Putting in an offer on a new house

Putting in an offer on a new house

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montecristo

Original Poster:

1,056 posts

183 months

Friday 21st July 2017
quotequote all
I want to make an offer on a house, and the estate agent says they need to know my solicitor and lender because HMRC needs that.

That sounds a bit much at this stage (after an offer is agreed, that would be fair enough).

Why do they really want it - is it just to see if I am serious (so, it's optional), do they contact those people to assess my position or is it really a legal requirement? I have both in place, I just wonder what they want the information for.

mr_spock

3,365 posts

221 months

Friday 21st July 2017
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HMRC? Ha ha.

They will be trying to qualify you as a buyer. If you have a mortgage agreement in principle (or are porting), just telling them should be enough. It's possible there's something about it that mainstream lenders won't lend on, such as a thatched roof, so they may be trying to check that you can actually borrow against it.

As for the solicitor, you can tell them you haven't engaged one yet. Why should you, there's no process! Tell them you are getting quotes from local firms - they may be trying to see if you're using one of the crap online ones who will mess up and cause delay. Or ask for a recommendation, I did on my current in-progress purchase and the guy seems really good.

Esotericstuff

112 posts

122 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
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We went through the purchasing process in London. It seems pretty common for estate agents to request both solicitor and lenders details. As someone else mentioned this is most likely to prove you are a serious buyer.

montecristo

Original Poster:

1,056 posts

183 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
quotequote all
It doesn't prove anything though unless they contact those people, and particularly the lender to know much my mortgage is. Which I would have thought the lender wouldn't tell them, so I can just name any lender I like. It's not like people go round making offers on houses just for a laugh.

PositronicRay

27,483 posts

189 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
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montecristo said:
It doesn't prove anything though unless they contact those people, and particularly the lender to know much my mortgage is. Which I would have thought the lender wouldn't tell them, so I can just name any lender I like. It's not like people go round making offers on houses just for a laugh.
You'd be surprised, a speculator offered on several properties locally, beat them up on price, them dropped the ones he didn't really want.

DeltaTango

381 posts

129 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
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I'm a London EA and don't insist on those details when people make an offer.

One occasion where it is useful to have this information is when they are multiple bidders on a property at a similar level. At this point it can be helpful to a client (the vendor) to know whether a prospective buyer is planning to use a lender who is slow at processing the mortgage valuation and offer, and also whether they are using a 'Conveyancing Farm' to save a few hundred quid rather than a proper solicitor who will deal with things swiftly and effectively.

When advocating on behalf of clients I often insist buyers use a better a solicitor and suggest that the lender they wish to use (HSBC and Santander can be woefully slow) is going to negatively affect their purchase. Any conveyancing firm with an '0845' number is out! Too many transactions fall through for silly reasons.

mr_spock

3,365 posts

221 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
quotequote all
Just a small counter to the above - I'm just porting/adding to a mortgage with HSBC and they've been great. One delay by mistake but they dealt with it very well.

Harry Flashman

19,921 posts

248 months

Saturday 22nd July 2017
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DeltaTango said:
I'm a London EA and don't insist on those details when people make an offer.

One occasion where it is useful to have this information is when they are multiple bidders on a property at a similar level. At this point it can be helpful to a client (the vendor) to know whether a prospective buyer is planning to use a lender who is slow at processing the mortgage valuation and offer, and also whether they are using a 'Conveyancing Farm' to save a few hundred quid rather than a proper solicitor who will deal with things swiftly and effectively.

When advocating on behalf of clients I often insist buyers use a better a solicitor and suggest that the lender they wish to use (HSBC and Santander can be woefully slow) is going to negatively affect their purchase. Any conveyancing firm with an '0845' number is out! Too many transactions fall through for silly reasons.
Good post. We specifically avoided Santander despite their rates, on a property where speed is of the essence, because both EA and my trusted mortgage advisor said they could be horribly slow, inefficient and take ages to raise questions. On a property that needed stuff fitted to make it mortgageable, and has Japanese Knotweed, this would have been fatal when bidding against a developer who was offering cash.

We used Accord. And they have been great so far.

In terms of solicitor, we had not instructed one, and actually took the EA's shortlist of ones he thought were good for properties like this one and who he had dealt with before. We wanted the EA to pitch us as the best offer (so we also sold our own house with him - sort of honest bribery, as it were)