Interesting house purchase issues
Discussion
Sorry to hear that this drags on but not unexpected.
MrChips said:
Oh, and if we're not completed by April then stamp duty goes up £17k as we're not selling the old house. I've spelt out to the agents that if they delay it beyond April then the vendor needs to cover the 17k as we simply don't have access to it.
Wow! So in April they sell to you at £60K below market value or in May they have to lower it to £82K below market value; I know there's hard bargaining but I fear that you may be pushing this one too far. Good luck.Sorry to hear about your mum.
I'd be looking elsewhere - emotional ties understood but would your mum want you hung out like this?
I don't see the vendor paying for you to keep your current property (the 17k). They're evidently in zero rush/have other things on their mind. Look elsewhere and if this one comes back round, fair enough. If not, you've moved.
I'd be looking elsewhere - emotional ties understood but would your mum want you hung out like this?
I don't see the vendor paying for you to keep your current property (the 17k). They're evidently in zero rush/have other things on their mind. Look elsewhere and if this one comes back round, fair enough. If not, you've moved.
TA14 said:
Wow! So in April they sell to you at £60K below market value or in May they have to lower it to £82K below market value; I know there's hard bargaining but I fear that you may be pushing this one too far. Good luck.
Kind of but if at the point of exchange, everyone suddenly relooked at what they think market value is, then no one would ever move!I do however agree though that it's about 99% likely be a step too far for any sane person to agree to. If it ever gets to that stage, i'm hoping they basically don't "need" the money and just want the house gone, and that the risk of another buyer at a higher price suddenly dropping their offer down just before exchange would be a risk they just don't want.
Push comes to shove, our only option would be try to borrow off family on the promise that we sell house 2 within 18 months as HMRC are preposing a refund of the extra stamp duty if you do so, so we'd get the 17k back.
Life's a journey etc
We have been looking elsewhere actively now for 8 weeks or so, and currently zero have been of interest, including those we've viewed, hence we'll plod on for a bit longer. Both solicitors are saying that probate should be possible within the next 4 weeks so we're pinning our hopes on that.
Sadly the current new house +£17k is still good value compared to what else is available.
Edited by MrChips on Thursday 21st January 21:42
MrChips said:
You'll have to trust me when I say i've done the figures and they work. The mortgage is do-able as we're looking for fixing for 5yrs. Equity paid off would be over 60k over that five years, which means the rates could go to 5-6% before it would be tight. The old house still retains over 80k equity which we can use as a last resort in the future should rates rise above 6-7% in the next 5yrs. As always though.. it's most unaffordable at the start of the mortgage, but it almost always makes sense to stretch yourself financially at the start.
The neighbours house (identical but smaller plot and less parking) sold in June for 30k more and exchanged recently. However from what we know of the vendor, it's the deceased's sister, who is not moving house and from what we've been told, wants the sale completed just as much as we do.
The whole rental thing is a joke, as there's no inventory been made and agreed, along with the lack of info on the dps scheme. Considering it's a solicitor firm that is the named landlord then that's quite astonishing, however we are well aware that had we not pushed to be in as tenants, then i suspect the house would have been pulled from the market and put back on later.
Having been through probate myself twice in 2yrs, I know how complicated it can all be, so if it is their solicitor and not the vendor that is the issue then the vendor has my sympathy. However we should not have been told twice now that probate has been applied for, and then it turns out to be a lie.
Our solicitor (who i do trust) is suggesting the best plan at the moment is unfortunately just to keep pressuring the estate agent to push for their probate application. If we start talking about money/costs incurred now, then it gives them more opportunity to cancel the deal, serve us notice and get us out before they are even able to exchange.
However I think going to go see him tomorrow to discuss whether there are any options to protect ourselves. Maybe we suggest that we give them a deadline to submit the probate, and state that any rent paid after that deadline, would be paid as part of the purchase price of the house. They don't lose anything, but stop gaining £1k a month from us without any penalty?
Or should we suggest that rent is reduced to zero?
The alternative i guess is to just be patient, play nice, go along with the current status quo, and wait until everyone is ready to exchange and then ask for a price reduction, even if it's just by however much rent we've paid up until then. Not very moral, but i guess more chance of succeeding than raising all the financial issues now?
Oh and just to clarify how complicated this whole thing is, there are so many parties involved:
- Vendors conveyancing solicitor - local firm
- Vendor (deceaseds sister)- who didn't have the right to put the house up for sale in the first place (but this is to our advantage)
- Executor (deceaseds accountant) - I prsume they're taking a fee from the estate but seems to have no interest in pushing it through.
