Buying a house in negative equity

Mattb_

Myself and my partner went sale agreed on a property in negative equity 13 weeks ago. At the time the estate agent informed us the vendor had provisional approval to sell from their bank. 13 weeks later and we still dont have a closing date as the vendors solictor is waiting on formal consent to sell from their bank. I'm considering setting a deadline or contacting the vendors solictor to see if we can get things moving. Does anyone have any advise on buying a house in negative equity? Or know how long these things take?

Claw Hammer

It can be very slow to get the banks to move in these circumstances. They hate writing off the balance of the loan. The owner will always want to try and get it written down. It goes on and on with bank officials reluctant to make a decision. They keep looking for more paperwork and kicking the can down the road. It could go on for months or forever.

busylady

These sales can take a while to go through and the delay is usually with the banks in providing the required consent to sale letter. There is nothing you can do to speed it up - you can give deadlines, but the bottom line is that the vendors cannot complete the sale until the consent letter has issued. There is no point in contacting the Vendor's solicitor as they will only deal with their own client. Presumably your own solicitor is following up with them. Most of these transactions will work out , it just takes longer than a standard sale. Best of luck.

the_syco

Mattb_ wrote: »

At the time the estate agent informed us the vendor had provisional approval to sell from their bank.

Every so often, the bank meets, and discusses NE houses that are on the market, how much is owed, and is the bank willing to allow it to be sold or not.

You're at the whim of such meetings. These may be just held monthly.

goofy141

We have just sold our house in NE, it is of course a more complicated process than selling a house in positive equity, although the NE will be added to our new mortgage.
We went sale agreed in March and sold at end of June. Some of the delays were on our side, as bank insist that the profits from the house sale are received in the bank and processed in full before our loan cheque to buy our new property is released, our new property was not ready and to avoid getting temp accommodation for longer than necessary we delayed.

We moved out 2 weeks ago and hoping cheque for new property will release by end week.