I am so sorry to hear your news It is every seller's nightmare - I really thought it would happen to us at one time.

To wait to tell you until today is unbelievable - and to give no reason

Here's hoping your estate agent will find you another buyer VERY, VERY quickly!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Jo
.

Thank you for that. I thought I had lost the plot, both systems are the same, it is just where "legally binding" bites is different.

Oh my gosh, poor you, i am so sorry.

Why on earth would they pull out at this stage, they must have already spent money on surveys/solicitor etc?

Maybe they got it wrong and didnt get the financing they needed.

Whatever, poor you, hope you get a new/better buyer very soon.

It is a slow old system - and that's the way it's been for years (so perhaps we're more 'Canadian' than we think we are - why change the way we've always done it ? ).

A few changes were proposed last year with the Home Sellers Pack. Look at the furore that caused. I know a lot of it was down to mis-management in administration - and also the fact that the whole idea was watered down so much. But in principle I thought it was a bloody good idea. If your house is sound and a good buy, what's wrong with 'proving' it to a possible buyer. If your house is in poor condition or a 'challenging' purchase, then that info should be up front for a purchaser too. As a buyer and a seller - we can't all have it all our way !! Many people pull out for pretty legitimate reasons, but the current system does allow too many people to make an offer or pull out on a whim. Penalties might help but in reality who will chase them and who will pay them? It would need to be substantial to be effective.

Most on this forum need to sell and run - but if we were the purchaser in the UK, we'd be moaning about the system from the other angle

As I said before though, my every sympathy to the OP

So sorry to hear your news. I got asked today if I knew emmigrating would be this stressfull would I still do it. My answer Yes because hopefully it will all be worth it. Try and hold onto the reasons why you are putting yourself through this torture and I hope you find a new buyer soon.

Sharon

This is ridiculous. They need to change the English law. Forget the HIPs, just adopt the scottish system. Glad i'm not buying/selling there.

Copy Scotland

Vive La Difference-The Scottish and English systems.
For anyone buying property in Scotland it is important to be aware of the correct way to go about it. This is particularly the case for anyone moving from England, as there are fundamental differences between the Scottish system and that operating South of the Border. Although the basics are the same it is the timing of when the contract becomes legally binding that has led to two different approaches. It is important to understand that there is no second step in the Scottish procedure and that the contract can become legally binding at a relatively early stage, unlike in England where contracts are often exchanged towards the end of the process. Here we prefer not to wait until the removal men are at the door before concluding a binding deal!

In Scotland the contract takes the form of a series of letters known as "missives". There is nothing for the purchaser to sign to commit to the contract as the "missives" are generally signed by the parties' solicitors. Once the offer has been accepted on all points, you have entered into a legally binding arrangement and neither party can withdraw without potentially being held liable for the consequent losses of the other party. Accordingly, you should be careful and only submit a written offer through a Scottish solicitor and make sure your solicitor is aware of your situation. If you offer in writing yourself and this is accepted, you could end up being committed to buy a 'pig in a poke' - a well known Scots non-legal term! Once committed, if you want to get out of the deal, you might be liable for any loss on resale and other costs.

The different legal systems have to be considered particularly carefully if you have a house to sell in England and you are relying on that sale to fund the purchase in Scotland. You will require separate solicitors and it is important that your English solicitor is aware of the need to progress the sale procedures as swiftly as possible and the need to communicate effectively.

so sorry to hear what happend big hug to you

kate

Thanks for everyones kindness.

Agent not able to update the Rightmove site, coz their server is down! So no way to advertise til monday and no advert in paper til thursday. :curse:

But; I had kept the phone number of someone who knocked on the door about six weeks ago, so I rang them this afternoon.
7pm tonight, they came for a viewing.... so here we go again, fingers toes and everything else crossed.

They said they will talk to each other and come back to us.
So now we wait - I have decided Agents are not worth the money they get paid.

everything is crossed for you
Terese

Which is very similar to Canada and England, ie, it is not legally binding until it's legallly binding. In Scotland it would appear that the surveys etc are peformed before the offer (or else none are performed) and all other "relevant enquries are performed". At that point the offer is put in and, if accepted, matter is legally binding. Exactly the same as in England, it does not become legally binding until contracts are exchanged, Unfortunately, this fact passes most people by and they assume the offer and acceptance is legally binding.

No there is a huge difference.
In Scotland you view a house, if you like it you get a survey, if the survery is OK then you make an offer, if the offer is accepted it then becomes legally binding.

In England you view a house, if you like it you put in an offer, if the offer is accepted you get a survey, if the survery is OK you wait for 6-8 weeks for all the other paperwork to be sorted, then you exchange contracts and it becomes legally binding. What tends to happen is between making an offer and exchanging contracts people view other houses and change their minds, or they cannot get their funds toghether, or their house sale falls through and cannot commit to buy yours.

If England adopted the same law as Scotland and made an offer when the survey was done and when their house had an offer on it, there would be no chain to break.

As I said above, there is no difference. The deal is legally binding when it is legally binding. This tends to happen more quickly in Canada and Scotland, but the legal process is very similar.

In England people get caught up in the "offer" stage, thinking that, because they have accepted the offer, the deal is done, it isn't. It is done when it's done and not before in either system.

Edit: Almost Canadian types faster than me

--
That isn't true, it's not binding until missives are complete. And that can be quite late in the process sometimes. Our Scottish solicitor told us it was a myth that there is a binding contract when an offer is accepted.

Having said that, the myth must be doing some good as I've never heard of a Scottish deal falling through. But the system isn't perfect. To get any real idea of an expected price, you have to have a survey before you bid. It's usual to put your "offers over" price tens even hundreds of thousands below what you actually want to achieve. WHen I last paid one, a full survey was iro 500 GBP. My brother had to have about 10 done on various first time buyer flats before he had a successful bid

Anyway, best of luck to you Manghams. If there's anything I can do at this end (like stave off the builders with a box of donuts or something!) just let me know

What a nightmare situation for you. Hopefully things will turn around quickly for you soon.

It's time England got this sorted out and copied Scotland. I remember watching Kirsty (Location, Location, Location) in a spin off TV programme called Property Chain. For me it was made the No 1 spot for the most depressing TV in the world of real estate. :curse: