - I was told various things including it was in the post, was being emailed, and eventually my lender spoke to the surveyor who said he'd get it typed up that day! Lies, lies and more lies.

An average is made up of 2+ extremes. It could take 4 weeks, or it could take 20.

I've never heard of anyone appointing a new EA halfway through a sale. You'll have to pay 2 lots of commission for a start. As for when you can swap them, it depends on what your contract says.

What is your solicitor saying? Do they feel there's reason to be concerned?

Weathergirl_76

Hi, 10-12 weeks is a rough guide. I was told around 16 excluding delays. 

It took my surveyor 4 weeks to send me my report (he did speak to me over the phone after it was completed and pointed out things that could impact on my decision). My buyers, also waited about a month for their survey to go through. 

I am in a fairly simple chain. I have cash buyers who are living with family, and my purchase property has no chain as the vendor is selling and moving in with his partner. 

I am just over 7 weeks in, and my conveyancer is yet to raise enquiries on my purchase, due to a delay with the management pack. 

I don’t know if changing agent will benefit you as you will have to pay commission to your current one (they introduced your buyer). 

Speak to your solicitor and see what they think. Your buyer should have an agreement in principle, has your agent viewed this? What is the date of expiry on it? Could your buyers be away on holiday? 

Pok3mon

We are 14 weeks in and only found out 4 weeks ago our "cash buyer, who had already exchanged and is in rental" is in a chain has not exchanged and bottom of the chain has a issue which is taking weeks. 

No talk of exchange yet it is driving me nuts. I found all this out on Friday just gone. What i hate is the lack of information.

eddddy

Pendrive said:

firstly, is it possible to dispense with the EA and appoint another to continue the sales process? I am really unhappy with the EA's lack of action and any information on this, in the face of increasing requests over the past 3 weeks to look into this and provide me with some reassurance / information. Does anyone switch EAs in the course of a sale process after an offer has been accepted?

In theory, changing EA is possible - but I think you might find it hard to find another EA to take it on.

And you'd still have to pay the current EA their full fee - plus whatever the new EA would charge.


You could contact the buyer yourself, if you want. But you seem a little bit frustrated/angry about the situation, so that might escalate things into an argument. (I've seen sales fall apart were frustrated buyers and/or sellers start contacting each other and end up arguing.)  Having an EA sitting between you can sometimes be safer!

In your position, I'd be tempted to have a bit more of a discussion with the EA. What was the last update they got from the buyer? When are they expecting to hear next? In general, how often do they contact buyers? When compared to other sales, are they concerned about this sale? Do they see any warning signs, or unusual risks? Do they think you should start considering re-marketing the property?

Pendrive

Hi all - thanks for the responses. I wrote and asked my solicitor at the end of last week if she felt there may be reason for concern, and am waiting to hear back from her.

The particular issues of concern for me are, firstly, that it is now 7 weeks since the mortgage survey was carried out, and the surveyor seemed to feel there was nothing of concern at all - the survey was quick and straightforward, done in a not very old, small and completely empty house. 7 weeks seems a long time - 3 and 4 weeks have been mentioned in the replies above, but this is 7...

Allied to that is the fact that I can't seem to get any communication at all as to why this may be taking a while. There surely has to be something someone can tell me, at this point. I've made it clear that I can live with delays - there is no chain involved at all (the buyers are FTBs); but would like some reassurance at this stage that the process is going ahead; and some idea as to what is causing the current delay. I've asked this several times over the past 2 weeks, and continue not to receive any response whatsoever.

I don't think the EA is particularly good - the individual agent who was dealing with my house left the company soon after the offer was accepted, and the EA people I deal with now just reply to my queries to say they have put them to buyer or their solicitor, and then don't get back, until I write again with the same question, and receive the same answer. They seem entirely uninterested in finding out any answer, or picking up the phone to the buyers and actually asking them.

I did thus wonder if it may be worth asking a different EA to finish the process for a set fee - the existing EA can have their commission if the sale does go through; but given that they seem so poor, I don't feel I'm getting any service from them anyway at present, and it might be better to agree a fee for an EA who will be rather more proactive and resolve this. I live 200 miles away from the house, and know a couple of local EAs here who are infinitely better at engaging with a house sale process and following things up; and I'd be happy to pay some fee (not an entire commission, obviously) for them just to do this. Has anyone ever tried to do such a thing?

