Accepted an offer but buyer disappeared

youth_leader

Did you receive a Memorandum of Sale with their details?

Mr.Generous

Quite a few round here had exactly this happen when it was Hong Kong buyers, they offer on a few and proceed on one.

housebuyer143

Poor communication isn't a great sign, even if they are doing things. My previous house fell through twice in a row and I could pinpoint the moment it went wrong from when the communication stopped. 
If you feel uneasy with them and they are not responding and their solicitor hadn't done anything then relist it. EA tells them so and if they are serious they will get in touch asap. 
Anybody who seriously wants to buy your house wouldn't just ignore all communication.

youth_leader

I hope it works out for you.  It's very odd the EA cannot contact the buyers - they have obviously only recently spoken to them to arrange the survey with you.  Good luck.

user1977

youth_leader said:

It's very odd the EA cannot contact the buyers - they have obviously only recently spoken to them to arrange the survey with you.  Good luck.

It would normally be the surveyors contacting the EA, not the buyers liaising about timing etc.

macman

OP is at liberty to tell the EA that they have lost patience and to decline the accepted offer and remarket it. Though I'd now wait until after New Year to do that.
It's worth remembering that about 40% of accepted offers do not proceed to completion.

robatwork

For most of us, buying a house is THE most important thing we are doing at that point in time.

Of course there are rare occasions when this coincides with an illness, or something horrid with a family member. But that's unusual, and even then there are ways to communicate within a few days with our vendor.

It's just that sense you get with some buyers that you are doing them a favour, or aren't their priority when they are spending hundred of thousand of pounds, and you are spending considerable effort and anxiety on the process

Emily_Joy

robatwork said:

There's really no excuse for anyone to be "out of touch" any more. There's barely a place on earth they couldn't check email or send a message/SMS/call your EA.

There is - if you are working to very tight deadlines and deem the person to be a time waster. 

In our case the EA refused to issue memorandum of sale and to take the house off the market until they were satisfied that we are proceedable. We were in rented accommodation and had 70% deposit ready, together with agreement in principle. The EA told us that we need to have a meeting with their in-house mortgage advisor to confirm our "proceedability". Due to work commitments (I was abroad for 3 months out of 5 between the first viewing and completion) we had no time to entertain their mortgage advisor nor we considered it necessary with 30% LTV. So this delayed the process somewhat.

OP - could  EA elaborate further what exactly they need?

jonnydeppiwish!

Op, it’s been 3 weeks. They’ve had a survey done. It’s now the Xmas break where nothing is going to get done. There’s very little that the EA actually needs from the buyer except for proof of ID and potentially some sort of proof of funds. 

The process will take a minimum of 4 months and you’ll be sitting and waiting for nothing to actually happen until it actually does. Theres no timeframes to adhere in this process.

Martico

jonnydeppiwish! said:

The process will take a minimum of 4 months and you’ll be sitting and waiting for nothing to actually happen until it actually does. Theres no timeframes to adhere in this process.

Agree with your second sentence, but not the first (which also contradicts the second) - my last purchase took around 6 weeks from first view through survey to completion. I lucked out with all involved being engaged and on the ball, but it's very possible. Nevertheless, one or any avoidable, unforeseen or just "life" issues can and do extend the process