House purchase saga....

luaive

So this is a continuation of my previous post about landlord selling the home my husband and myself have rented for 18 or so years....

After many viewings we found a house we liked, put in offer, accepted within an hr, great! Found a solicitor, thou all done so far was to take in identity. Been to bank, sent off statements and payslips, solicitor sent paperwork by email to fill in and  sign, confirmation of instructions etc, not done yet as not got printer at home. Estate agents we have given proof of deposit, MIP, i.d, can't think of anything else right now, just proof that we were who we were and had money available for a deposit. Hubby gets txt message yesterday from current landlord who is selling property that neighbour has pulled out due to personal circumstances (was hassling us previously to let neighbor/buyer view inside property) and is no longer purchasing the house 😲 I said sod them all and carry on with purchase of other house, but hubby wants to buy the place we are in, we can afford the price that the neighbour offered, I am worried about how much backing out of the house we put an offer in will cost, do the solicitors charge even thou we havent signed anything? And also i don't trust the neighbour to re offer for the house we are currently in, if his situation changes and I can see our untrustworthy landlord allowing us to be gazumped! Anyone pulled out at the start of a house purchase, was it costly?

RHemmings

The solicitors should, normally, charge for work done. If they haven't started searches etc. then you may not be in for a huge amount. Have you considered contacting the solicitors and asking if they would continue being your solicitors if you change the house you are buying? This would be extra work and would cost more in total but perhaps less than starting again from scratch with different solicitors.

Pulling out of your current purchase isn't going to be appreciated by your current seller, but telling them ASAP will minimise the inconvenience to them. Not necessarily to a small amount of inconvenience, but minimise it. 

If you withdraw from your current purchase after offer agreed, and then later your neighbour gazumps you and buys the house you are currently living in, then some might say that there is a bit of karma going on there. 

However, a house purchase is an important life decision, and there is something to be said for buying the house that is best for you. 

Tiglet2

luaive said:

So this is a continuation of my previous post about landlord selling the home my husband and myself have rented for 18 or so years....

After many viewings we found a house we liked, put in offer, accepted within an hr, great! Found a solicitor, thou all done so far was to take in identity. Been to bank, sent off statements and payslips, solicitor sent paperwork by email to fill in and  sign, confirmation of instructions etc, not done yet as not got printer at home. Estate agents we have given proof of deposit, MIP, i.d, can't think of anything else right now, just proof that we were who we were and had money available for a deposit. Hubby gets txt message yesterday from current landlord who is selling property that neighbour has pulled out due to personal circumstances (was hassling us previously to let neighbor/buyer view inside property) and is no longer purchasing the house 😲 I said sod them all and carry on with purchase of other house, but hubby wants to buy the place we are in, we can afford the price that the neighbour offered, I am worried about how much backing out of the house we put an offer in will cost, do the solicitors charge even thou we havent signed anything? And also i don't trust the neighbour to re offer for the house we are currently in, if his situation changes and I can see our untrustworthy landlord allowing us to be gazumped! Anyone pulled out at the start of a house purchase, was it costly?

Even if your solicitors do charge something for setting up the file, it doesn't sound like it would cost much if you haven't sent them the initial paperwork, including confirmation of instructions. I doubt if your solicitor has spent any time on your file at all apart from sending out the paperwork and opening a file for you.

You can still continue the conveyancing with them, just let them know that you are buying a different property.  

What property do you prefer?  

elsien

If you weren’t already living in the property and both were on the open market, which of the two would you prefer and why. 

Take the hassle of moving out of the equation for now and properly think about what you want in a house.

Loza2016

What’s the neighbour like? If you ended up buying it over them would they hold it against you? Are they the type of people who might start making living there unpleasant? 

badmemory

And do you like the idea of living next door to the person that is causing the current upheaval by backing out.  Will they resent you buying the property they wanted.  If you do want it I would check very carefully into why they backed out & make sure there is not an issue with the property.  You could try offering less & maybe save yourselves some of the expenditure on the other property.

Voyager2002

luaive said:

So this is a continuation of my previous post about landlord selling the home my husband and myself have rented for 18 or so years....

