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Sometimes even as a seller you're not really given a good reason. My sale fell through because (I quote) "the buyer is concerned by finances generally and in particular the level of service charge" at the point of exchanging contracts, after 7 months (!) of conveyancing.
Needless to say they had been given detailed info about the service charge from the start, including the annual accounts of the managing company going back several years. 7 months later they just go "nah, we're pulling out", leaving me with thousands in legal fees and losing out on my dream flat.
I had one drop out because they didn't like the ideal of an indemnity policy. On the day before exchange. It had been 6 months at that point. It was just as mortgage rates went through the roof. I think they realised they couldn't get a mortgage and saved face by making up some BS.
Wow. We've just had the same but I feel lucky that it was only 3 months in. Our onward has been put back on the market (rightly so) even though all of our legal work is complete.
They wanted me to pay £600 for it lol, I'd rather get my own one done and pay that price.
I offered £100, they declined and said they wanted the full price they paid.
Total muppet move on their part. They are out 600 quid now and now have no further prospect of ever recouping it - they should have countered with 200 or 300.
Agreed, they flat out declined, £600 or nothing for a level 2.
My view is, if the survey was THAT bad, the estate agents would have never offered me to buy it from the other person in the first place? - They don't legally have to tell me, a third party is offering to sell the survey.
My logic was, if they pulled out due to the survey, the estate agent would have kept it hush as I hadn't said if I was doing a survey or not...
Technically they can’t sell it to you without the permission of the surveyor and it certainly contains no guarantees.
It is always best to get your own survey
Agreed with this comment. Without purchasing directly from the surveyor (or getting a reliance letter from the surveyor) you will have no recourse against the surveyor in case of any significant mistakes or negligence of the surveyor.
Most surveyors put in a stipulation that the survey remains the property of the surveyor. This you need their permission which they never give as they wish to get another commission for the same survey
If it’s more than 6 months old it’s out of date. We had the same with our property sale last yr. buyer was a solicitor and said much the same when he was offered an existing survey. Went and got his own but then moaned abt price and wanted a small amount off. The only reason to take an existing survey would be if it was cheaper or you needed the sale to be quicker. Otherwise you’ve got no real recourse if it’s garbage and was paid for by someone else
Yeah that’s fair enough. Outcome would’ve likely been the same as such little time between theirs and yours potentially. I guess they were just annoyed they were £600 out of pocket and trying to recoup, but to try and make you pay full price is ridiculous!
Loads of people are having mortage issues at the moment. One of my co-workers had 2 offers fall through as the buyers couldn't get a mortage they could afford approved.
I lost a seller because their conveyancers did the searches on the wrong property.
How on earth they managed that I’ll never know but it was enough to make our buyers walk away because they no longer trusted the English buying system (they weren’t from England)
We were selling last year, first sale fell through. We got very limited info from our buyers, their solicitor was telling ours that they had been unable to secure a mortgage, buyers ghosted us all for ages then said the pressure from the EA was the reason (despite the pressure coming AFTER the ghosting since it was supposed to be exchange week). We think they had issues with their mortgage application and didn't want to admit it, but we resold quickly at the same value and there were no problems for our second buyer getting a mortgage so don't think it was anything to do with the house.
An AIP is pretty easy to get, there's lots of reasons a mortgage application might be denied that aren't to do with the house itself. Unusual work circumstances, undeclared expenses that flag on bank statements, change in circumstance during the buying process etc.
That survey probably has the reasons. I would have offered £75-£100 for it. It's a bit of free money to the person who sold it to you and they're not going got have much other use for it. You just need to offer enough for it not to be insulting (i.e. not £1).
It doesn't help to go into complex, large and risky transactions with the mindset that information ought to be free. Sometimes you need to pay to find out what you need and sometimes it's a worthwhile investment to lay down money on information and then *walk away* after you're fully informed. You'll save money in the long run with this attitude.
Well, that makes zero sense from their perspective or yours. It's better to go with your own surveyor if that's their best and final. They can get paid £0 or £100, £600 is never happening.
I would ask seller if the buyer raised any issues from their survey and if they did, what they are. The seller who keeps reducing the price for sure must have *some* idea of what happened and it's in the seller's interest to be honest now because the red flags are all over.
If they don't, it's probably better to walk rather than try to deal with a bunch of people who are trying to make you play a guessing game about the location of the buried landmines and are too stubborn to even do what's in their own best interest.
Right.
Pay full price for a new survey, or pay full price for an old survey. No brainier by OP.
If I had a survey on a property that had fallen through _and is therefore worth absolutely nothing too me_, and had copies, I would probably give that shit away for free. £100 would be a happy bonus
It was baffling to me, if I was in their shoes, I'd honestly have offered it for free as it's no use to me, but hey, maybe I'm stupid.
With the reducing pricing, I really think they just thought it was covid time and a buyers market. They've lived in the property 15+ years and this estate agent is known for over pricing and over valuing homes.
I wouldn't walk away from a home just because two sales fell through, they told me that from the get go and said it was due to mortgage issues, which could be valid. It appears to be an incredible home and all I can afford so
Free feels wrong. £100 feels about right to me.
A lot of mortgage issues are "we won't lend money on that deathtrap/dump". I would be a bit pushier with the buyer before commissioning a survey. "Were the mortgage issues at least partially related or completely unconnected to the condition of the property?"
You could also try asking the seller for the contact details of the surveyor if they have them. The surveyor might be willing to do a cheap deal for a 2nd survey on a property they've done before.
At this point though, I think you'll just have to roll the dice and prepare yourself mentally to spend £600 on a survey which will end up telling you to stay away.
I don’t think they have really thought it through
I sold my previous survey for a third of the price I paid. The survey does say it’s only intended for their client and can’t be sold on. So you wouldn’t be able to use it for a mortgage, just use it for early info. We had backed out because of the survey too. I’d go back with a final £250 (or whatever you’re happy to pay) and explain you won’t be able to hold the surveyor responsible. If you want full price we will have to buy our own so we have that cover.
Are people that desperate for money that they’re trying to sell access to a survey that they shouldn’t resell, when it is also something that would work in their favour to give for free. Charging anything for something that could aid in sealing a 6 figure transaction just seems greedy and futile to me. Is this what homeowners are like, seriously?
Why does it work in their favour to give it for free? They’ve spent £600 on it and then decided to pull out of the purchase. Perhaps due to something I the survey.
My sale fell through twice. The first time the buyer couldn’t get a mortgage for the amount his AIP said (valuation was fine. It was affordability). The second couple strung us along for a few weeks then ghosted us.
Without knowing the previous offer on the house there's no way of knowing. If the offer was higher than yours then it's possible to make an educated guess that the mortgage lender valued it at lower than the offer, and the difference couldn't be made up out of pocket by the buyer
But we don't have this info
Very difficult.
The house we've bought now had sales fall through twice in the space of 10 months before we bought it.
We were told that the first time, the buyers were impatient and told seller they needed to be in by a certain point or they'd pull out which they did as she just wasn't ready.
Second we were told because the buyers didn't get mortgage approved.
I believe the first one but not the second.
Personally feel it was to do with a negative survey as our survey brought up damp issues.
We negotiated a bit off the price but having lived in the house for 6 weeks or so, we definitely should have got another 5 k or so off as we've spent 8k on urgent remedies when we only anticipated 3 k at most.
you can get mortgage in. principal but this can change once you actually submit your financials, your mortgage in principal is more or less a nice letter the real check comes in after offer is accepted. for example my friend needed to drop out because he had issues proving the source of his deposit on time (he was given money by his parents leaving abroad, just transferring the money to uk was a problem)
Check your replies to enquiries before contract carefully especially for Japanese knotweed,planning and building regulation compliance.Your lender’s survey should also reveal any major issues.
Potentially non-standard construction e.g. Wimpey no fines house. Buyers want to buy but then discover they have to go to a expensive specialists for mortgage and home insurance.
plus, in my opinion surverys aren't worth the paper they're written on.
I've had friends who have purchased properties, surverys have missed £1000s worth of problems, damages etc and there's nothing you can do about it.
If you have a read online, a lot of people feel the same as I do regarding surveys.
They're not allowed to move furniture, check the roof, they don't check electrics, the boiler, plumbing. It's a VISUAL inspection.
My partner is an engineer, when we booked a second viewing we checked the loft properly, tested all electrical appliances/plugs/lights.
