How do these "we buy any house" companies work? Specifically "SmoothSale"?

Bigphil1474

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

user1977

Millsandovis said:

Does anyone know how a part exchange element works with them? House I’m buying has been sold by a couple to a company like this and have been told by my conveyancer it’s a ‘part exchange property’

bit confused as to what this actually means, have they taken the property and paid for the couples care costs? What constitutes a part exchange in this scenario? Rather than just owning the property outright and selling it on. 

As queried are you sure it's "a company like this"? One issue for you (if you're buying with a mortgage) is that only some types of part exchange are (generally) accepted by lenders, as otherwise they're a breach of the normal condition that sellers must have owned for at least six months.

Most lenders' initial responses to such a situation here:

https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1813/

Millsandovis

Bigphil1474 said:

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

I was under the impression they’ve gone into care and sold their house quickly to pay for it. I thought it was a we buy any house company but my conveyancer said yesterday that it’s a part exchange property and that has thrown me. Add in the fact it’s unregistered and I’m unsure what’s going on. Estate agent who is selling is now chasing them to get their finger out as they’re not actually saying anything or confirming anything either way. I don’t want to get involved if there’s issues proving ownership. I love the house but not that much. 

The company do offer a part exchange service in regards to buying retirement homes but the couple had listed the house privately first to go into care and I was under the impression it was two separate things. Now it seems a bit more likely the retirement home they were looking at have probably recommended the company I’m buying the property off as a quick way to sell the property. 

user1977 said:

Millsandovis said:

Does anyone know how a part exchange element works with them? House I’m buying has been sold by a couple to a company like this and have been told by my conveyancer it’s a ‘part exchange property’

bit confused as to what this actually means, have they taken the property and paid for the couples care costs? What constitutes a part exchange in this scenario? Rather than just owning the property outright and selling it on. 

As queried are you sure it's "a company like this"? One issue for you (if you're buying with a mortgage) is that only some types of part exchange are (generally) accepted by lenders, as otherwise they're a breach of the normal condition that sellers must have owned for at least six months.

Most lenders' initial responses to such a situation here:

https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1813/

Thanks for info but thankfully I’m using cash from current sale to pay for property. Makes sense why they struggled to sell for a year and brought the price down so much though! 

gelato_cat

Millsandovis said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

I was under the impression they’ve gone into care and sold their house quickly to pay for it. I thought it was a we buy any house company but my conveyancer said yesterday that it’s a part exchange property and that has thrown me. Add in the fact it’s unregistered and I’m unsure what’s going on. Estate agent who is selling is now chasing them to get their finger out as they’re not actually saying anything or confirming anything either way. I don’t want to get involved if there’s issues proving ownership. I love the house but not that much. 

The company do offer a part exchange service in regards to buying retirement homes but the couple had listed the house privately first to go into care and I was under the impression it was two separate things. Now it seems a bit more likely the retirement home they were looking at have probably recommended the company I’m buying the property off as a quick way to sell the property. 

If the seller owns the property now, and they are selling you 100% of the property, then that's OK, isn't it - regardless of whatever business transaction they have done with their vendor?

When you say it isn't registered, what do you mean?  There is no record of it with the Land Registry?

Millsandovis

Suzey said:

Millsandovis said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

I was under the impression they’ve gone into care and sold their house quickly to pay for it. I thought it was a we buy any house company but my conveyancer said yesterday that it’s a part exchange property and that has thrown me. Add in the fact it’s unregistered and I’m unsure what’s going on. Estate agent who is selling is now chasing them to get their finger out as they’re not actually saying anything or confirming anything either way. I don’t want to get involved if there’s issues proving ownership. I love the house but not that much. 

The company do offer a part exchange service in regards to buying retirement homes but the couple had listed the house privately first to go into care and I was under the impression it was two separate things. Now it seems a bit more likely the retirement home they were looking at have probably recommended the company I’m buying the property off as a quick way to sell the property. 

If the seller owns the property now, and they are selling you 100% of the property, then that's OK, isn't it - regardless of whatever business transaction they have done with their vendor?

When you say it isn't registered, what do you mean?  There is no record of it with the Land Registry?

Yes, it’s not registered with the land registry. I’m not buying a property I can’t get absolute title for. 

Normally I wouldn’t care if it was unregistered as it seems like a fairly straight forward process. But in this scenario with the quick turnaround, If the elderly couple have lost or don’t have the original deeds though then surely the new owners will have trouble registering the property now? 

Or does the 15 year rule of proving ownership not apply as the new owners can just say they’re the new owners and that’s that? I feel like that will still be time consuming though and I’m looking for a quick resolution/move. 

All very confusing and maybe I’m way off! Be glad to hear that I am though if I’ve got it wrong and it’s a much simpler process. 

gelato_cat

Millsandovis said:

Suzey said:

Millsandovis said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

I was under the impression they’ve gone into care and sold their house quickly to pay for it. I thought it was a we buy any house company but my conveyancer said yesterday that it’s a part exchange property and that has thrown me. Add in the fact it’s unregistered and I’m unsure what’s going on. Estate agent who is selling is now chasing them to get their finger out as they’re not actually saying anything or confirming anything either way. I don’t want to get involved if there’s issues proving ownership. I love the house but not that much. 

