Buying a house in Negative Equity

Marcin Z

Congratulation Aka Ishur! Nice pressie you got for this xmas! Wishing you all the very best settling in and making it your own!

Ms2011

Contracts got to our solicitor last week where we discovered another twist in our tale, our house appears to be a protected structure & planning permission for the two storey extenstion on the back seems to be missing.
This wouldn't be an issue with your average house but as this is a listed building if there is no planning permission the extenstion will need to come down.
Being a listed building also means we are limited in what we can do to the house though we may be eligable for a conservation grant.

TheBody

I thought I'd chip in with my experience of buying a house in negative equity.

We went sale agreed on a house in Mid November. We were told the vendor had permission to sell from KBC and we would have the keys by Christmas.

Then the wall of silence came. We have called the estate agent every week since and he keeps fobbing us off. It turns out that the vendor only had verbal permission from KBC and they are waiting for some official documents to make their way from KBC before they will send the contracts.

It's is painful to say the least. Reading other peoples experiences here, I could be waiting a while!!

phater phagan

TheBody wrote: »

I thought I'd chip in with my experience of buying a house in negative equity.

We went sale agreed on a house in Mid November. We were told the vendor had permission to sell from KBC and we would have the keys by Christmas.

Then the wall of silence came. We have called the estate agent every week since and he keeps fobbing us off. It turns out that the vendor only had verbal permission from KBC and they are waiting for some official documents to make their way from KBC before they will send the contracts.

It's is painful to say the least. Reading other peoples experiences here, I could be waiting a while!!

Hunker down TheBody and best wishes. It would be soul-destroying if you let it. A good tough solicitor is a plus to get things moving faster than a snail's pace ( the usual tempo of NEs ). I'm in my 15th month as of now.

TheBody

The annoying thing is that there are no other houses in the area that I like or can afford. If I could find a different house, I'd move on.

phater phagan

Body. Have your solicitor contact the bank ( who tend to put NE transactions on the bottom of the pile ), and get a definitive heads-up from them. I'd be concerned if there is a reluctance on them to give it in a timely fashion. If the house is a particularly good buy - then it's a tough decision, because as you say there is a dearth of suitable alternatives. If I were in your position, I'd bug my solicitor often ( which I do anyway - I am in the property under a caretaker's agreement, and the bank has given its permission, So I know that it will happen sometime ). Let him do the work - good luck with it.

TheBody

Just to update, three months after we went sale agreed, we got word today that KBC are not giving the vendor permission to sell the house.

I'm so disappointed. We were told all along by the estate agent that KBC were good to go. We paid for an engineers report and a valuation. We have yet to get a bill for what our solicitor has done so far. All down the drain.

ABajaninCork

TheBody wrote: »

Just to update, three months after we went sale agreed, we got word today that KBC are not giving the vendor permission to sell the house.

I'm so disappointed. We were told all along by the estate agent that KBC were good to go. We paid for an engineers report and a valuation. We have yet to get a bill for what our solicitor has done so far. All down the drain.

That's awful news. I feel very sorry for you. The same thing happened to our friends as I said earlier in the thread.

I don't know if there's any way you can insist a property in NE has written permission from the bank to sell BEFORE it goes on sale, and thereby saves buyers money, time and stress in going through the motions only to end up with no property, and lighter wallets!

on_my_oe

That's awful news but unfortunately common - we had the same problem, and it hurt the pocket, although in our case the vendors bank was ICS

Fingers crossed the next one is successful

gmisk

TheBody wrote: »

Just to update, three months after we went sale agreed, we got word today that KBC are not giving the vendor permission to sell the house.

I'm so disappointed. We were told all along by the estate agent that KBC were good to go. We paid for an engineers report and a valuation. We have yet to get a bill for what our solicitor has done so far. All down the drain.

Sorry to hear that
I can relate believe me (sale agreed for a year....)
Good luck with the next one!

phater phagan

Sorry Body - terrible news - best wishes for the future,

dizzy23

thats just awful loosing your house. im on the other side of the coin wishing to downsize for family reasons n move nearer family. we went t ebs re this n were told by the mortgage advisor that once we kept within the ltv ratios for sale and purchase there would be no problems ! kept well within. sale agreed n the bank said no u cant afford mortgage of 125k less than your currently paying. so we have decided t borrow for the ne and continue wit the sale and rent and save for next home. bamks r just impossible moving fence all the time

Ms2011

Going to my solicitor on Thursday to pay 10 percent of the balance of the house & sign contracts.
Some light at the end of the tunnel at last after 17 months.

Marcin Z

Ms2011 wrote: »

Going to my solicitor on Thursday to pay 10 percent of the balance of the house & sign contracts.
Some light at the end of the tunnel at last after 17 months.

Congrat! We have signed and paid all fees three weeks ago but still no keys. Closing date suppose to be 5 days ago but has been postponed (again) coz the vendor's solicitor had not requested some important paperwork on time, and bank won't release the funds. Lazy useless [beeeeep]

phater phagan

Marcin Z wrote: »

Congrat! We have signed and paid all fees three weeks ago but still no keys. Closing date suppose to be 5 days ago but has been postponed (again) coz the vendor's solicitor had not requested some important paperwork on time, and bank won't release the funds. Lazy useless [beeeeep]

It's been 17 months since my offer was accepted by bank and vendor - there's no mortgage involved ( cash sale ), but the vendor's solicitors have been dragging their feet. Well basically they've done very little to move things along; to the frustration of me, my solicitor and even the vendor. So I hope that you have better luck with yours.

Ms2011

We're hoping to get our keys on Friday/next Monday. I'm due a baby in 3 weeks so have given them that deadline for closing at worst.

phater phagan

Well done MS 2011. 17 months seems to be the common duration for these NE transactions. I'm hopeful that the title for my place will be in my hands fairly soon.
Great news about the wee baby coming into your life soon. All the very best to you and your new precious treasure - it will be a double joy for you and family.