The nervous wait to exchange....

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Skillmister said:
Getting the previous searches will definitely help in fact that's one of the biggest causes of delays at the moment.

Yes you'd have to tell your lender if you were getting a loan from family in the interim. Hard to know whether it would make a difference. Pretty much all lenders are fine with gifts from families regardless of amount but loans are another matter. It's quite uncommon (I think a lot of people do intend for them to be long term loans but they declare them as gifts so that's what we report them as) so my anecdotal evidence for loans is pretty slim. The last 2-3 I've had have been fine though so take that as you like!

Also don't forget if you do that you'd have to pay the higher rate of stamp duty to complete your purchase first (presumably this would be included in the family loan) although you could claim it back as soon as your sale went through.

If I were you I would consider approaching the lender (or asking your solicitor to do so) about this now as they can take a while to respond to these sort of requests. You can always backtrack later if you don't need the loan, but you don't want to be asking it for the first time right before the deadline as they are going to be inundated.
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Thanks for your input.

Yeah I'll ask my current lender. Does my solicitor need to ask them at this stage? I'd have my current house fully paid off.

Good point re the 2nd purchase stamp duty, would just need to consider the cash flow element of that.

They'd be OK with identifying to lender its a gift.

Thanks.
 
Buffman said:
Thanks for your input.

Yeah I'll ask my current lender. Does my solicitor need to ask them at this stage? I'd have my current house fully paid off.

Good point re the 2nd purchase stamp duty, would just need to consider the cash flow element of that.

They'd be OK with identifying to lender its a gift.

Thanks.
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Not all lenders require gifts to be reported see the list here but if they do yes your solicitor should do it
https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1844/

Your solicitor will need to carry out due diligence on the funds, get ID and gifted deposit declarations etc either way though so float it with them and they can advise.
 
shiver said:
So we are now just over 8 weeks into our house purchase with no chain. I was hoping to have news on an exchange date some time this week but our solicitor seems pretty quiet since the Christmas break.

We are lucky to not be in a massive rush (providing it completes before stamp duty holiday deadline) but I hate how things drag on for no reason.
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We finally got a brief update from our solicitor on Friday, they're getting ready to schedule an exchange date but part of that is checking proof of funds / anti-fraud for our deposit money. Whilst this should not be a problem, it's worrying that we provided all that information a good 8-9 weeks ago and if there was an actual issue, the seller would only find out now.

Our solicitor was also up front about the fact they're ridiculously busy right now, 4 completions were happening that Friday alone for that one Case Manager.
 
so, had an offer on the house last week and accepted, yay! however i think im being done over by the estate agents. Had a couple of viewings left to do that were booked in. The couple on saturday apparently fell in love with the place, even more so when they were told they could have most of the white goods and furniture since they were first time buyers. Reason being that im moving in with my other half so we are doubling up on everything and we don't need my stuff. Its all circa 2 years old so new(ish) and good condition.

Anyway... Following on from that i was just told they decided to pull out as they had to sort out a mortgage in principle (despite the agent telling me at the start they would never show anyone around who couldn't prove they had funds set up) and did not want to get in a bidding war. But surely if there was a house you genuinely fell in love with you would at least put a cheeky offer in, they didn't even make an offer. I get the feeling the agent just wants a quick sale for their fee. After all , for every 1k on the price they just get £15 so its hardly worth it to them to drag things out.

I'm probably just reading too much into it, but really get the feeling im being done over here. Ah well, the offer was for what i wanted anyway but its always nice to get a couple of k more to help with bills. SO, onto round 2, the surveys and my own viewings!
 
FlamBango said:
so, had an offer on the house last week and accepted, yay! however i think im being done over by the estate agents. Had a couple of viewings left to do that were booked in. The couple on saturday apparently fell in love with the place, even more so when they were told they could have most of the white goods and furniture since they were first time buyers. Reason being that im moving in with my other half so we are doubling up on everything and we don't need my stuff. Its all circa 2 years old so new(ish) and good condition.

Anyway... Following on from that i was just told they decided to pull out as they had to sort out a mortgage in principle (despite the agent telling me at the start they would never show anyone around who couldn't prove they had funds set up) and did not want to get in a bidding war. But surely if there was a house you genuinely fell in love with you would at least put a cheeky offer in, they didn't even make an offer. I get the feeling the agent just wants a quick sale for their fee. After all , for every 1k on the price they just get £15 so its hardly worth it to them to drag things out.

I'm probably just reading too much into it, but really get the feeling im being done over here. Ah well, the offer was for what i wanted anyway but its always nice to get a couple of k more to help with bills. SO, onto round 2, the surveys and my own viewings!
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to be fair, they probably didn’t want to go through the AIP process in a potential bidding war situation as the only person it benefits is the seller and the would be buyer is likely forced into paying more than they would normally.

I wouldn’t get into a bidding war ever and the agent probably reported what they were told and the buyer got cold feet when they found out about other interested parties.
You never know I guess lol
 
I’ve certainly never been asked for proof of funds before viewing a house.

When making an offer we have been asked if we have a mortgage in principle but I didn’t give any evidence it before the offer was accepted and I wouldn’t either. It’s really not in your interests to do that. In fact I don’t remember giving the estate agent anything other than my solicitors details.

Some agents don’t advise you take the property off the market until solicitors have been instructed which is sensible.

Both times I have purchased I had solicitors in place already.
 