The company do offer a part exchange service in regards to buying retirement homes but the couple had listed the house privately first to go into care and I was under the impression it was two separate things. Now it seems a bit more likely the retirement home they were looking at have probably recommended the company I’m buying the property off as a quick way to sell the property. 

If the seller owns the property now, and they are selling you 100% of the property, then that's OK, isn't it - regardless of whatever business transaction they have done with their vendor?

When you say it isn't registered, what do you mean?  There is no record of it with the Land Registry?

Yes, it’s not registered with the land registry. I’m not buying a property I can’t get absolute title for. 

Normally I wouldn’t care if it was unregistered as it seems like a fairly straight forward process. But in this scenario with the quick turnaround, If the elderly couple have lost or don’t have the original deeds though then surely the new owners will have trouble registering the property now? 

Or does the 15 year rule of proving ownership not apply as the new owners can just say they’re the new owners and that’s that? I feel like that will still be time consuming though and I’m looking for a quick resolution/move. 

All very confusing and maybe I’m way off! Be glad to hear that I am though if I’ve got it wrong and it’s a much simpler process. 

This is what you pay your solicitor for - they should be able to answer all those questions.  The answers may or may not be what you want to hear, but at least it will enable you to make a decision and move forward.

Millsandovis

Suzey said:

Millsandovis said:

Suzey said:

Millsandovis said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Presumably they bought a brand new house and their old house was taken in part ex on that?

I was under the impression they’ve gone into care and sold their house quickly to pay for it. I thought it was a we buy any house company but my conveyancer said yesterday that it’s a part exchange property and that has thrown me. Add in the fact it’s unregistered and I’m unsure what’s going on. Estate agent who is selling is now chasing them to get their finger out as they’re not actually saying anything or confirming anything either way. I don’t want to get involved if there’s issues proving ownership. I love the house but not that much. 

The company do offer a part exchange service in regards to buying retirement homes but the couple had listed the house privately first to go into care and I was under the impression it was two separate things. Now it seems a bit more likely the retirement home they were looking at have probably recommended the company I’m buying the property off as a quick way to sell the property. 

If the seller owns the property now, and they are selling you 100% of the property, then that's OK, isn't it - regardless of whatever business transaction they have done with their vendor?

When you say it isn't registered, what do you mean?  There is no record of it with the Land Registry?

Yes, it’s not registered with the land registry. I’m not buying a property I can’t get absolute title for. 

Normally I wouldn’t care if it was unregistered as it seems like a fairly straight forward process. But in this scenario with the quick turnaround, If the elderly couple have lost or don’t have the original deeds though then surely the new owners will have trouble registering the property now? 

Or does the 15 year rule of proving ownership not apply as the new owners can just say they’re the new owners and that’s that? I feel like that will still be time consuming though and I’m looking for a quick resolution/move. 

All very confusing and maybe I’m way off! Be glad to hear that I am though if I’ve got it wrong and it’s a much simpler process. 

This is what you pay your solicitor for - they should be able to answer all those questions.  The answers may or may not be what you want to hear, but at least it will enable you to make a decision and move forward.

Yes I know, I’ve said my solicitor is dealing with it and trying to get more information out of the company. But it’s always good to do a bit of homework and see if anyone else has any experience of it 

user1977

The "part exchange" element doesn't make the first registration any more (or less) complicated, if that's what you're concerned about.

Millsandovis

user1977 said:

The "part exchange" element doesn't make the first registration any more (or less) complicated, if that's what you're concerned about.

Thanks for clarifying! Only thing I’m really concerned about is the first registration. I’ve had an offer accepted and sales memo issued for 3 weeks and my solicitor has said they aren’t being very quick in regards to answering queries. He also said due to it being a part exchange property they haven’t provided many documents yet. This spooked me a bit in terms of deeds etc 

I’m just a bit confused in regards to selling an unregistered property. Am I right in my understanding that it’s a long old process if the couple who originally sold it have lost or misplaced the deeds. But if they still have them and the company can prove that along with the sale, they’re free to register the property or get it registered in the transaction to me? 

I let the estate agent know I had accepted an offer on my property but said I would be delaying on getting a survey done until this was sorted or we had clarity. My buyer has a buyer and I’m cash so I have a little bit of time to play with. She said she’d get onto them to tell their conveyancers to get this sorted as I think she is worried I will look elsewhere (I won’t - yet). 

I’m probably just overthinking it but I’d rather know now and deal with it then get further down the line and be told they can’t quickly prove who owns the house. 

user1977

Millsandovis said:

user1977 said:

The "part exchange" element doesn't make the first registration any more (or less) complicated, if that's what you're concerned about.

I’m probably just overthinking it 

Yes, you're worrying about the deeds being lost when nobody has given you any indication that that's likely.