Selling mixed use property

Sallibee

Hello. I'm selling a small mixed use property. Its a one bed flat and two light workshop units, of the value of a small house in the south of England. As it's classed commercial, the buyer is getting a commercial mortgage, and apparently there are solicitors for the lender involved. I accepted the offer in earl October and the mortgage (according the the estate agent) was approved soon after November 20th. My solicitor told me she didn't expect exchange until new year. Well, here we are well into February...The inability to plan is depressing me. I don't have another property and will be moving into my campervan with my stuff going into storage.

I'm trying to understand whether this length of waiting for exchange is normal. My solicitor says 'a lot of questions are being asked of the buyer, and some issues in the documents of the property', but she doesn't tell me what, just says she'll 'be in touch'. The only question I have been asked was to give details of utility bills, and I was asked this twice (in Nov and Jan) and provided the details, which in any case I gave in the property forms right at the beginning of the process. This doesn't give me confidence, but she's a senior partner in the large firm.

Must I just try to be patient? Someone suggested it might take months yet!!! Should my solicitor be able to give me some idea of how long it might take? Is there a chance of it falling through at this late stage? These are the questions I'm asking myself every moment of every day. I'd be so gartefull for anyone else's experiences, opinion or better still insider information. It feels like I'm dealing with a clandestine cult whose activity I can't access. I'm used to dealing with my own business, not handing over control like this.

Thank you. 

GDB2222

It’s not just up to your solicitor. The buyer has to be happy. The buyer’s lender has to be happy. It sounds like the buyer is continuing to ask questions about the property, and that process can go on for a long time. 

You could simply decide to remarket the property and see what other offers you get. If you don’t want to do that, I can’t see any incentive for the buyer to hurry things along. 

user1977

Though in general, your solicitor ought to be able to give you a fuller idea of what the outstanding issues are.

GDB2222

I asked for conveyancing quotes recently, and the cost is coming out at double what I’d have paid a couple of years ago. I have the impression that conveyancing solicitors are rushed off their feet and have more work than they can handle efficiently. 

eddddy

Are you selling with an estate agent?

A good estate agent should be progressing the sale (because they want to get their fee when you exchange/complete), so they should be asking the buyer where they are in the process, if there are any problems, etc.

So ask the estate agent to give the buyer a call, and give you an update on status, timescales, etc.


Obviously, the buyer might 'fib' to the estate agent about progress. But most estate agents are 'fibbed' to a lot, and a good estate agent can often tell.

If the estate agent isn't confident about the buyer, they might suggest that you consider putting the property back on the market.

Sallibee

GDB2222 said:

It’s not just up to your solicitor. The buyer has to be happy. The buyer’s lender has to be happy. It sounds like the buyer is continuing to ask questions about the property, and that process can go on for a long time. 

You could simply decide to remarket the property and see what other offers you get. If you don’t want to do that, I can’t see any incentive for the buyer to hurry things along. 

The buyer is keen. I was initially persuaded by the estate agent to accept his offer despite feeling it was too low. After six weeks I had a higher offer privately and told the agent this and asked for a higher amount - and the buyer accepted. I had a sale fall through ayear ago because the mortgage lender's survey valuation (which was full of inaccuracies) was much lower than the buyer's offer. This is why I don't want to make a wrong move.

I don't think it's really the fault of my solicitor - the lack of information she gives me is my issue with her - but the buyer's solicitor is the person I used when buying it (!) and he was very slow to reply to my questions, to the extent that I made a complaint and received an apology and was assigned a different solicitor. This solicitor and mine are in the same firm...

user1977

Sallibee said:

GDB2222 said:

It’s not just up to your solicitor. The buyer has to be happy. The buyer’s lender has to be happy. It sounds like the buyer is continuing to ask questions about the property, and that process can go on for a long time. 

You could simply decide to remarket the property and see what other offers you get. If you don’t want to do that, I can’t see any incentive for the buyer to hurry things along. 

This solicitor and mine are in the same firm...

How did you end up with that suboptimal situation? You really want properly independent advice, but sounds a bit late to sort that out now...

Sallibee

eddddy said:

Are you selling with an estate agent?

A good estate agent should be progressing the sale (because they want to get their fee when you exchange/complete), so they should be asking the buyer where they are in the process, if there are any problems, etc.

