House sales seems to be falling through after deposit paid

allibastor

Hi all,



I am in the process of buying a house, have deposit paid and all.

The estate agent got back to me after 8 weeks to Tell me the wife of the couple selling was in an accident but now wont sell till New year.
I am concerned over this as have never seen something like this.
The area of the house Has seen recent Price increase so just wondering if it may be a case of them rethinking they want more.

Any one have experience of this or aby advise on what a next step may be.

Cheers

JoeySully

just ask them to sign the contracts and have a closing date set to sometime in the new year.

spaceHopper

If you've paid a booking deposit then they can pull the sail.
If you've paid the fill deposit and both parties have signed the contracts then you just need to sit tight they can't pull a stroke like that.

You need to find out how bad the accident was and get a new firm closing date.

BeatNikDub

Maybe get your solicitor to liaise with theirs for full information and see where risks can be alleviated for you.

allibastor

Hi,

Deposit has been paid but contracts not signed.
The contracts have been outstanding for a number of weeks (8).

I was informed by the estate agent last night that the house was for sale in negative equity so this is why the lady took so long to sell through the bank, now she was in an accident and wont sign anything until January.

I do think this may be a gazumping case myself, my own experience has been that if someone pulls a sudden U-turn like this they are pulling out altogether

BeatNikDub

Gazumping is when another party comes in with a higher offer when a sale has been agreed, not when a party pulls out of a sale after it has been agreed.

Unfortunately until contracts are signed buyer or seller are free to walk away.

You need to get your solicitor to speak with theirs here and get full and proper information.

allibastor

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Gazumping is when another party comes in with a higher offer when a sale has been agreed, not when a party pulls out of a sale after it has been agreed.

Unfortunately until contracts are signed buyer or seller are free to walk away.

You need to get your solicitor to speak with theirs here and get full and proper information.

Thanks for that, That is why I say it, I get a feeling that this will happen as prices in the area have gone up in recent months and I think that in January the seller will just ask to advertise the house again.

I was under the impression that once a deposit had been paid I could not just walk away from the house without at least loosing the deposit?

imfml

My brother recently had a sale delayed due to some paperwork issues. When all was finally resolved the EA (a well known, "reputable" EA firm) said they wanted 15k more, and if he didn't give it they would go back to market and get more than that anyway as prices had risen. At this point they had held his deposit for almost 6 months so he gave in and paid.

Thankfully he is very happy-go-lucky, as I'd have wanted blood!

I'd advise that you be very proactive in securing dates and contracts, and get everything in writing. The law favours the EA and vendors who are now playing you and think it is ok to disrupt your Christmas and future plans, before you have the privilege of paying them X-Hundred-Thousand Euro.

Tell them firmly you want the contracts to progress at a normal rate and to be signed with a closing date agreed between parties, even if it is in 2015. But get the contracts signed and take no excuses, or else tell them to find another buyer.

Don't let them sit on your deposit, while prices rise, with the law and renegotiation power on their side.

Personal opinion: Estate Agents are money hungry scumbags who will do you over in a heartbeat.

Be firm, make reasonable demands, and if they don't play ball walk away.

Best of luck.

BeatNikDub

That was the vendor that wanted 15k more - not the EA! They only relay the orders!
And the contracts end of things is up to your solicitor, the EA cannot push any of the legal stuff through any quicker.

AfterHrsProp

allibastor wrote: »

Thanks for that, That is why I say it, I get a feeling that this will happen as prices in the area have gone up in recent months and I think that in January the seller will just ask to advertise the house again.

I was under the impression that once a deposit had been paid I could not just walk away from the house without at least loosing the deposit?

No, your not at any risk of loosing the deposit, until the contracts have been signed your fully entitled to have it refunded to you.

OP, buying a house where the owner has or is in negative equity is always a tricky one. Their bank or solicitor may be advising them to sit tight in the hope of a better offer. There is a lot factors to take into consideration, they may have gazumped themselves by another bidder on a property they hoped to move into. You'll probably never know.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this happening more over the next few months. Because of the new central bank legislation concerning mortgages due to come into effect in January, there is likely to be a sharp surge in demand of properties before people are required to adhere to ridiculous mortgage requirements. This in turn will lead to another rise in prices in the short term.

imfml

BeatNikDub wrote: »

That was the vendor that wanted 15k more - not the EA! They only relay the orders!
And the contracts end of things is up to your solicitor, the EA cannot push any of the legal stuff through any quicker.