- Probate solicitor (and landlord) - employed by the executor to prepare the probate submission but is a different solicitor to that dealing with the conveyancing on their part.
So it seems that even my solicitor doesn't have direct contact with their probate solicitor in order to put some pressure on or at least get some specific answers.
Good shout on the SRA and LO. I think i'll keep them in mind should it come to it, but will see if my solicitor can draft a complaint against the probate firm and put something in place to give them a kick up the backside to get them in gear.
I don't understand the first paragraph around mortgage payments and equity. Assuming rates stay the same then your payment would stay the same for the whole of the mortgage term too. Monthly payments don't reduce over time, so the equity comment is a red herring. The neighbours house (identical but smaller plot and less parking) sold in June for 30k more and exchanged recently. However from what we know of the vendor, it's the deceased's sister, who is not moving house and from what we've been told, wants the sale completed just as much as we do.
The whole rental thing is a joke, as there's no inventory been made and agreed, along with the lack of info on the dps scheme. Considering it's a solicitor firm that is the named landlord then that's quite astonishing, however we are well aware that had we not pushed to be in as tenants, then i suspect the house would have been pulled from the market and put back on later.
Having been through probate myself twice in 2yrs, I know how complicated it can all be, so if it is their solicitor and not the vendor that is the issue then the vendor has my sympathy. However we should not have been told twice now that probate has been applied for, and then it turns out to be a lie.
Our solicitor (who i do trust) is suggesting the best plan at the moment is unfortunately just to keep pressuring the estate agent to push for their probate application. If we start talking about money/costs incurred now, then it gives them more opportunity to cancel the deal, serve us notice and get us out before they are even able to exchange.
However I think going to go see him tomorrow to discuss whether there are any options to protect ourselves. Maybe we suggest that we give them a deadline to submit the probate, and state that any rent paid after that deadline, would be paid as part of the purchase price of the house. They don't lose anything, but stop gaining £1k a month from us without any penalty?
Or should we suggest that rent is reduced to zero?
The alternative i guess is to just be patient, play nice, go along with the current status quo, and wait until everyone is ready to exchange and then ask for a price reduction, even if it's just by however much rent we've paid up until then. Not very moral, but i guess more chance of succeeding than raising all the financial issues now?
Oh and just to clarify how complicated this whole thing is, there are so many parties involved:
- Vendors conveyancing solicitor - local firm
- Vendor (deceaseds sister)- who didn't have the right to put the house up for sale in the first place (but this is to our advantage)
- Executor (deceaseds accountant) - I prsume they're taking a fee from the estate but seems to have no interest in pushing it through.
- Probate solicitor (and landlord) - employed by the executor to prepare the probate submission but is a different solicitor to that dealing with the conveyancing on their part.
So it seems that even my solicitor doesn't have direct contact with their probate solicitor in order to put some pressure on or at least get some specific answers.
Good shout on the SRA and LO. I think i'll keep them in mind should it come to it, but will see if my solicitor can draft a complaint against the probate firm and put something in place to give them a kick up the backside to get them in gear.
Edited by MrChips on Sunday 29th November 12:26
Also astounded that a house worth c£565000 agreed purchase price can be rising at 10% per annum. Where the hell is it?
House prices are moving in certain areas.
I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
They are all the same 90s boxes so values should be same.
I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
They are all the same 90s boxes so values should be same.
nct001 said:
House prices are moving in certain areas.
I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
Asking price and actual selling price aren't always the same....I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
JacquesMesrine said:
I don't understand the first paragraph around mortgage payments and equity. Assuming rates stay the same then your payment would stay the same for the whole of the mortgage term too. Monthly payments don't reduce over time, so the equity comment is a red herring.
Also astounded that a house worth c£565000 agreed purchase price can be rising at 10% per annum. Where the hell is it?
Should have mentioned that i'm young enough to extend the mortgage term back up to the original number of years if i did ever need to reduce the monthly payments (i know this isn't good financial sense, but it is an option).Also astounded that a house worth c£565000 agreed purchase price can be rising at 10% per annum. Where the hell is it?
I was going to update this thread anyway, moreso just with the fact that there's still no sign of the IHT receipt (vendors solicitors claim they sent it off the payment/forms on the 2nd Dec).
We have had the discussion with them about the extra costs we've incurred, but as we suspected, they wouldn't offer anything back. They have however committed to keeping the price the same and seeing it through to the end so i guess that gives us some reassurance that they don't plan on hiking the price. I think we've realised that we both see a notional loss caused by the length of time it's taken, so we're both going to have to suck it up.
It's all getting a bit squeakybum time as it draws closer to the stamp duty changes in April. If the worst happens and it goes beyond April, then so long as I can find £17k from somewhere, then we'll still go through with the purchase and will just have to sell the old house fairly soon after. Having checked out prices for our 2bed, I think we will also see around an extra 20% compared to 12 months ago which again is pretty crazy!!
The area is south of Reading, so there's a little bit of a market push with CrossRail coming this way, but also 3,500 new homes being built within the 3 villages, so a lot of uncertainty. www.southofm4.com shows the scale of some of the new builds. Both our old and new house are in this area.
Wacky Racer said:
nct001 said:
House prices are moving in certain areas.
I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
Asking price and actual selling price aren't always the same....I agreed to sell a three bed end terrace town house for £300k August 2015 to an investor in High Wycombe, he couldn't raise enough deposit not one come on market since until today at £375k
It may well sell for more.
Real lack of supply of entry level family houses.
Four bed bigger and plusher new builds round the corner all sold for £525k in August - I don't think they are worth that but who am I to argue.
It's all kicking off
Last email we had was 13 working days ago stating that they would submit their probate application within 5-7 working days.
Solicitor that was dealing with their probate has left the firm, found out today it's been passed to another solicitor but neither my own solicitor, nor the selling agent can get hold of her.
Apart from ringing the firm and speaking to the highest ranking person i can get through to, any suggestions on getting it escalated as for the past 2 weeks they have not returned any phone calls or emails (which is totally unprofessional irrespective of whether they have or haven't made any progress). I'll speak to my own solicitor in the morning but there must be a method of somehow forcing at least an answer out of them, or maybe it's come down to me having to just pay them a visit in person and make a nuisance of myself?
I suspect complaining to the ombudsman is pointless as our issue is with their solicitor, who we haven't got any contract or agreement with, so there's no grounds to complain formally?
Fun... and games
Last email we had was 13 working days ago stating that they would submit their probate application within 5-7 working days.
Solicitor that was dealing with their probate has left the firm, found out today it's been passed to another solicitor but neither my own solicitor, nor the selling agent can get hold of her.
Apart from ringing the firm and speaking to the highest ranking person i can get through to, any suggestions on getting it escalated as for the past 2 weeks they have not returned any phone calls or emails (which is totally unprofessional irrespective of whether they have or haven't made any progress). I'll speak to my own solicitor in the morning but there must be a method of somehow forcing at least an answer out of them, or maybe it's come down to me having to just pay them a visit in person and make a nuisance of myself?
I suspect complaining to the ombudsman is pointless as our issue is with their solicitor, who we haven't got any contract or agreement with, so there's no grounds to complain formally?
Fun... and games
We've completed with 1 day to spare before the new stamp duty. I can honestly say i've never been so nervous in my entire life but glad it's all over.
Just the small matter of getting our rental deposit back (unprotected as well, t
ts!). I've read that the could be forced to pay up to 3x the deposit as compensation but i just want the last bit over so let's hope they just send a cheque soon. 
Having just purchased a property myself I'm glad it all got sorted in the end!!
In your instance, if you are under an AST and have written proof from the three deposit schemes that the deposit was unprotected after 30days of paying it you would have a slam dunk case and any landlord would be bonkers to do anything but return your deposit and settle with you...
MrChips said:
Just the small matter of getting our rental deposit back (unprotected as well, tts!). I've read that the could be forced to pay up to 3x the deposit as compensation...
Regarding this, there are a couple of provisos in order that your landlord be liable for the penalty:ts!). I've read that the could be forced to pay up to 3x the deposit as compensation...- You must be renting under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy
- You must have paid a deposit amount
- Within 30 days of the date of paying the deposit amount either the deposit must have not been registered with one of the approved schemes, and/or you must not have been provided with the Prescribed Information relating to your scheme provider
In your instance, if you are under an AST and have written proof from the three deposit schemes that the deposit was unprotected after 30days of paying it you would have a slam dunk case and any landlord would be bonkers to do anything but return your deposit and settle with you...
MrChips said:
We've completed with 1 day to spare before the new stamp duty. I can honestly say i've never been so nervous in my entire life but glad it's all over.
Just the small matter of getting our rental deposit back (unprotected as well, t
ts!). I've read that the could be forced to pay up to 3x the deposit as compensation but i just want the last bit over so let's hope they just send a cheque soon. If it were me I'd be gunning for the incompetent cretins that have caused you so much grief
, but the smart thing to do is just move on and be happy with the result.Anyway, it's always nice when somebody comes back to their thread with a positive update.
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