OT - Buying a house

[Charles Hope]

Since there are plenty of buyers who put in offers on more than one house at a time, it would be foolish of the vendor to take it off the market after accepting an offer. But it works both ways, we had an accepted offer & had a survey done - only to be told "We've changed our mind - we're not selling". So, we ended up in the house we're in now.

That's the Scottish way of doing things.

When my daughter was trying to buy a flat 15 years ago, the searches to the local authority had not been answered within the required 10 working days. Querying this led to : Ms x who is dealing witn this only works one day a week so it could take 10 weeks!

Yes, because you were unaware of an undeclared defect.

[Capitol]

Never allow " under offer" to be displayed, it just puts off real buyers.

[Capitol]

Defects are not declared if unknown. Flat roofs always need refelting at some point in time, when is a matter of opinion, unless actually leaking. Either you want to buy it or you don't.

[Huge]

[58 lines snipped]

That's how we sold my M-I-L's house, to shortcut the merry-go-round while the vendors all tried to outbid one another.

No. At least it wasn't when I personally did the Local Authority search for this house. It was a big book of maps with all the proposed planning applications written in in pencil. I'm told it hasn't changed.

Fortunately it was scrapped. Who's going to believe surveys & searches, etc., done by the *vendor*? Not me. I'd have repeated them, which means they'd have been done more often, not less.

Why would the RICS (which is, after all, a trades union) do something which would reduce its members income?

Depends how much of a bastard you feel. Like Sam Goldwyn (allegedly) said; "Verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on."

The sole change that the house buying process needs in this country is to make offers & acceptances legally binding.

[tony sayer]

Instruction - little action usually without prodding;!....

[tony sayer]

Poor sod, that must be so disheartening:(...

Perhaps its in someone's interests not to..

Mind you round here in Cambridge a house can go up in price by that amount in a week;(...

[Tim Watts]

Perhaps the answer to this is to mandate a small non refundable 2 way deposit of say £500 (contract breaker loses it to the breakee). Not a complete disaster if you have to pull out but enough to make time wasters think twice. And if you get gazumped (which it will not stop if the new offer is much better than the old), £500 is better than a kick in the nads.

Because, unless it it done and issued by a neutral 3rd party, no one will trust it.

Yes, you can.

[News]

Not sure what the seller pack comprised but, here in Scotland, the seller provides, and pays for, a property survey which is available to any prospective purchaser. It is unusual for the eventual purchaser to then arrange yet another survey.

[Adam Aglionby]

Home Buyer Report , a "survey" which is a valuation nothing more. An Energy Performance Certificate, sure readers here are aware of the shortcomings o f such things and a Homeowners questionaire, which will reveal precisely no thing. For the pleasure of offering this to your buyers £480 Incl VAT

If it`s on the market longer than 3 months , lenders will often want it `re freshed` the valuation confirmed, 100 quid plus VAT.

The "Surveyor" is legally obliged not to discuss the results with the vendo r who paid for it and will simply confirm points to a buyer enquiry.

The HR value sets the market value of the property,get different surveyors with different opinions of near identical property with large HR valuation differences.

The Scottish market is clearly not as healthy as the southern pressure cook er, there are lots of properties marketed at `£X,000 below HR.

Home Reports are a total con on both seller and buyer.

[Vir Campestris]

In our case the problem with insurance was unsafe (rubber!) wiring under a thatched roof. The unsurer gave us 90 days to get it done... the best bit was phoning the vendor's own insurance company, and them saying "How long has it been thatched?"

Andy

[Johnny B Good]

I really like that 'typo'^^^ :-) The U and the I being adjacent keys makes it totally plausible to deny accusations of it being a Freudian slip.

The answer to which should be another question, "How about forever, is forever good enough for you?" :-)

[DJC]

What does 'searches' provide that I cannot find out for myself by going to the local authrity website and looking up both current and historical planning applications?

[Tim Watts]

Do you know if the house has a warren of tunnels underneath it[1]? Of if there are plans for a motorway extension?

[1] Mining, railway (trains and/or drains), services (gas, oil, HV cables).

[Fredxxx]

Maybe, but perhaps the EA might be sympathetic to you as a result?

[tony sayer]

Do they really check for HV cables?..

[matthelliwell]

Check the boundaries on the property deeds against what you see on the ground. You can download the deeds for a few pounds to avoid waiting around for your conveyancer to get them.

Check the council website for planning applications. Your conveyancer will only search for ones very close to your property and might miss the football stadium being built in a nearby field.

[Vir Campestris]

It _was_ a typo. And I spotted it, but decided to leave it ;)

Andy

[Johnny B Good]

And, for the reasons I offered (and the fact that I would have done exactly the same if it had been my posting), I totally believe you! :-)

[DJC]

And I can't find that out for myself from public sources? And how can I be sure that the official searcher is diligent and really knows what to look for. Rather like surveys, it seems to me that one is paying for little more someones professional indemnity insurance: if it turns out bad and you have the resources you can try winning a payout in the blame game.

[DJC]

Online from Land Registry: £3 for the title and £3 for the plan. Will also tell you ownership details and if there are any covenants. Sometimes worth checking details of neighbouring properties too. A few pounds well spent in my opinion, and as the online result is instant can be done before making an offer.

I agree. Many councils (eg Wiltshire) have the details of all planning on a map so you can zoom around the area looking for things. Can be particularly useful in giving an impression of the neighbourhood if you are unfamiliar with the area.