Well the EA is paid by the vendor for their advice, so I wonder where the idea came from. Anyway, I don't want to highjack the tread on the issue.

You are right though, contracts are up to the solicitor.

OP, if your solicitor and their solicitor are already in contact, there really should be no need for the EA anymore until you are ready to collect the keys.

They shouldn't be the ones relaying info to you, it should be your solicitor. Your solicitor is more trust worthy. Try to deal with your solicitor only and disregard the EA.

allibastor

Thanks All,

Yeah I have spoken to my solicitor who was given instruction by the EA of the sale, but nothing else has come through.

I am also annoyed on one hand as I feel that at some stage the conditions of the sale should have been made aware to me, Ie. that the couple in question are not 100% able to make the sale decision themselves.

I have looked at buying another house, but in the 2 months since I paid my deposit another house which I had an offer in has since sold, and prices have gone up by about 10-15K in general, so on some cases I am now priced out of the houses.

Volvoair

if both seller and buyer ,have not signed the contracts, i believe either party can pull out of the sale......give your solicitor/citizens advise center a ring.

davo10

imfml wrote: »

My brother recently had a sale delayed due to some paperwork issues. When all was finally resolved the EA (a well known, "reputable" EA firm) said they wanted 15k more, and if he didn't give it they would go back to market and get more than that anyway as prices had risen. At this point they had held his deposit for almost 6 months so he gave in and paid.

Thankfully he is very happy-go-lucky, as I'd have wanted blood!

I'd advise that you be very proactive in securing dates and contracts, and get everything in writing. The law favours the EA and vendors who are now playing you and think it is ok to disrupt your Christmas and future plans, before you have the privilege of paying them X-Hundred-Thousand Euro.

Tell them firmly you want the contracts to progress at a normal rate and to be signed with a closing date agreed between parties, even if it is in 2015. But get the contracts signed and take no excuses, or else tell them to find another buyer.

Don't let them sit on your deposit, while prices rise, with the law and renegotiation power on their side.

Personal opinion: Estate Agents are money hungry scumbags who will do you over in a heartbeat.

Be firm, make reasonable demands, and if they don't play ball walk away.

Best of luck.

I think you might be missing the point. The vendor's intention may be to get OP to "walk away" by delaying the sale, and then put the property back on the market for a higher price. If OP suspects this is the strategy being used, there really isn't a lot he can do about it except wait and hope the sale goes through.

spaceHopper

As things stand right now the seller can give back the deposit and put it back on the market however if anything happens to the prices and they can't sell it the bank won't be happy that they pulled the sale, so they could be delaying it keeping you on the hook till a better offer comes in - or it could all be true.

Is the house up as sale agreed on the web? If not get a friend to try to book a viewing, they could also ask about a couple of other house at the same time. If the EA takes the booking for the viewing either go along to or just ask for your deposit back with no explanation and move on, they might comeback to you or you may have to deal with the same EA again.

If the house is not sale agreed online then you could insist that they put up a sign outside the house and on line to say it is.

Glenbhoy

If you have incurred significant expenditure in terms of solicitors fees, surveyors etc, then give them a deadline for contracts to be signed, if not, walk.

duckcfc

allibastor wrote: »

Thanks All,

Yeah I have spoken to my solicitor who was given instruction by the EA of the sale, but nothing else has come through.

I am also annoyed on one hand as I feel that at some stage the conditions of the sale should have been made aware to me, Ie. that the couple in question are not 100% able to make the sale decision themselves.

I have looked at buying another house, but in the 2 months since I paid my deposit another house which I had an offer in has since sold, and prices have gone up by about 10-15K in general, so on some cases I am now priced out of the houses.

Wait until after xmass and you'll see house prices drop 10-15k and it'll be more money in your pocket

allibastor

duckcfc wrote: »

Wait until after xmass and you'll see house prices drop 10-15k and it'll be more money in your pocket

Really,

How so?