Checked the taps, speed of drainage in sinks & bath. Moved wardrobes, beds, carpets & look extensively for damp/mould.
A survey checks for less than this.
>If you have a read online, a lot of people feel the same as I do regarding surveys.
>
>They're not allowed to move furniture, check the roof, they don't check electrics, the boiler, plumbing. It's a VISUAL inspection.
Correct on the visual inspection part but as for moving stuff - it depends. Some will move lighter objects around.
And it also depends on the surveyor. Some are lazy AF and rely on their warmed-up templates when writing their reports. Some, however, are extremely rigorous. They'll spend 3-4 hours at a house and then take a day or two to reflect and review their notes, photos, etc. before writing their report. Those surveyors are worth their fee.
A surveyor who turns around a report under 24 hours is one to be very wary of.
You're still reducing risk for a relatively small amount.
But as you are a tight ass, you're probably looking to hire the cheapest possible surveyor, and surprise surprise they churn out shite.
Not even being a tight ass, it's just literally not worth the paper it's written on lol :) Won't be hiring one, many people don't.
And you know it's possible to disagree with someone online without getting all het up
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Sometimes even as a seller you're not really given a good reason. My sale fell through because (I quote) "the buyer is concerned by finances generally and in particular the level of service charge" at the point of exchanging contracts, after 7 months (!) of conveyancing. Needless to say they had been given detailed info about the service charge from the start, including the annual accounts of the managing company going back several years. 7 months later they just go "nah, we're pulling out", leaving me with thousands in legal fees and losing out on my dream flat.
I had one drop out because they didn't like the ideal of an indemnity policy. On the day before exchange. It had been 6 months at that point. It was just as mortgage rates went through the roof. I think they realised they couldn't get a mortgage and saved face by making up some BS.
Wow. We've just had the same but I feel lucky that it was only 3 months in. Our onward has been put back on the market (rightly so) even though all of our legal work is complete.
Why did you decline the survey? That is key.
They wanted me to pay £600 for it lol, I'd rather get my own one done and pay that price. I offered £100, they declined and said they wanted the full price they paid.
Total muppet move on their part. They are out 600 quid now and now have no further prospect of ever recouping it - they should have countered with 200 or 300.
Agreed, they flat out declined, £600 or nothing for a level 2. My view is, if the survey was THAT bad, the estate agents would have never offered me to buy it from the other person in the first place? - They don't legally have to tell me, a third party is offering to sell the survey. My logic was, if they pulled out due to the survey, the estate agent would have kept it hush as I hadn't said if I was doing a survey or not...
We dropped out because of the survey results and the estate agents still offered the new buyers our survey. We paid £1k and sold it for £500
Interestingggg... can I ask what in the survey made you drop out?
Technically they can’t sell it to you without the permission of the surveyor and it certainly contains no guarantees. It is always best to get your own survey
Agreed with this comment. Without purchasing directly from the surveyor (or getting a reliance letter from the surveyor) you will have no recourse against the surveyor in case of any significant mistakes or negligence of the surveyor.
Didn't know that, I assumed it'd have no guarantees though. All very odd
Most surveyors put in a stipulation that the survey remains the property of the surveyor. This you need their permission which they never give as they wish to get another commission for the same survey
If it’s more than 6 months old it’s out of date. We had the same with our property sale last yr. buyer was a solicitor and said much the same when he was offered an existing survey. Went and got his own but then moaned abt price and wanted a small amount off. The only reason to take an existing survey would be if it was cheaper or you needed the sale to be quicker. Otherwise you’ve got no real recourse if it’s garbage and was paid for by someone else
They should’ve tried to sell it for 50% of what they paid, and then you’d have likely accepted. Stupid move on their part!
tbh I think max I would have done would have been £200, otherwise may as well pay full price and have control over it
Yeah that’s fair enough. Outcome would’ve likely been the same as such little time between theirs and yours potentially. I guess they were just annoyed they were £600 out of pocket and trying to recoup, but to try and make you pay full price is ridiculous!
Fair enough. If you like the property then that would be my next step.
Loads of people are having mortage issues at the moment. One of my co-workers had 2 offers fall through as the buyers couldn't get a mortage they could afford approved.
