Pretending to not be in a chain

JReacher1

I dont see why this will be a problem. You’ve got all the evidence that you can buy the house without selling yours so go ahead. 

letom

Mutton_Geoff said:

letom said:

Again I don’t see the estate agent doing much more due diligence if the MIP+Cash in Bank = property price.

Can I ask how many properties you have bought/sold?

The OP has already said they need to sell their house to provide funding therefore there must be a gap which even the most shiny suited agent on his first day at work will see straight through. 

The OP said that “on paper” they don’t need to sell the house, which implies MIP+cash = property price. I’ve assumed that they mean that additional things such as renovation, furniture, stamp duty etc would need to be funded by the current house sale. If the OP didn’t have MIP+cash=property price then clearly the agent will pick up on this and there wouldn’t be much need for this thread.

Choirgrl

In addition to what others have said, be aware that even if you’re not found out until late in the process, that might still be quite soon. I’ve recently been the very proceedable buyer purchasing from a motivated and prepared seller. We exchanged in just six weeks and were discussing dates about a month after my offer was made and accepted. If I’d revealed at that point that I actually had a property I needed to sell then the vendors could have remarketed having lost only a few weeks,.

pinkteapot

Yep, I'd expect a proceedable buyer to be ready to exchange in 4-6 weeks, maybe just a couple of weeks longer if either their lender is slow at approving mortgages, or the council currently has delays in sending searches. 

jj_43

Sounds like a great plan. Get all your searches and surveys done, then when you can’t proceed as expected, the sellers then understand and don’t proceed leaving you with all that expense. 😂

jonnydeppiwish!

Everyone else seems to to get the extra tick in the box so why not.

dil1976

So you have offer accepted, then later on get found out to be lying vendor pulls sale and the EA will now have you marked down as a time waster so they will then inform all other vendors they have listed of this. Hardly the smartest move is it?

Scotbot

MobileSaver said:

letom said:

in my experience not till late in the process (when lawyers start talking about exhcnage dates) would they probably find out.

There's a massive difference here though; the property listing specifically states "only accept viewings and offers from people who are able to proceed immediately (no house to sell)" and so I would expect the EA to be much more rigorous in confirming this than with the vast majority of the properties they market.

It's a shame really as I'm sure most people would prefer the OP to be caught later in the process once it's cost them several thousand pounds after the seller tells them where to go.

Yes I would expect the EA to check up front then for the vendors solicitor to check up front. Finally if there is no exchange date agreed within 4 weeks expect the vendor to remarket

Schwarzwald

The OP might also want to find out WHY the vendor is so keen to only act with buyers who are not in a chain?

If the vendor MUST complete speedily, eg 6 months, and he is found about about his chain after say 2-3 months the likelihood to be kicked out by the vendor is much higher than in the case that the vendor - for whatever reason - simply WANTS to sell speedily.

In the latter case he just needs to keep up the pretending up to the vendor’s indifference point at which the vendor is likely to be annoyed at him but unlikely to kick him out as finding a new buyer would delay the process even further.

So the reason matters I’d think

Tiglet2

Schwarzwald said:

The OP might also want to find out WHY the vendor is so keen to only act with buyers who are not in a chain?

I was also wondering this. 

Perhaps the vendor has already lost a previous buyer and their purchase is quite far advanced.  The vendor doesn't want to lose their purchase, so are hoping to sell to someone that can move quickly and therefore 'catch' up with their purchase conveyancing.

When the OP instructs a solicitor, will he also be instructing them to act in the sale of the current property as well as the purchase of the new one?  If so, the solicitor is highly likely to advise the vendor's solicitor that the purchase is dependent upon the sale of the current property as early as the initial 'instruction' letter.  If the OP is happy to complete both transactions independently, is he aware of the additional stamp duty due on a 'second' property (which can be reclaimed later, but will need to pay the stamp duty due on completion, so the OP will need to have sufficient funds to allow for the extra SDLT.