Seller backed out of sale due to requesting a survey

Nic275h

Hi all,

I’m a first time buyer & had my offer accepted on a property on Tuesday this week. The sellers wanted to move quickly as they’ve had 2 sales that had fallen through & their current mortgage offer expires in July. 

The estate agent told me they had offers £15k higher than mine but went with me because I was in a position to move quickly. I agreed to do everything through the estate agent - went with their recommended solicitors & with their mortgage broker even though that would cost me more all because they told me that would make communication easier & make things move faster. The estate agent had instructed my solicitor to see if they could purchase the searches from the previous buyers lawyers & I rushed to get all my documents in to start the process quickly. I found a surveyor who could complete the survey next week. They had recommended a level 3 survey as the property is over 50 years old.

I then got a call from the estate agent to tell me the Surveyor had got in touch to arrange access to do the survey. The seller doesn’t want that & feels it will delay things and have now decided to decline my offer for the house. No discussion or anything.

I’m really confused & quite upset. I found a surveyor who could do the survey quickly so I don’t see how that would be an issue as the solicitors will take longer than they will.

Opinions? Do you think there’s something wrong with the property & they’re hiding it. Surely they can’t expect me to buy without doing a survey??

Martico

Big red flag to me - I suspect they want to sell to someone who doesn't want to look closely at the house, so yes, I'd be suspicious they've got something to hide.
[edit] plus, if speed were really their only motivation, you with a survey done next week is still their fastest option

comeandgo

I can only agree with you that they know the survey will throw something up.  Maybe porkies were told, maybe  the two previous sales were halted by the buyers, also really, do you think any seller will loose money on a sale by selling to a lower buyer.  I think they were hoping as a FTB you would just charge on without any thought and buy it.

oldernonethewiser

I think the seller's excuse of a survey delaying things is just a smokescreen.

Wonder if the EA will warn the next potential buyer that three sales have fallen through?

turnitround

It will take them longer to find another buyer than it would have taken to wait for your survey. Consider yourself to have had a lucky escape.
I wouldnt be too hasty to use the agents solicitors/advisors either. I think that as you were a first time buyer they were trying to take advantage.

Nic275h

oldernonethewiser said:

I think the seller's excuse of a survey delaying things is just a smokescreen.

Wonder if the EA will warn the next potential buyer that three sales have fallen through?

My thoughts exactly. 

Who knows. They said they had 10 offers when accepting mine so I assume they will go back to one of them. I would have assumed most people would get a survey so surely they are likely to be back in this position again with the next buyer.

housebuyer143

Nic275h said:

Hi all,

I’m a first time buyer & had my offer accepted on a property on Tuesday this week. The sellers wanted to move quickly as they’ve had 2 sales that had fallen through & their current mortgage offer expires in July. 

The estate agent told me they had offers £15k higher than mine but went with me because I was in a position to move quickly. I agreed to do everything through the estate agent - went with their recommended solicitors & with their mortgage broker even though that would cost me more all because they told me that would make communication easier & make things move faster. The estate agent had instructed my solicitor to see if they could purchase the searches from the previous buyers lawyers & I rushed to get all my documents in to start the process quickly. I found a surveyor who could complete the survey next week. They had recommended a level 3 survey as the property is over 50 years old.

I then got a call from the estate agent to tell me the Surveyor had got in touch to arrange access to do the survey. The seller doesn’t want that & feels it will delay things and have now decided to decline my offer for the house. No discussion or anything.

I’m really confused & quite upset. I found a surveyor who could do the survey quickly so I don’t see how that would be an issue as the solicitors will take longer than they will.

Opinions? Do you think there’s something wrong with the property & they’re hiding it. Surely they can’t expect me to buy without doing a survey??

Yes, there is probably something wrong with it and they hoped they could rush you into not getting a survey. It's probably why it fell through before. 
Get away from it, and find sellers who are less dodgy.

Nic275h

turnitround said:

It will take them longer to find another buyer than it would have taken to wait for your survey. Consider yourself to have had a lucky escape.
I wouldnt be too hasty to use the agents solicitors/advisors either. I think that as you were a first time buyer they were trying to take advantage.

Thanks, I may have dodged a bullet. Luckily, I hadn’t spent any money yet.

And yeah, I did feel like they were taking advantage & pushing me into things I didn’t feel comfortable with. Won’t make that mistake again.

housebuyer143

Nic275h said:

turnitround said:

It will take them longer to find another buyer than it would have taken to wait for your survey. Consider yourself to have had a lucky escape.
I wouldnt be too hasty to use the agents solicitors/advisors either. I think that as you were a first time buyer they were trying to take advantage.

Thanks, I may have dodged a bullet. Luckily, I hadn’t spent any money yet.

And yeah, I did feel like they were taking advantage & pushing me into things I didn’t feel comfortable with. Won’t make that mistake again.

My mate gets a mortgage offer and then a survey first before anything else. She will not instruct solicitors until that's been done. 
I'm not sure if you paid anything to the solicitor but next time do those first and if you are happy then pay for the legals. 
I think you dodged a bullet as no seller would remarket when you are obviously so keen and doing things to progress it, not unless they are hiding something.

kinger101

Lucky escape. They're feeding you complete BS.  A survey that can be completed next week will in no way stop completion before July.

There's a reason they're blocking you from doing due diligence.  I'd not proceed with this purchase even if they backed down.  My ability to take what either buyer or agent says in good faith would have been irrevocably broken.

Debbie9009

I think you have had a lucky escape.

You were prepared to use the estate agent’s solicitor and mortgage broker, even though the mortgage broker would cost you more, and you arranged a survey for next week, you sound like a very motivated buyer to me.

Any seller refusing an offer because you want a survey is not a seller you want to deal with, they really do sound like they are hiding something.

Don’t be upset, be pleased that you no longer need to deal with them.  The right house for you is out there.
And as others have said, use your own solicitor and mortgage broker, as they will only be working for you, so will put your interests first.