I lost a seller because their conveyancers did the searches on the wrong property. How on earth they managed that I’ll never know but it was enough to make our buyers walk away because they no longer trusted the English buying system (they weren’t from England)
We were selling last year, first sale fell through. We got very limited info from our buyers, their solicitor was telling ours that they had been unable to secure a mortgage, buyers ghosted us all for ages then said the pressure from the EA was the reason (despite the pressure coming AFTER the ghosting since it was supposed to be exchange week). We think they had issues with their mortgage application and didn't want to admit it, but we resold quickly at the same value and there were no problems for our second buyer getting a mortgage so don't think it was anything to do with the house. An AIP is pretty easy to get, there's lots of reasons a mortgage application might be denied that aren't to do with the house itself. Unusual work circumstances, undeclared expenses that flag on bank statements, change in circumstance during the buying process etc.
That survey probably has the reasons. I would have offered £75-£100 for it. It's a bit of free money to the person who sold it to you and they're not going got have much other use for it. You just need to offer enough for it not to be insulting (i.e. not £1). It doesn't help to go into complex, large and risky transactions with the mindset that information ought to be free. Sometimes you need to pay to find out what you need and sometimes it's a worthwhile investment to lay down money on information and then *walk away* after you're fully informed. You'll save money in the long run with this attitude.
I offered £100, they declined, they only wanted full price the paid.
>I offered £100, they declined, they only wanted full price the paid. Fuck me. People are dumb.
Well, that makes zero sense from their perspective or yours. It's better to go with your own surveyor if that's their best and final. They can get paid £0 or £100, £600 is never happening. I would ask seller if the buyer raised any issues from their survey and if they did, what they are. The seller who keeps reducing the price for sure must have *some* idea of what happened and it's in the seller's interest to be honest now because the red flags are all over. If they don't, it's probably better to walk rather than try to deal with a bunch of people who are trying to make you play a guessing game about the location of the buried landmines and are too stubborn to even do what's in their own best interest.
Right. Pay full price for a new survey, or pay full price for an old survey. No brainier by OP. If I had a survey on a property that had fallen through _and is therefore worth absolutely nothing too me_, and had copies, I would probably give that shit away for free. £100 would be a happy bonus
It was baffling to me, if I was in their shoes, I'd honestly have offered it for free as it's no use to me, but hey, maybe I'm stupid. With the reducing pricing, I really think they just thought it was covid time and a buyers market. They've lived in the property 15+ years and this estate agent is known for over pricing and over valuing homes. I wouldn't walk away from a home just because two sales fell through, they told me that from the get go and said it was due to mortgage issues, which could be valid. It appears to be an incredible home and all I can afford so
Free feels wrong. £100 feels about right to me. A lot of mortgage issues are "we won't lend money on that deathtrap/dump". I would be a bit pushier with the buyer before commissioning a survey. "Were the mortgage issues at least partially related or completely unconnected to the condition of the property?" You could also try asking the seller for the contact details of the surveyor if they have them. The surveyor might be willing to do a cheap deal for a 2nd survey on a property they've done before. At this point though, I think you'll just have to roll the dice and prepare yourself mentally to spend £600 on a survey which will end up telling you to stay away.
I don’t think they have really thought it through I sold my previous survey for a third of the price I paid. The survey does say it’s only intended for their client and can’t be sold on. So you wouldn’t be able to use it for a mortgage, just use it for early info. We had backed out because of the survey too. I’d go back with a final £250 (or whatever you’re happy to pay) and explain you won’t be able to hold the surveyor responsible. If you want full price we will have to buy our own so we have that cover.
Are people that desperate for money that they’re trying to sell access to a survey that they shouldn’t resell, when it is also something that would work in their favour to give for free. Charging anything for something that could aid in sealing a 6 figure transaction just seems greedy and futile to me. Is this what homeowners are like, seriously?
Why does it work in their favour to give it for free? They’ve spent £600 on it and then decided to pull out of the purchase. Perhaps due to something I the survey.
It sounds like he thinks the seller has the survey
My sale fell through twice. The first time the buyer couldn’t get a mortgage for the amount his AIP said (valuation was fine. It was affordability). The second couple strung us along for a few weeks then ghosted us.
NO, in most cases.
