Seller wants me to do a survey before taking house off the market

Danceswithfishes

As the title says the seller wants me to do a survey before taking the house off the market.
The EA told my solicitor they will not accept viewings on the house but will "take down numbers" in case the sale falls through. 
Im a cash buyer so the seller doesn't have to worry about a mortgage application not proceeding.  
I'm worried I will be paying £600 for a survey, just to get gazumped by someone seeing the house on Rightmove. Or the seller asking for more money citing a better offer, and hoping by then I will be invested because I already paid for a survey.
I'm already paying a bit over the asking price (at the request of the seller, if I wanted the house off the market).
The seller insists they want to sell the house to me, but don't want to pay solicitors fees until I say I'm satisfied with the results of the survey.
How unusual is this?

bobster2

Personally, as a buyer I would find a surveyor but then tell the seller that I'm not proceeding with the survey unless it's taken off the market.

Although be aware that even once marked "sold subject to contract" listings can still be available on Rightmove etc.

The solicitor's fees thing sounds odd - as a seller there are not many fees to pay unless a sale completes. It's the buyer paying for searches etc.

FlorayG

Danceswithfishes said:

I'm already paying a bit over the asking price (at the request of the seller, if I wanted the house off the market).

So you have already agreed to the terms they set in order to take it off the market and now they are setting more terms? I would tell them fine, I will do the survey, but then I'm not paying the over the odds price because you didn't stick to the terms of that agreement
They know you really, really want this house because you agreed to pay over for it, so they are playing the game. Play it back

Danceswithfishes

FlorayG said:

Danceswithfishes said:

I'm already paying a bit over the asking price (at the request of the seller, if I wanted the house off the market).

So you have already agreed to the terms they set in order to take it off the market and now they are setting more terms? I would tell them fine, I will do the survey, but then I'm not paying the over the odds price because you didn't stick to the terms of that agreement
They know you really, really want this house because you agreed to pay over for it, so they are playing the game. Play it back

Thank you. I'm calling the EA today. 

AskAsk

the fact that they are paying a lot of attention to the survey makes me think there is something wrong with the house, which will come out in the survey, so if I were you, OP, I would start to be less enthusiastic about this house.

paying more to get it taken off the market only to be told that the sellers won't start the legal process until you have had the results of the survey back is showing your over enthusiasm and that is never a good way to negotiate.

i would start to think about this more carefully if i were you and request that it goes through the standard process and none of this faffing about.

Herzlos

They probably want to know that you're serious about it before taking it off the market. If the EA isn't booking viewings then you shouldn't have any more worry about gazumping than usual.

Can you compromise and have it taken off the market once a survey has been booked?

TheJP

AskAsk said:

the fact that they are paying a lot of attention to the survey makes me think there is something wrong with the house, which will come out in the survey, so if I were you, OP, I would start to be less enthusiastic about this house.

paying more to get it taken off the market only to be told that the sellers won't start the legal process until you have had the results of the survey back is showing your over enthusiasm and that is never a good way to negotiate.

i would start to think about this more carefully if i were you and request that it goes through the standard process and none of this faffing about.

Or they have had a sale fall through because the buyer had a survey and messed them around regarding negotiating. This approach for me says they want you to get your ducks in a row before they stop marketing their house which there isnt much wrong about that.

If there was something wrong with the house then the word survey would be far from the lips of the seller, for me this is a sign of a committed seller that wants to know where they stand before they de-list their property.

Bookworm105

Herzlos said:

They probably want to know that you're serious about it before taking it off the market. If the EA isn't booking viewings then you shouldn't have any more worry about gazumping than usual.

Can you compromise and have it taken off the market once a survey has been booked?

agreed
There is no right or wrong about this as neither buyer nor seller are secure until contracts are exchanged.

- seller takes it off the market, buyer does survey, buyer pulls out on survey results, seller has to remarket. Buyer has lost cost of survey. Seller has lost time/potential viewers.
- buyer does survey, seller leaves on market, buyer pulls out anyway on survey results. Seller moves on to next buyer. Buyer has lost cost of survey. 
- buyer does survey, seller leaves on market, buyer offers to proceed, seller gets better offer and dumps buyer.
- buyer does survey, seller leaves on market, buyer offers to proceed, seller accepts and takes off market.

prowla

I don't quite get the ploy of wanting you to do a survey to convince them you're genuinely interested in buying the house.

I suppose it's self-fulfilling if you decided not to go for it and step away from the purchase, though.

AskAsk

TheJP said:

AskAsk said:

the fact that they are paying a lot of attention to the survey makes me think there is something wrong with the house, which will come out in the survey, so if I were you, OP, I would start to be less enthusiastic about this house.

paying more to get it taken off the market only to be told that the sellers won't start the legal process until you have had the results of the survey back is showing your over enthusiasm and that is never a good way to negotiate.

i would start to think about this more carefully if i were you and request that it goes through the standard process and none of this faffing about.

Or they have had a sale fall through because the buyer had a survey and messed them around regarding negotiating. This approach for me says they want you to get your ducks in a row before they stop marketing their house which there isnt much wrong about that.

If there was something wrong with the house then the word survey would be far from the lips of the seller, for me this is a sign of a committed seller that wants to know where they stand before they de-list their property.

"If there was something wrong with the house then the word survey would be far from the lips of the seller" - not really as everyone knows a survey is going to be done.  it is very rare these days for someone to buy a property without carrying out a survey of some sort.

it is more likely that if the property had failed to sell before after the survey came back, there may be major issues raised in the survey.