Seller is STALLING

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réaltín09

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went sale agreed in November on a house but the seller is currently stalling but am getting no joy from my estate agent...
my solicitor is worried about my loan approval expiring .... estate agent just keeps fobbing me off with "we will ring you tomorrow" but as garth brooks says himself "tomorrow never comes"...

any advice to share with a nervous FTB!
 
réaltín09 said:
went sale agreed in November ...
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What do you mean by "sale agreed"? Are contracts signed, contract deposit paid to vendor's solicitor?
réaltín09 said:
... getting no joy from my estate agent...
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A common misconception - it's the vendor's estate agent and s/he has only the vendor's interests at heart.
réaltín09 said:
... my solicitor is worried about my loan approval expiring ....
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Instead of wasting time and money worrying, instruct your solicitor to fire off a missive demanding action in 5/7/10 days time or the offer expires. Are you protected with contracts being "subject to securing finance approval"?
 
I would go and view other houses to be honest.
It's unusual for the seller to be stalling unless there is an issue over them selling/not selling. Especially because they are not giving you a good reason.
Some sellers may put their houses on the market, wait for an offer and then decide if they are actually going to sell or not - it's free for them to do this because they don't have to pay the estate agent until a sale goes through.
You may have to face the fact that this is not the house for you.
Why don't you get your solicitor to ring their solicitor directly?
Or you are entitled to ring their solicitor as well and ask when will the contracts be issued from their side, because you are getting cold feet.
 
Contact your Solicitor,instruct him to tell their Solicitor that they have 48 hrs to get the show moving,if they fail to react to this then move on,buyers are in the driving seat now,the vendor is caught in a time warp circa 2005...I wouldnt be wasting valuable time on them if it were me.
 
If you haven't signed a contract yet, great, because prices have dropped a percent or two since November. So change your offer to be 2% lower. That will save you a lot of money over the lifetime of your mortgage.
 
sadie said:
Or you are entitled to ring their solicitor as well and ask when will the contracts be issued from their side, because you are getting cold feet.
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It's against law society professional guidelines for solicitors to talk to another solicitor's client, so please don't do this. If you ring them they will simply tell you that you will have to make contact via your own solicitor, if anyone talks to you at all that is.

Remembering that you want to buy this house I wouldn't be confrontational about it but it would not be unreasonable for you to put a timelimit on contracts being exchanged unless they come up with a good reason that is acceptable to you.
 
I presume it is a secondhand house? If it's secondhand and owner occupied, ignore the Estate Agent, call round to the house and ask the sell if there is a problem at his end or is his estate agent just stonewalling you without his knowledge. Talk to the seller. Normally he will find it much more difficult to fob you off than the EA (a property professional) will.

He may not have found the house he wants or something like that. If it turns out to be something like that instruct your solicitor to issue a letter withdrawing your offer within a short fixed period.
 
Vanilla said:
It's against law society professional guidelines for solicitors to talk to another solicitor's client,.
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Hang on until I find a box of lemons to suck. Law Society Professional Guidelines are for the birds. Nobody takes any notice of them.
 
thanks guys its always helpful getting advice .. I put down my deposit in November and im just worried that if i lose this house, I lose money forked out on structural survey, valuation and broker. Will talk to my solicitor monday... I dont think i could confront the seller as its a separating couple and it wouldnt be my place to call round questioning....

oh and no contract has been signed cos the solicitor cant draw one up with the delay from the seller...(the seller is blaming the bank for not releasing the deeds...)


thanks :)
 
No contract signed ... you aren't obliged to buy so you're entitled to get your deposit back.

You hold all the cards as you haven't signed .... be very sure before you sign as you will be legally committed to buy and any attempt to pull out will lose you your deposit and vendor could sue you to buy.

Ask for an immediate reduction in price, give a time limit .... and if they are still stalling get your deposit back and try elsewhere.
 
