Offer made: 'Sale is subject to contract & survey'

Lilio8

eddddy said:

Lilio8 said:

As I understand after doing a bit of research, this 'sale agreement' is more of a 'memorandum of sale' and not legally binding. It reads that the sum of £XYZ,000 is 'subject to contract and survey, as per the conditions detailed in the attached Notification of Sale'.  

1) is the Notification of Sale sent by my solicitors to theirs?

The "Notification of Sale" or "Memorandum of Sale" is prepared by the estate agent, and is usually sent to both the seller's and buyer's solicitor.

You could describe it as a "few rough notes" which should help the solicitors to get started.

The solicitors probably won't trust what the estate agent has written, they'll each ask their client to provide written details.

Nothing in the "Notification of Sale" is binding on the seller or buyer.

In England, all offers are assumed to be subject to contract (which also means subject to survey, searches, mortgage valuation, changes of mind, etc.).




Edit to add...

So if the "Notification of Sale" contains errors, you could say it doesn't matter and just ignore them. (For example, if it says white goods are included when they're not.)

But purely from a "good relationship" perspective, it might be best to clarify any errors to avoid disappointment or disputes later - e.g. the buyer thinks you're including white goods, but you're not.

I see. Thank you!

Lilio8

Albermarle said:

2) Since the buyers will send their RICS surveyor, is it likely/probable/possible that the buyers will demand/ask a reduction in the sale price after the survey?

This issue is probably the subject of more threads on this forum than any other, and usually the questions are from First time Buyers.
So spending some time scrolling through the forum looking for these threads, and reading all the associated posts, will help you get a better feel for what might happen in your case.

Are you buying a property as well? Same issues apply when you get the results of your survey.

No, I'm not buying.
Good idea! I'll search for posts from First Time Buyers. Thank you for your reply.