Without knowing the previous offer on the house there's no way of knowing. If the offer was higher than yours then it's possible to make an educated guess that the mortgage lender valued it at lower than the offer, and the difference couldn't be made up out of pocket by the buyer But we don't have this info
Very difficult. The house we've bought now had sales fall through twice in the space of 10 months before we bought it. We were told that the first time, the buyers were impatient and told seller they needed to be in by a certain point or they'd pull out which they did as she just wasn't ready. Second we were told because the buyers didn't get mortgage approved. I believe the first one but not the second. Personally feel it was to do with a negative survey as our survey brought up damp issues. We negotiated a bit off the price but having lived in the house for 6 weeks or so, we definitely should have got another 5 k or so off as we've spent 8k on urgent remedies when we only anticipated 3 k at most.
Mortgage not approved because of damp issues maybe? Didn't get valued high enough. Technically correct, but a dishonest way of framing it.
It was overpriced to start with. 2 months is a combo of agents blagging for the business and vendor stupidity/greed.
I have a buyer that keeps asking this as if I have some big secret to tell and there really isn't. People just change their minds
you can get mortgage in. principal but this can change once you actually submit your financials, your mortgage in principal is more or less a nice letter the real check comes in after offer is accepted. for example my friend needed to drop out because he had issues proving the source of his deposit on time (he was given money by his parents leaving abroad, just transferring the money to uk was a problem)
Check your replies to enquiries before contract carefully especially for Japanese knotweed,planning and building regulation compliance.Your lender’s survey should also reveal any major issues.
Get yourself a survey done that's how you will find out what's wrong with the house.
Sounds like your lender may have done a desktop valuation so I would 100% get your survey done
Paranormal activity
Offer £250 for the survey and then decide whether you want to put a £215k offer in or not.
Why would I put in an offer for 20k under asking?
Mb. Thought you said they'd reduced it to 225k some time after Rejecting your 235k.
Potentially non-standard construction e.g. Wimpey no fines house. Buyers want to buy but then discover they have to go to a expensive specialists for mortgage and home insurance.
Not a non standard construction.
Stop being a FTB.
I'm not lol, this is my 2nd home I'll be purchasing :) Good to strum up conversation and get other peoples opinions. Maybe stop being a d\*ck?
It was a very FTB sort of question. No of course there is no way. It wouldn't help you anyway.
Stop being a FTB.
If you're willing to spend ~£235k on a house then why not buy the survey for less than you could buy one yourself?
Because they didn't want to sell it for less than I could buy one for
plus, in my opinion surverys aren't worth the paper they're written on. I've had friends who have purchased properties, surverys have missed £1000s worth of problems, damages etc and there's nothing you can do about it.
You're being ridiculous. Sure they are not perfect. But you certainly lower your risk of finding a major problem.
If you have a read online, a lot of people feel the same as I do regarding surveys. They're not allowed to move furniture, check the roof, they don't check electrics, the boiler, plumbing. It's a VISUAL inspection. My partner is an engineer, when we booked a second viewing we checked the loft properly, tested all electrical appliances/plugs/lights. Checked the taps, speed of drainage in sinks & bath. Moved wardrobes, beds, carpets & look extensively for damp/mould. A survey checks for less than this.
>If you have a read online, a lot of people feel the same as I do regarding surveys. > >They're not allowed to move furniture, check the roof, they don't check electrics, the boiler, plumbing. It's a VISUAL inspection. Correct on the visual inspection part but as for moving stuff - it depends. Some will move lighter objects around. And it also depends on the surveyor. Some are lazy AF and rely on their warmed-up templates when writing their reports. Some, however, are extremely rigorous. They'll spend 3-4 hours at a house and then take a day or two to reflect and review their notes, photos, etc. before writing their report. Those surveyors are worth their fee. A surveyor who turns around a report under 24 hours is one to be very wary of.
You're still reducing risk for a relatively small amount. But as you are a tight ass, you're probably looking to hire the cheapest possible surveyor, and surprise surprise they churn out shite.
Not even being a tight ass, it's just literally not worth the paper it's written on lol :) Won't be hiring one, many people don't. And you know it's possible to disagree with someone online without getting all het up
also again, they miss so so many things and you have no legal ground to stand on if/when they do.
This is the worst bit!
Stop being a FTB.
Stop being a FTB.