After many viewings we found a house we liked, put in offer, accepted within an hr, great! Found a solicitor, thou all done so far was to take in identity. Been to bank, sent off statements and payslips, solicitor sent paperwork by email to fill in and  sign, confirmation of instructions etc, not done yet as not got printer at home. Estate agents we have given proof of deposit, MIP, i.d, can't think of anything else right now, just proof that we were who we were and had money available for a deposit. Hubby gets txt message yesterday from current landlord who is selling property that neighbour has pulled out due to personal circumstances (was hassling us previously to let neighbor/buyer view inside property) and is no longer purchasing the house 😲 I said sod them all and carry on with purchase of other house, but hubby wants to buy the place we are in, we can afford the price that the neighbour offered, I am worried about how much backing out of the house we put an offer in will cost, do the solicitors charge even thou we havent signed anything? And also i don't trust the neighbour to re offer for the house we are currently in, if his situation changes and I can see our untrustworthy landlord allowing us to be gazumped! Anyone pulled out at the start of a house purchase, was it costly?

I haven't read the earlier post, so sorry if I miss something...

Under normal circumstances, it is great if you buy a property that you are already renting. You know the property and so there will no nasty surprises, and there are other ways in which the transaction should be relatively easy.

However, in your situation you would be dealing with your current landlord, whom you describe as 'untrustworthy'. There is a great deal that could go wrong, and it all could prove very expensive. And of course you would still have the same set of neighbours, including someone who was interested in buying your house. Consider why you did not consider buying the house before the neighbour made an agreement to buy it, and revisit those reasons.

If you were to pull out of the purchase you have agreed, there should not be any costs. By the sound of things you have not yet made a contract with the solicitor. If in any doubt, telephone them to say that you are having second thoughts and ask them not to do any work on your purchase until further notice.

luaive

As i said I would carry on with the purchase of the other property, because I no longer trust either the landlord or the neighbour, unfortunately my hubby is the opposite and just sees it as an opportunity to purchase where we are. No one has been allowed inside the house yet as we havent received what we have asked for (rent book) hence the being nagged by landlord before the recent txt, I know this because we have changed the locks 2* since living there and the landlord doesnt have a key. I just see this being a lot of grief and us being f'ed over and losing even more of our deposit towards a house. Hoping I'm wrong but I trust my instincts....

luaive

@Voyager2002 Quote 'Consider why you did not consider buying the house before the neighbour made an agreement to buy it, and revisit those reasons.....The only reason we hadnt as rent is 180p/w bills included, which is cheap and we were expecting the price of buying  the place to be more than the neighbour offered tbh! 

RHemmings

luaive said:

As i said I would carry on with the purchase of the other property, because I no longer trust either the landlord or the neighbour, unfortunately my hubby is the opposite and just sees it as an opportunity to purchase where we are. No one has been allowed inside the house yet as we havent received what we have asked for (rent book) hence the being nagged by landlord before the recent txt, I know this because we have changed the locks 2* since living there and the landlord doesnt have a key. I just see this being a lot of grief and us being f'ed over and losing even more of our deposit towards a house. Hoping I'm wrong but I trust my instincts....

It seems that you (as a couple) have followed a policy of insisting on your rights which may have the side-effect of annoying the landlord. I wouldn't be surprised if your landlord was already preferring to sell to someone else. If I was your landlord and you were blocking viewings while making your own offer, I may well interpret that as you manipulating the situation to your advantage. Depends on how cynical your landlord is. 

This works for you personally as you don't want to buy that house. But, if your husband gets his way and you (as a couple) transfer your purchase to the house you're currently living in, there is perhaps an elevated risk of your landlord selling to someone else if they can. 

The further the purchase continues, the more (financially and time-wise) the landlord has to lose. But, you aren't legally guaranteed the house until contracts are exchanged. 

FlyMeSomewhere79

You need to check how much work the solicitors have done to be sure how big a charge you might get, it may be wise to check that you don't become liable for any commission to your vendors estate agents for getting so far a long with the sale that they facilitated.