Yes well providing proof of funds at that point could be a bit of a disadvantage, they would know your full budget then and may be less likely to accept your offer.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I’ve certainly never been asked for proof of funds before viewing a house.

When making an offer we have been asked if we have a mortgage in principle but I didn’t give any evidence it before the offer was accepted and I wouldn’t either. It’s really not in your interests to do that. In fact I don’t remember giving the estate agent anything other than my solicitors details.

Some agents don’t advise you take the property off the market until solicitors have been instructed which is sensible.

Both times I have purchased I had solicitors in place already.
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Since the lockdown restrictions every agent in this area has required an AIP for an in person viewing. Before that was a mixed bag but seems the norm for now
 
Repta said:
Since the lockdown restrictions every agent in this area has required an AIP for an in person viewing. Before that was a mixed bag but seems the norm for now
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yep and I actually think it’s good practice.

there are many many people out there who are complete time wasters who simply can’t afford the house they wish to view.

the other thing to do is have your broker confirm to the agent that you can afford it - they need say no more.

I as a seller would also be more inclined to accept your offer knowing you are financially secure in principle - remember, the agent works for their vendor and as such, providing evidence to their client that the prospective purchaser can actually afford their property is their duty - it also makes you, the buyer, look genuine.

there are MANY people out there who claim to be cash buyers - when they aren’t. But that’s a whole different matter lol.
 
ChrisD. said:
Just had a call from the onward vendors estate agent, and I'm not sure how to take it. The situation is as follows:

I lowered the asking price of my house significantly to secure a sale to get a house that my mrs and I really wanted. I've agreed sell this house for £255k and we had an offer of £465k accepted on the house we want. It is £10k below their asking due to lowering my house from the original £300k. Their EA thinks we sold for £250k, so a £5k there, not sure if that really matters.

I've paid an initial £300 to my solicitors for the sale and draft contracts have been sent to the buyers solicitors and as I posted just above their lenders surveyor are booked in to come round in two weeks time.

The vendors of the house we are buying from are a married couple and are splitting up. The husband has a house already he's in the process of moving into. It's another house they both own, I don't know any details beyond that. The wife has been looking since before Christmas and hasn't found anything yet.

When my mrs and I originally viewed it at the end of last year, the wife showed us around. I jokingly said she should buy my house and she said she'd seen it online, but she needs 3 double bedrooms which mine doesn't have. Fair enough.

The call today from her EA was to explain that she hasn't managed to find anywhere but she's really committed to finding somewhere and the sale. So much so she's now suggested that she buys my house (pending viewing). I guess that would make things easier as I no longer have to wait for her to find somewhere and it could significantly reduce the complexity of the onward chain (my buyer is chain free). This has the knock on effect that I should avoid a significant stamp duty payment. But then I have already paid money to my solicitors and I don't know how they would take it all of a sudden changing the buyers details. It's also a dick move to my buyer, although as far as I can tell they're an investment family and will probably just rent it out.

I guess I should at least allow her to view it and then come to a decision should she agree she wants it. But I'm a bit stuck with making a decision.
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She's now buying the house, memorandum of sale completed and solicitors informed. Should be a quick process to complete now I hope!
 
shiver said:
Yes well providing proof of funds at that point could be a bit of a disadvantage, they would know your full budget then and may be less likely to accept your offer.
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It's not really much of a disadvantage . As someone said above, agents get so little extra in commission for an extra few grand on a sale its really not in their interests to start busy bodying about how much money you've got just to play hard ball between buyers and sellers. Especially when you consider the individual agent only makes a few % in actual commission from the overall fee!

It is however absolutely in their interests to stop time wasters.
 
Transferred the difference in funds last night to my solicitor. Had to sort out the house insurance to start yesterday as well which was strange as we wont complete until Friday. I am hoping this gets sorted now as its been nearly 11 months since we put the offer in, and my mortgage offer is up on the 24th! :/
 
MrKnifey said:
Transferred the difference in funds last night to my solicitor. Had to sort out the house insurance to start yesterday as well which was strange as we wont complete until Friday. I am hoping this gets sorted now as its been nearly 11 months since we put the offer in, and my mortgage offer is up on the 24th! :/
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Quite common, I believe you are meant to have home insurance in place upon exchange of contracts.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Bad news for us. We "sold" our house at the end of November. First viewer on the second round of viewings we had (first was stopped by my wife being made redundant). Everything has been going very well. We signed up to buy another house on help to buy, second time around, which means we had to exchange by the end of February and complete by the end of March.

We received a phone call yesterday afternoon to say that our buyer had been made redundant, so now we're back to square one. I don't want to lose the new build house as it's a good step up for us, and I don't want to tell the vendor yet. I'm going to give it until Friday. But chances are, we'll lose it.

On a positive note, the house went back on the market yesterday afternoon and we have a viewing in about 25 minutes from now! But I somehow doubt it's going to be another one hit wonder.
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We haven't found a new buyer yet. The wife is getting very frustrated as the house we were buying is now slipping through our fingers. If we don't find a buyer by the end of February, we're just going to have to low-ball the vendor in the hope that they accept our offer. But it's a £515k house and we can only get £470k together without begging the rest from family members. I very much doubt they'll accept that. Even then, we'll have to produce the 5% deposit from somewhere and hope that a buyer appears in the meantime. That 5% is £25,750, which we'd also have to ask family if we can borrow.

We then might also fall outside the current stamp duty rules, adding £16k apparently. I just can't see it happening.
 
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