British House Purchasing System

Mar 3, 2016
3 min read

OK this post is veering away from my usual topics, but this is a situation that is currently close to my heart. Our property has been on and off the market for just about two and a half years now. We have had purchasers who have pulled out, cash buyers who changed their minds within a day or two and had a brand spanking new bathroom installed (whilst off the market) with all the bells and whistles, during this time. We then, around October time, received an offer that was acceptable and decided to proceed with that. Two months down the line, Christmas time as it happened, we decided that we had wasted enough time with those purchasers and put our house back on the market, as there hadn't even been a survey request let alone our solicitor receiving confirmation that theirs was indeed instructed. Our estate agents wouldn't act on our instructions until New Year's Eve, so a whole 8 days after we asked them to recommence marketing. Not only that, but they were avoiding questions on our purchase and told the people who had offered our personal business!

I have to think to myself, why is the UK House Purchasing System so antiquated. In France, for example, you would have a 10 day cooling off period, following offering on a property and then you have to put down a 10% deposit, which you would lose if you then pulled out. In American, things are pretty similar to France, you make an offer, put down your deposit which then goes into Escrow, then have the survey and if something shows up then this is negotiated between the two parties and the deal is then done.

Returning to our ongoing ordeal, however, we found another purchaser shortly after going back on the market, these had offered earlier but had not sold at the time, though by the time New Year came around they had. In respect of our purchase, the Estate Agents wouldn't follow up on the question we had regarding the property we were purchasing and so I had to do a bit of my own investigation work and discovered that there was no way we could purchase the flat we had gone after and had to pull out, due to the Freeholders refusing to amend the Lease so as to allow for two pets. So we are currently sitting, at the point where we should be talking about exchange and completion dates, and indeed did on Sunday when our purchasers' came round to measure and talk. It was on Sunday that I discovered that our Estate Agents had once again spoken out of turn and told our purchasers' our business, namely that we had pulled out of the property we were purchasing! I feel very strongly that they had no right to do such a thing as we had already advised them that we had a back-up plan in place.

So now, some four days after "the talk" with the buyers, we are still awaiting confirmation that they are all set to exchange contracts tomorrow, as discussed. I'm hitting a brick wall each time I attempt to talk to our Estate Agents, who no longer return my phone calls I hasten to add, and our solicitor has still yet to hear from their solicitors in respect of said dates. It is our buyers who were suddenly in a rush due to their purchaser's mortgage offer running out shortly and we considered that we were very accommodating.

What the outcome shall be of this supposed sale we are yet to discover but suffice it to say that we shall not go back on the market with the same Estate Agents, should our sale fall through...