What practical steps do I need to take to pull out a house sale?

Mortgage_Mad_Millenial

We are in the process of selling our first house and buying the second. We are about 6 weeks along the line and a dull survey has highlighted cracking which they think is caused by faulty drainage and recommends as full drainage survey. After spending a couple of weeks trying to sort this it has transpired there is no easy drainage access to the house and the only way in would be to place a stackpipe in which understandably the vendor doesn't fancy doing. On this basis we think we need to pull out as currently there is unexplained cracking that may impact the buildings insurance/ survey.

We are progressing with our property sale to a FTB and that appears to be going well. 

Our preference at this stage is to sell our property and move in with family/ a short term let whilst we buy somehwere else. There are some that we are interested and considering making offers on but we don't want to loose out on our sale.

What practical steps do we now take? I have made the mortgage advisor aware and they say it should be fairly simple to transfer over our application but I don't know what to do about gas, electric, water and broadband?

Thanks in advance 

babyblade41

Gas water & electric on your current home will be closed with your account and opened up with the new buyer.

Just take meter readings (photographs are good as well)
It depends  on your contract with broadband , give them a call 

With our last sale we weren't buying just selling. I was with BT & to cancel was costly, but as we had no phone line in our field they switched us over to mobile BB with EE so we were OK to switch as it's still an arm of BT 

GDB2222

I don’t think house prices are going to rise this year, but I do wonder how wise it is to sell your home without having another lined up. 

lookstraightahead

GDB2222 said:

I don’t think house prices are going to rise this year, but I do wonder how wise it is to sell your home without having another lined up. 

Probably very wise. I don't think there will be as many buyers either. So I would keep the one I had, especially if you have somewhere to move to. 

GDB2222

lookstraightahead said:

GDB2222 said:

I don’t think house prices are going to rise this year, but I do wonder how wise it is to sell your home without having another lined up. 

Probably very wise. I don't think there will be as many buyers either. So I would keep the one I had, especially if you have somewhere to move to. 

I think house prices will drop this year, and I would happily take a modest bet on it. Would I stake my house on it, though? And, the answer is no. It’s the sort of thing that investment bankers do, but they do it with other people’s money, not their own.

pinkteapot

It won't really be much different to selling and buying... You close your utility accounts at your old house, and open new ones at your new house. So you'll close your old ones and just not open new ones. 

Be aware that things like Sky, broadband etc, if you're in contract and need to cancel rather than move it to a new house then there may be a penalty. 

Be a little cautious of staying with family unless you really do get on well. What you think will be a few months could easily become six months to a year if you end up in a long chain, or a purchase falls through... It'd be easy to outstay your welcome! Renting may be a better option. 

If you rent then for utilities, broadband etc it's exactly the same as you were going to do - utilities is close/open accounts, broadband phone Sky etc are do a move to a new address. 

As you're only 6 weeks in, I would also view the other houses you like, and if you have an offer accepted then see if your EA (selling your house) can keep your FTB sweet while you buy the other one instead. It hopefully won't add the full six weeks to the process if there are any shortcuts with the mortgage application as your broker says. Your FTB may be willing (if grumpy) to wait, depending on their current living situation. 

ArbitraryRandom

GDB2222 said:

lookstraightahead said:

GDB2222 said:

I don’t think house prices are going to rise this year, but I do wonder how wise it is to sell your home without having another lined up. 

Probably very wise. I don't think there will be as many buyers either. So I would keep the one I had, especially if you have somewhere to move to. 

I think house prices will drop this year, and I would happily take a modest bet on it. Would I stake my house on it, though? And, the answer is no. It’s the sort of thing that investment bankers do, but they do it with other people’s money, not their own.

I think it's a very personal question. Whenever I've bought there have always been multiple potential properties at varying price points, and often room for negotiation above or below the listed price depending on the local market.

So for me, even if prices were to rise 5% (which I don't think is likely in the next 12 months), the only real difference might be buying a house towards the top of my budget vs buying a house towards the middle. Practically speaking that might mean any non-urgent work needing doing on the property might be delayed.

For the OP, selling and moving in with family - while not something I would consider desirable... it would give them an advantage of being a cash buyer and some time to find the 'right' property vs scrambling and potentially making a bad decision to keep the chain intact. 

Mortgage_Mad_Millenial

Thanks for the advice all ☺️. I will check with the broadband company what our early cancellation fees will be. As for the debate of if we should pull out of everything it is something we briefly considered but we are really keen to move. It is not just that I would be worried about loosing a good buyer but it would also mean loosing out on ~3k of estate agent/ solicitor fees so I would rather just bite the bullet and at least get ours sold.

aliby21

Mortgage_Mad_Millenial said:

Thanks for the advice all ☺️. I will check with the broadband company what our early cancellation fees will be. As for the debate of if we should pull out of everything it is something we briefly considered but we are really keen to move. It is not just that I would be worried about loosing a good buyer but it would also mean loosing out on ~3k of estate agent/ solicitor fees so I would rather just bite the bullet and at least get ours sold.

Are you sure you will be liable for EA fees if you don't sell your house?  In my, admittedly limited to selling three times, experience, EAs have only taken a fee when a sale completes.  

eddddy

aliby21 said:

Are you sure you will be liable for EA fees if you don't sell your house?  In my, admittedly limited to selling three times, experience, EAs have only taken a fee when a sale completes.  

It depends on the estate agent's contract. Many of them have a "ready, willing and able buyer" clause.

i.e. If the estate agent has found a "ready, willing and able" buyer, but the seller withdraws - then the estate agent's fee is payable.

But then there's the argument about whether the buyer has reached the stage of being "ready, willing and able".

peterhjohnson

I suggest looking into mobile broadband now. It's often not that expensive when you factor in that you might not need a landline and its associated rental. I made that decision several years ago in advance of making a "simple" move and saw it as something I could get organised in advance and at my leisure. If I was looking at 2 moves, I'd be even keener.