Anyone had any experiance of entering Purple Pact from Purple Bricks?

Inkleowl

It's 30 years since we purchased our house and the property market has changed a lot.  This is a steep learning curve.  We have had an offer accepted where the vendor is using Purple Bricks for marketing and conveyancing.  We've paid a significant amount to the PB partner, Lifetime Legal for the ID and proof of funds checks.  We managed the ID and are now struggling to provide statements that show all the account information they require, including address and full account numbers etc, it seems a frightening process.  I'm sure we will eventually work that one out, but what I am really worried about is the Purple Pact. 

They want £500 as a holding deposit to protect against gazumping. We are getting queasy, especially as I cannot find any information about how this Pact works.  There is a lot of info. about the advantages of entering into it, but no Ts & Cs (other than relate to use of the Gazeal platform).  They say Gazeal will phone to 'walk me through the process'.  I expect this will be a similar call to the one from Lifetime Legal during which I was told account numbers would not be necessary, also there was no mention of providing our Title Deed; they now want both to get us through the ID and funds proof stage. 

Has anyone had experience of using this?  

Is it a transparent process, is there a contract to read before money is exchanged?

How is the money paid?  On agreeing to the ID checks payment was by card over the phone.       Presumably this cannot happen when the amount is £500?

What else does it lock you into?

Will Purple Bricks conveyancers drag their feet without it?

Thank you in advance for sharing anything you can.

eddddy

'Purple Pact' sounds like a pre-contract deposit scheme. 

It looks like you can simply say you don't want to pay a £500 pre-contract deposit.


From what I can see:

• It doesn't look like it makes any difference to the conveyancers either way

• A company called Gazeal will take a fee, if you pay the £500 (but will get no fee if you don't pay)

• Purple Bricks will probably get a referral commission from Gazeal, if you pay the £500 (but will get no commission if you don't pay)

• The seller doesn't get any of the £500 - so it probably doesn't matter much either way to them. 

So Purple Bricks might put pressure on you to pay the £500, so they can earn some commission.

Similarly, Purple Bricks might put pressure on the seller to insist you use it (by saying things like "the sale is less likely to fall through if the buyer pays a £500 deposit")



But do you think the seller would change their mind and reject your offer, if you refused to pay the £500 deposit? I suspect they wouldn't.

Inkleowl

Thank you for your thoughts.  I have read everything I can find online so have a basic idea of how the Purple Pact works, but I can find no terms and conditions for the agreement.  After more digging I've found one recent property agent's review which was a bit sceptical that people would go for it, suggesting that it is 'a lock-out agreement and Title insurance' (?) tying buyers in even if there are planning breaches, environmental concerns, neighbour disputes etc.  Another court case found against a buyer who had to pay Gazeal £35,000 for withdrawing without one of Purple Bricks 'allowable reasons' (very loosely defined).   So very scary.  We will not be agreeing to this without a lot more information, even if it means losing the house.

Rent_Homesty

Inkleowl said:

It's 30 years since we purchased our house and the property market has changed a lot.  This is a steep learning curve.  We have had an offer accepted where the vendor is using Purple Bricks for marketing and conveyancing.  We've paid a significant amount to the PB partner, Lifetime Legal for the ID and proof of funds checks.  We managed the ID and are now struggling to provide statements that show all the account information they require, including address and full account numbers etc, it seems a frightening process.  I'm sure we will eventually work that one out, but what I am really worried about is the Purple Pact. 

They want £500 as a holding deposit to protect against gazumping. We are getting queasy, especially as I cannot find any information about how this Pact works.  There is a lot of info. about the advantages of entering into it, but no Ts & Cs (other than relate to use of the Gazeal platform).  They say Gazeal will phone to 'walk me through the process'.  I expect this will be a similar call to the one from Lifetime Legal during which I was told account numbers would not be necessary, also there was no mention of providing our Title Deed; they now want both to get us through the ID and funds proof stage. 

Has anyone had experience of using this?  

Is it a transparent process, is there a contract to read before money is exchanged?

How is the money paid?  On agreeing to the ID checks payment was by card over the phone.       Presumably this cannot happen when the amount is £500?

What else does it lock you into?

Will Purple Bricks conveyancers drag their feet without it?

Thank you in advance for sharing anything you can.

Protect on gazumping.... is that because they move the sale through quicker?

Chief_of_Staffy

" I have read everything I can find online so have a basic idea of how the Purple Pact works, but I can find no terms and conditions for the agreement."

That tells you all you need to know. And you're correct, there are no Ts & Cs available publicly. They likely introduce them at the latest possible stage and rush you into signing before you can fully read and understand the horrors that lurk within.