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First question
I have two questions that stem from threads here:
Firstly about buying a house in England. I have heard stories about how there is no multiple listing service and you have to troop around to different estate agencies and look at the pictures of houses in the windows to get to see a house. I have also heard (and I heard it too on Location,Location Location on TV) that you can make offers on multiple houses at the same time. Don't you have to pay a substantial deposit to make an offer? I have heard stories about how the sale can go through, the vendor accepts an offer an a house and then a week before the people move in - the sale falls through - the purchasers change their minds or the vendor accepts a better offer from someone else! I am just wondering how true these stories are and how a house sale/purchase works over there. Here (and I can only talk for Saskatchewan) the real estate agencies tend not to have any photos in their windows - they tend to have offices with no windows! They have a book showing all the listings, including the ones that they themselves have listed. Once you find a house you like you make a deposit - the realtor usually suggests a substantial deposit so the purchaser is not tempted to walk away. You can make the offer subject to financing or a home inspection, but once the financing is in place and the home inspection satisfactory - the sale HAS TO go ahead or the purchasers will lose their deposit. Also, the purchasers cannot muck around - they have to diligently work at getting their mortgage and inspection or else the vendor's lawyer will put pressure on them - get on with it or lose your deposit. |
Re: First question
Main differences are that an acceptance of an offer in England (is different for Scotland) is not legally binding, so yes you can get 'gazumped' as it's called when someone puts in a better offer. No deposit is required at this stage. Everything is only official when contracts have been exchanged and you can then move towards setting completion date.
It's all a bit crap really. I have been on the receiving end of gazumping and it's horrible. Saying that, the house we were gazumped on had their new sale fall through and I had the great pleasure of telling the agent when they rang up to ask if we were still interested where to go :lol:. |
Re: First question
Originally Posted by lizwil98
(Post 4994021)
I have two questions that stem from threads here:
Firstly about buying a house in England. I have heard stories about how there is no multiple listing service and you have to troop around to different estate agencies and look at the pictures of houses in the windows to get to see a house. This is correct Liz - each agent has it's own list of properties they are selling. There is a web page like MLS but the agents have to register for them - these are called Rightmove and the other one I know about is Vebra I have also heard (and I heard it too on Location,Location Location on TV) that you can make offers on multiple houses at the same time. Don't you have to pay a substantial deposit to make an offer? This is also correct Liz. What happens is you see a house like it and go back to the agent and say this is my offer. The agent then contacts the vendor to put the offer forward and then back to you to say it is or isnt acceptable. An agent has to inform a vendor of any offer made on their property whether or not a person is in the position to sell. For example, I have a property to sell in the uk and I see one down the road and go and make an offer - even though I cannot proceed to completion of buying one down the road the agent would have to tell the vendor of that house. I have heard stories about how the sale can go through, the vendor accepts an offer an a house and then a week before the people move in - the sale falls through - the purchasers change their minds or the vendor accepts a better offer from someone else! In the UK there are two stages of a house purchase - exchange and completion of contracts. It can be quite common to exchange and complete on the same day and this is where you can get the problems mentioned by you above. You have less chance of losing a sale once you have exchanged contracts - if someone was going to back out after this then the vendor/buyer could sue the party at fault I am just wondering how true these stories are and how a house sale/purchase works over there. Here (and I can only talk for Saskatchewan) the real estate agencies tend not to have any photos in their windows - they tend to have offices with no windows! They have a book showing all the listings, including the ones that they themselves have listed. Once you find a house you like you make a deposit - the realtor usually suggests a substantial deposit so the purchaser is not tempted to walk away. You can make the offer subject to financing or a home inspection, but once the financing is in place and the home inspection satisfactory - the sale HAS TO go ahead or the purchasers will lose their deposit. Also, the purchasers cannot muck around - they have to diligently work at getting their mortgage and inspection or else the vendor's lawyer will put pressure on them - get on with it or lose your deposit. In scotland I think that you can offer for a property and once that offer is accepted the sale is concrete and if you back out you get sued similar to how you describe Sask. Hope that this will explain it Gaynor x |
Re: First question
Originally Posted by burton bunch
(Post 4994120)
The details above are the law for England and Wales - Scotland has a different Property Act.
In scotland I think that you can offer for a property and once that offer is accepted the sale is concrete and if you back out you get sued similar to how you describe Sask. Hope that this will explain it Gaynor x You can also only make one offer on a one property at any one time, and the offers are usually "offers over" which mean the property is usually on offer at the minimum price. You used to add roughly 20% which would give you an indication of how much the property could possibly go for but now it can be a lot more. e.g. I went for a property a few years back and it was on "offers over" £55k and I won the flat for slightly over £68k. At the time I had a choice take the flat now or don't take the flat and try for another one, it wasn't my first choice but I didn't take the chance so I accepted it. I don't think I would have been lucky enough to get my first choice flat. And yeah you can make a verbal offer and you don't tend to get gazumped. em |
Re: First question
Am just finding out out to my cost that the Canadian system has it's downfalls too though.
I offered on a home i wnat in BC, counter-offered, etc. We agreed terms, and should have "removed subjects" last Thursday once I had the survey done and the mortgage in place. All my stuff is in place. Now the sellers have asked for an extension until this coming Thursday, and are considering withdrawing their house from the marekt becuase they cant find anything they want to buy and have decided not to move in to a rental. Hhmmm, i thought the canaidan system was supposed to stop these things happening :curse::(:(:( |
Re: First question
Have you tried consulting a lawyer about this? I would think that in Sask at least the vendors would be required to compensate you for your expenses. Not sure if you can make them sell to you. After all, if you made a contract and met the conditions - they have broken the contract and they should have to at least pay you compensation for that. Phone a lawyer at least. Most lawyers will give you initial advice for nothing.
Are you in Whistler right now? |
Re: First question
Hi, thanks for the post. Yes, i feel they should at least cover the survey cost for me if they pull out on Thursday.
Am flying out tomorrow, must go and keep packing :) |
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