The buyers solicitor has been on holiday and returned a week or so ago. The information passed on by my solicitor has been that searches have been carried out, and were supposed to have been completed by now. I've been asked some questions and provided answers to those a while ago.

My requests for an idea of an exchange / completion date, even if it's only the month being aimed at, have just been completely ignored.

I'm aware that house sale processes can take varying periods of time for different reasons. I haven't, though, come across this degree of lack of communication; and lack of apparent concern about keeping a vendor informed as weeks go by. At what point does one lose confidence in such buyers, and move on?

Pendrive

Pok3mon said:

We are 14 weeks in and only found out 4 weeks ago our "cash buyer, who had already exchanged and is in rental" is in a chain has not exchanged and bottom of the chain has a issue which is taking weeks. 

No talk of exchange yet it is driving me nuts. I found all this out on Friday just gone. What i hate is the lack of information.

It does sound really frustrating for you, and I hope things work out. Yes - lack of information is certainly a concern and makes one wonder what it is someone else may not want you to know!

Pendrive

In theory, changing EA is possible - but I think you might find it hard to find another EA to take it on.

And you'd still have to pay the current EA their full fee - plus whatever the new EA would charge.


You could contact the buyer yourself, if you want. But you seem a little bit frustrated/angry about the situation, so that might escalate things into an argument. (I've seen sales fall apart were frustrated buyers and/or sellers start contacting each other and end up arguing.)  Having an EA sitting between you can sometimes be safer!

In your position, I'd be tempted to have a bit more of a discussion with the EA. What was the last update they got from the buyer? When are they expecting to hear next? In general, how often do they contact buyers? When compared to other sales, are they concerned about this sale? Do they see any warning signs, or unusual risks? Do they think you should start considering re-marketing the property?

Thanks for these thoughts. I may have answered some of these questions in my second post above. The next stage may well be some specific questions to the EA along the lines of what you have suggested. I wouldn't remarket the house with them, though, if it came to that! 

I think it may be the EA I'm most frustrated with, rather than the buyers. I don't particularly want to contact the buyers myself; but I'm not sure the EA who should be doing so on my behalf is doing that as they should be. Certainly at this stage they should be following up with the buyers to find out if there is a particular problem with the mortgage offer, I think - and the buyers should be able to provide some information on that. 

Tiglet2

You do seem to be fixated on the EA, but of course you and your buyer are paying for conveyancing solicitors to do the legal work, so they are the only parties to actually know what stage you are at. 

The EA, in reality, is not involved with the legal process and after finding a buyer for a property, their role is largely over.  EAs do have sales progressors', but of course they can only pass on any information they are given by the solicitor in good faith.  They don't see any paperwork and solicitors generally do not like EAs contacting them every day requesting updates.   

You can't speak to the buyer's solicitor, but you can speak to your own.  Ask your solicitor to explain what they are waiting for, before they can move to the next step.

NameUnavailable

The EA is there to find you a buyer, which they've done. The process is now in the hands of conveyancers/solicitors so whilst the EA can chase/push to help move things along they can't actually do anything else.

You should be chasing your solicitor for confirmation that the mortgage offer has been agreed etc.

If they can't get any concrete answers then your other option is to put the place back on the market and tell your existing buyers they can still proceed if they want to but they need to exchange before another buyer comes along!

pinkteapot

You keep mentioning writing (I assume emailing) and replies... Get on the phone! Whenever I've bought and sold I'm regularly on the phone to EA/solicitor to check what's happening, ask questions, answer questions etc. Don't wait around for email replies. 

I would phone both the EA and solicitor and ask the EA to phone the buyers and call me back and find out exactly where the process is from their perspective, and my solicitor, asking them where the sale is at and to check in with the buyer's solicitor what any hold-ups are. 

Once you find out what the problem is, if it's something the buyers can control (e.g. not waiting for searches - they can't do anything about that), then you could start saying that you want to exchange contracts by X date or it's going back on the market. That might focus their minds.