So ask the estate agent to give the buyer a call, and give you an update on status, timescales, etc.


Obviously, the buyer might 'fib' to the estate agent about progress. But most estate agents are 'fibbed' to a lot, and a good estate agent can often tell.

If the estate agent isn't confident about the buyer, they might suggest that you consider putting the property back on the market.

Thank you. Yes, I'm selling through an agent but I haven't contacted them about this. I will. When the offer was made, he told me he "knows the buyer personally", which rang alarm bells (rather late). It was me that negotiated a better offer both after the initial offer - the agent just said it was the buyer's best offer, no suggestions or advice, just recommended accepting and it was only the second viewing they'd done -  and then later when I'd had a better offer privately (via FB Marketplace). I feel that the agent is working more for the buyer than me - another thing I find hard to deal with.

eddddy

Sallibee said:

Thank you. Yes, I'm selling through an agent but I haven't contacted them about this. I will. When the offer was made, he told me he "knows the buyer personally", which rang alarm bells (rather late). It was me that negotiated a better offer both after the initial offer - the agent just said it was the buyer's best offer, no suggestions or advice, just recommended accepting and it was only the second viewing they'd done -  and then later when I'd had a better offer privately (via FB Marketplace). I feel that the agent is working more for the buyer than me - another thing I find hard to deal with.

Yep - it does sound a little dodgy. You wonder if the agent is working in your best interests or the buyer's.

Is the buyer a developer who maybe plans to convert the industrial units into flats, or similar?

Did you discuss development potential with any of the estate agents, before putting the property on the market?


I've heard from developers many times about an 'unwritten code of honour' between developers and estate agents. If an estate agent 'helps' a developer get a property for conversion to flats, the developer is expected to re-pay the estate agent by selling the converted flats through the same estate agent.

Sallibee

eddddy said:

Sallibee said:

Thank you. Yes, I'm selling through an agent but I haven't contacted them about this. I will. When the offer was made, he told me he "knows the buyer personally", which rang alarm bells (rather late). It was me that negotiated a better offer both after the initial offer - the agent just said it was the buyer's best offer, no suggestions or advice, just recommended accepting and it was only the second viewing they'd done -  and then later when I'd had a better offer privately (via FB Marketplace). I feel that the agent is working more for the buyer than me - another thing I find hard to deal with.

Yep - it does sound a little dodgy. You wonder if the agent is working in your best interests or the buyer's.

Is the buyer a developer who maybe plans to convert the industrial units into flats, or similar?

Did you discuss development potential with any of the estate agents, before putting the property on the market?


I've heard from developers many times about an 'unwritten code of honour' between developers and estate agents. If an estate agent 'helps' a developer get a property for conversion to flats, the developer is expected to re-pay the estate agent by selling the converted flats through the same estate agent.

Yes, I heard from someone who'd worked in a solicitors' office that agents were in cohorts with solicitors...

The buyer's a tradesman, not a developer as such but does want to change to residential, as most viewers have, but I'm not selling at a low price . The units were a dump when I bought it and I've fixed, refurbished and revamped it, so it will already give a good rental income.

That side of it is the buyer's business. What I'm concerned about is whether the length of the road to exchange is normal. It's been a lesson in how things work, or don't. When I sold my parents' house I didn't use an estate agent or solicitor and it went smoothly!

Sallibee

user1977 said:

Sallibee said:

GDB2222 said:

It’s not just up to your solicitor. The buyer has to be happy. The buyer’s lender has to be happy. It sounds like the buyer is continuing to ask questions about the property, and that process can go on for a long time. 

You could simply decide to remarket the property and see what other offers you get. If you don’t want to do that, I can’t see any incentive for the buyer to hurry things along. 

This solicitor and mine are in the same firm...

How did you end up with that suboptimal situation? You really want properly independent advice, but sounds a bit late to sort that out now...

You're right (with hindsight). I'd used the firm to buy before and the buyer had had also used them before. I found it hard to find another firm to deal with a commercial property, though I did try. Even worse is the fact that the buyer's solicitor (a partner in the firm) was originally doing the buying of the same property for me but was very lax in replying to my emails (I was abroad), I complained, received an apology and was assigned a different solicitor.

I'd have thought the two being in the same firm would make communicatioon faster, but it seems not.

I'd lived abroad until I bought this and have had to learn 'on the job' how things work here and am now struggling.