Full land search not available in Hackney, should I put down a new offer?

TheJP

BraveLuna said:

BarelySentientAI said:

BraveLuna said:

 I see it as reasonable to reconsider the price to account for the risk of current issues affecting the property's value in the future (and that I have no way of knowing about now).

Yes, you can reconsider the price any time you fancy.  The seller doesn't have to agree to any of it though - and how many sellers would agree to a lower price based on something that nobody knows about but you have decided might exist based on zero evidence?

So you think that having a full search or not having one is the same thing?
The seller also has zero evidence that the property is issue free since the data is just not available.

I can withdraw the offer and they can find a buyer who is happy to take the risk, or I can give the seller the option to accept a different offer (the property has been on the market for 5 months before my offer, who knows maybe for the same issue?, so they might sell it for lower to someone else anyway, not my problem but I have the right to buy only if I feel comfortable with the risks).

It sounds like the risk isnt an issue for you but you feel this is an opportunity for you to reduce your price.

Why not go and find a house in an area that can provide a full search?

BraveLuna

TheJP said:

It sounds like the risk isnt an issue for you but you feel this is an opportunity for you to reduce your price.

Not sure where this is coming from. If this was my question I would have just asked "can I take this as an opportunity to reduce the price?", my question was different.

Why not go and find a house in an area that can provide a full search?

If oranges are not available I buy apples, sure.

BraveLuna

AskAsk said:

Personally I would walk away if you are not happy with it.  No point in messing around with the pricing, but you can reduce the offer price to anything you want, but if it is silly, then bear in mind that you may not be able to buy with that estate agent again as he would put a black mark against you as a time waster and won't show you any future properties.

That's what I thought as well. Although I did email the EA telling them that I want to withdraw the offer and the list of all the reasons why. They came back saying that they understand my concerns and want to offer me alternative properties they have available. So maybe the issues I raised weren't silly after all. But still I did not expect that reply from her.

AskAsk

BraveLuna said:

AskAsk said:

Personally I would walk away if you are not happy with it.  No point in messing around with the pricing, but you can reduce the offer price to anything you want, but if it is silly, then bear in mind that you may not be able to buy with that estate agent again as he would put a black mark against you as a time waster and won't show you any future properties.

That's what I thought as well. Although I did email the EA telling them that I want to withdraw the offer and the list of all the reasons why. They came back saying that they understand my concerns and want to offer me alternative properties they have available. So maybe the issues I raised weren't silly after all. But still I did not expect that reply from her.

It is perfectly acceptable to withdraw an offer as there are enough reasons here to do so.  However, your original post about reducing your offer for the indemnity insurance instead of a full search, would have raised an eyebrow or two if you told the EA that.

They don't sound like very good EA as they had told you false information all along, although that may have been from false information fed to them by the seller.

If you are concerned about the land searches, then you will have to wait for that to be resolved before you can buy anything in Hackney as that issue will be there for any property in the borough.  And I do think that you are worrying over nothing there as the council are probably not looking very hard into resolving their incompetency because they are aware there is a way round it with the indemnity insurance.  If all properties were not able to be sold since 2020, there would be an uproar and riots.

Jemma01

BraveLuna said:

AskAsk said:

Personally I would walk away if you are not happy with it.  No point in messing around with the pricing, but you can reduce the offer price to anything you want, but if it is silly, then bear in mind that you may not be able to buy with that estate agent again as he would put a black mark against you as a time waster and won't show you any future properties.

That's what I thought as well. Although I did email the EA telling them that I want to withdraw the offer and the list of all the reasons why. They came back saying that they understand my concerns and want to offer me alternative properties they have available. So maybe the issues I raised weren't silly after all. But still I did not expect that reply from her.

I think that's the normal response. EAs don't want a buyer that's hesitant or not happy, because that wastes everyone's time. Many people withdraw last minute just before they exchange without any warnings, after few months of a process. That's not an indication of whether your concerns are valid or not.

If you expected them to beg and offer a lower price, that's just not how things work.You need to be clear with them "this bit is broken, here is a quote for how much it will cost to fix, either fix it, or deduct that specific price from the property". Or "I'm worried about the tenant, if they are willing to sign a new contract with exit date of bla month, then I will exchange upon their exit". You went straight into "I'm withdrawing because of a and b". You can't go into a huge purchase like this with the attitude that "they need me more than I need them". You just lost yourself a potential property.

user1977

AskAsk said:

BraveLuna said:

AskAsk said:

Personally I would walk away if you are not happy with it.  No point in messing around with the pricing, but you can reduce the offer price to anything you want, but if it is silly, then bear in mind that you may not be able to buy with that estate agent again as he would put a black mark against you as a time waster and won't show you any future properties.

That's what I thought as well. Although I did email the EA telling them that I want to withdraw the offer and the list of all the reasons why. They came back saying that they understand my concerns and want to offer me alternative properties they have available. So maybe the issues I raised weren't silly after all. But still I did not expect that reply from her.

If you are concerned about the land searches, then you will have to wait for that to be resolved before you can buy anything in Hackney as that issue will be there for any property in the borough.  And I do think that you are worrying over nothing there as the council are probably not looking very hard into resolving their incompetency because they are aware there is a way round it with the indemnity insurance.  If all properties were not able to be sold since 2020, there would be an uproar and riots.

And like I said above, if it's affected every property sale in the borough in the past 4 years, then any effect on values is already built in. It would be like asking for a discount because you've just noticed what the crime rate is.

BraveLuna

Jemma01 said:

If you expected them to beg and offer a lower price, that's just not how things work.

What makes you think that I was expecting that? I wanted to withdraw my offer because I did not want to buy that property anymore and that's what I did.

I think that's the normal response.

Well someone in comments above said I'd be put on a black list which does not seem to be the case.
Actually, they are emailing me and calling me trying to sell me what they have available, which it is their job of course. But that's quite the opposite of being put on a black list.

You went straight into "I'm withdrawing because of a and b".

Yes, I went straight to the point because that's what I wanted, I do not want to buy it anymore.
Why should I have wasted their time trying to negotiate when I just did not wanted to buy it?

You can't go into a huge purchase like this with the attitude that "they need me more than I need them".

So for you anyone who walks away from a purchase has this attitude?

You just lost yourself a potential property.

Well as I said that's what I have decided. I made my consideration and decided I am not buying this property.

Having said that, this was my first thread on this forum but I've seem a bit of hate which I did not expect. I genuinely wanted some advise, I might have been naive but never had bad intentions or wanted to cheat or wanted to trick the seller or lie to them or something else that some commenters assumed here. That's a bit disappointing.

Anyways, I really thank anyone who gave me concrete advise and helped me make the best decision given my circumstances. As I said in previous comments I have now withdrawn my offer. I have done that because I decided that not buying that property was the best thing for me.

martindow

By the time the tenants are out, Hackney may have solved their IT problems!

TheJP

OP if the searches are an issue i suggest in no way breaching forum policy to look at properties in an area that can provide you with a full search report. If risk isnt an issue then accept indemnity insurance.