HELP! I can't sell my house

pearlygatesuk

Hi All,

The last few months have been hell.  In April of 2021, my mum sadly passed away and I inheritted her bungalow.  My wife and I made the decision to sell this and with the proceeds buy our own place.  We moved out of our home in May of this year and into a home of our choice.

What has ensued since could not have been forseen but its been a hellish few months. 

At the point at which we decided to complete, we were aware that there was a small risk that the sale may not go through, but we thought this to be little risk and so proceeded to buy, having paid the uplifted stamp duty that goes along with that.

So we have two properties, one on the market and one that has nearly sold.  At the 11th hour, the lenders decided to pull the plug on the prospective buyers because of affordability reasons.  We were immediately hit from solicitors with an abortive sale charge and the property was relisted.

We found what looked to be a dead cert, with a girl that has saved for years for her mortgage deposit and everything was going through fine again but then the mortgage provider decided to pull the plug because there's a historical mine shaft within 20m of the boundary of the property!!

When we bought the house, our lenders at the time asked for an interpritive mining report which was provided, and IMMEDIATELY the lender agreed and provided the money for purchase, so to us, this was never a significant issue, and maybe it wasn't in 2007 but it sure as hell appears like in 2022 this is being seen as a significant issue.

I am told that only certain lenders will lend the money and they tend to be the larger high street ones which small brokers tend not to use.  I am now being advised that its highly likely that we will be in a position where we need to take it to auction.  This could potentially see us selling the property at a loss at a time that the housing market is frankly booming.  I can't even stomach this idea :-(

I don't understand what's gone on here in the housing market.  The risk profile of the property has not changed at all,  The property was built in 1935, mining ceased in the area in 1991 though I suspect this downcast was significantly older since it likely wouldn't have been in the middle of a housing estate?  There's been no signs of subsidence in the area and indeed the coal authorities own (interpretive) report says that the property is not in a zone that would be affected by ground movement, yet despite all this, lenders are running scared, what gives?

Would be really grateful for anybodies advice who've been through similar.  My wife and I are extremely stressed with this as we are now owning and maintaining two properties which we had never anticipated this far down the line.  With the cost of living rising, it really is squeezing us a little more than we'd like and we want to be free.

And before anybody suggests it WE DO NOT want to be landlords and rent the property out.  That defeats the whole objective that we set out with.

pearlygatesuk

Sorry should have said "We have two properties, one on the market and the one that we are now living in

Brie

pearlygatesuk said:

Hi All,
And before anybody suggests it WE DO NOT want to be landlords and rent the property out.  That defeats the whole objective that we set out with.

Ok you don't want to be landlords but is there an option to place the bungalow with a letting agency so they can do all the work and you just collect on that?  Just while you're waiting things out??

pinkteapot

I'm a bit confused... You talk about 'when you bought the property' and 'selling it at a loss' - but wasn't it your mum's property that you've inherited? 

Are you talking about trying to sell the bungalow that belonged to your mum?

EDIT: Never mind, crossed paths with OP's reply below. It's not the bungalow that they're struggling to sell. 

pearlygatesuk

Brie said:

pearlygatesuk said:

Hi All,
And before anybody suggests it WE DO NOT want to be landlords and rent the property out.  That defeats the whole objective that we set out with.

Ok you don't want to be landlords but is there an option to place the bungalow with a letting agency so they can do all the work and you just collect on that?  Just while you're waiting things out??

Hi Brie.  We sold the bungalow succesfully, the property we have for sale is our old property which is a terrace house.  The issue is that ultimately your still giving your property to someone who is not the legal owner and won't respect it in the same way that you do.  So, again, not really something we want to do.   If I don't sell the property within 2 years (which admittedly we're a bit off yet) I won't get stamp duty back either.  All income will be taxable as income tax too, its just a big pain in the bum

pinkteapot

If the property isn't mortgage-able, market it the usual way as 'cash buyers only' (your EA should have experience with this). 

If it doesn't sell in X months, stick it in an auction. 

If you don't want to be a landlord, those are your options really. 

hazyjo

You could at least try an auction with a reserve price you'd be happy with?

Appreciate you'll end up with associated costs in that case if it doesn't sell. Perhaps someone can advise how much that's likely to be.

user1977

As above, if it's not (reasonably) mortgageable, then sell it to cash buyers. If you don't fancy being a landlord, somebody else will.

CurlySue2017

Brie said:

pearlygatesuk said:

Hi All,
And before anybody suggests it WE DO NOT want to be landlords and rent the property out.  That defeats the whole objective that we set out with.

Ok you don't want to be landlords but is there an option to place the bungalow with a letting agency so they can do all the work and you just collect on that?  Just while you're waiting things out??

Not a good idea!  Yes LA's can manage properties but the LL is ultimately responsible no matter what.  You can't just leave it with them if things start to go wrong

Zerforax

Has all interest dried up? The fact you had 2 people offer on the property means it must be desirable.

Lower the price if you need. Re-list with a new estate agent (so it shows up on the online portals as a new property rather than looking like it's been sat there a long time). Be upfront with interested parties and feedback re the type of lender that may/may not lend on the property or only look for cash buyers. Also tell vendors to use bigger brokers? Plenty will use high street banks (eg will suggest NatWest/Halifax etc).

theoretica

The first port of call seems to be for the current buyer, if they are still interested, to try to find a new mortgage lender. Have they given up or are they still trying?