OK, a couple opinions :


  1. You are not "sale agreed", you are at the "expression of interest" stage; sale agreed is after contracts are exchanged
  2. As no contracts are signed it was unwise to spend your money of survey and valuation; a contract can (and IMHO always should in the current market) be subject to full structural survey, loan approval and valuation
  3. Your deposit to the estate agent is refundable if you decide not to proceed; the money you have paid out for survey and valuation is your loss I'm afraid
  4. I'm going to take a contrary view to the last two posters; unless there is some compelling reason for purchasing this property, get your deposit back and move on as it's very much a buyer's market. It sounds like this property has the potential to be fraught with delays, half-truths, broken promises and disappointments (for you).
 
If Im at the "expression of interest" stage then why is there a "sale agreed" sign in the garden of the house and its off the market to other bidders..come on...

and as for being "unwise" to have spent my money on a survey and a valuation, I was "instructed" to by my bank, my broker and the estate agent...sure thats a requirement before the contract is signed...
 
Vanilla said:
How long have you been a practicing solicitor?
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That is very funny !! So the legals meeting in the Shelbourne Bar, or the Bars around Dublin, Cork, Galway all collectively meet to discuss the Ladies Camogie Final. Chinese whispers are the order of the day for which all and sundry know it.
 
Hi Realtin,
Found myself in a similar situation last year. Offer accepted on house, did survey etc etc. After some time things were not moving so i kept asking lots of questions (made myself a right pain in the EA'a neck) – turned out couple were separating but one did not want to sell (the court had ordered the sale) – i won’t go into details except to say i walked away and the house is still on the market. Yes i ‘lost’ money on the survey but it’s not the end of the world. If you are serious about the house you need to get some answers.... otherwise you create the impression that you will hang about until a decision is made either way. It could be a long wait.
Good luck

 
mercman said:
That is very funny !! So the legals meeting in the Shelbourne Bar, or the Bars around Dublin, Cork, Galway all collectively meet to discuss the Ladies Camogie Final. Chinese whispers are the order of the day for which all and sundry know it.
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I have no idea what on earth you mean. You seem to be contradicting yourself- first you are suggesting that solicitors pay no heed to professional guidelines and go behind their colleagues backs to talk to their clients and then you're talking about collective back slapping meetings. Spare me.:rolleyes:
 
réaltín09 said:
If Im at the "expression of interest" stage then why is there a "sale agreed" sign in the garden of the house and its off the market to other bidders..come on...

and as for being "unwise" to have spent my money on a survey and a valuation, I was "instructed" to by my bank, my broker and the estate agent...sure thats a requirement before the contract is signed...
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sale agreed on a sign means nothing .... no contacts signed means you can still walk away and get your full deposit back.

Survey and valuations ..... personally I'd have no problem walking away with no other costs than them and paying my solicitor for his/her time. Better to be down a little than down a full contract price.

Some banks require surveys, others don't. In my latest purchase ... they didn't ... but I got a survey done anyway .... a right of way issue arose from it .... it was sorted prior to contracts being signed but if I hadn't gone for my own survey I'd have bought a property with no legal right of way into it!

In relation to your own situation .... issue a 48hr ultimatum for an adequate response. If none if forthcoming then ... for your own sake .... walk away.

I'd even endorse mathepac's advice .... walk away now.

The whole thing is starting to smell fishy .... what seller stalls in the middle of a recession when others would be glad to have an interested buyer?
 
will i still have to pay my solicitor his full fee if the sale falls through? and then have to re-hire him if another house comes up..??
 
Vanilla said:
first you are suggesting that solicitors pay no heed to professional guidelines and go behind their colleagues backs to talk to their clients
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So the likes of Michael Lynn adhered to the Professional Guidelines. And there are many more similar from the four corners of the country. If you have any problems I will compile a list.

I have never suggested that they go behind their colleagues backs if you read what I posted. They just simply discuss the cases between each other on an ad hoc basis.
 
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