Underhand house purchase tactics.

It’s not underhand, the EA will know the situation. I put my house on the market as I saw one for sale I wanted. It sold before I got an offer on mine. I then accepted the offer on the understanding that I hadn’t yet found a property to purchase so couldn’t give a timescale. The purchaser held off on surveys, searches etc. until I found a property to purchase. The sale then went ahead.

Alternatively she could have withdrawn her offer if she didn’t want to wait.

Thank goodness for the quick no chain problem in Scotland
A deal is a deal

The law in England and Wales on house purchase is different from Scotland. Whilst not perfect, the Scottish system is better and in the absence of a better suggestion would adopt it UK wide.

The person selling a house with none being bought could have some short-term plan if they find nothing yet, such as staying with a relative. However, if all they are doing is causing delays, not acceptable.

When I worked in banking years ago we had 'bridging loans' in the UK for this purpose but I haven't heard of anyone using them for a long time so I'm not sure if still possible.

You are not proceedable if the chain below you is not proceedable!

A foreigner’s POV: this chain system is outdated, other countries have a system in place so you can borrow the funds to buy the new house until the previous one is sold. Obviously limited in time but it has worked for decades.
And also making/accepting an offer means you’ll pay a penalty if you change your mind. No drama with people changing their mind late in the process.

I wonder who benefits from the current system of chains and non-committal offers?

Exactly the same. Our house sold in 9 days. And the house we bought had several viewers booked in when we made an offer subject to the sale of our house. It wasn't on the market as we didn't intend to move again. I know a few friends and family that have done this also and it has worked out however I have also in the past come across sellers who don't want viewers unless they are sold or chain free.

I'm in Scotland.

They’ll be told your not procedable

when we were selling, until we were procedable we couldn’t view most houses and none would accept an offer till we were (ie complete chain below us)

Yes this happens and has done so for many years. Eventually the sellers who haven't bought get caught out and either the sale falls through, they move into rented or get their skates on and purchase.

A good, competent estate agent will keep up the pressure to exchange contracts (as they want their fee).

It's one of the things that makes buying and selling property such a stressful experience as it allows 'bad actors' to function with impunity

I made an offer when my house wasn’t even on the market. Our dream house went up for sale and we offered on the day that we viewed. Put ours up and sold it, in the same week. Thank god the vendor didn’t think like your neighbours!

Currently in NI you can't make an offer on a house if you aren't on the market yourself, such is the market. Indeed, some estate agents are refusing to even offer viewings unless you're sale agreed.

I understand what you mean. So we had this scenario. We viewed a home that was perfect for us and had liked for a while. Ours wasn't on the market. We were not actively house hunting We made an offer subject to the sale of ours. They accepted as they were not in a hurry to move. They were open with their seller (new property) that they had sold their property and it was subject to the sale of ours. However that third person in the chain then made an offer on a new property said their house had sold and didn't say it was subject to a sale further down the chain (they were very annoyed when they did find out as they had knocked back lower cash offers). Is this what you mean?

But your solicitor/estate agent presumably wouldn’t misrepresent the chain to the people in the house you’re buying. I sold my house last year and I knew roughly the position all the way down the chain from my solicitor/estate agent.

So the agent would say “Helpmysanity has offered you £x, they have accepted an offer on their house from someone who hasn’t yet sold their own house” and the people whose house you’re buying would agree to take the risk or not as the case may be.

I've bought and sold twice. Both times our offer was accepted before our house was on the market. I'm reasonably confident we didn't overpay either time. Both times our vendor wanted info on our current house, I guess so they knew it was readily saleable.
We're in Scotland, and despite reputation it is perfectly legal to pull out after offer is accepted, however it seldom happens in practice, because of the expectation @/acceptance that offers are final.
If you're tied to an area that has few properties (and therefore few come onto the market) it's surely pretty much unavoidable?

Act like a twat, dont be surprised if others do likewise.

New fear unlocked ....
We have spent a fortune and are deep in the midst of buying a new property but the sellers have told us if completion doesn't happen by the end of this month they will pull out of the sale.
Now I'm thinking, are they this couple 🤣 and if so it's so cruel, just wait a couple more damn weeks!!!!!

It may be normal in England

Not in Scotland

Only in the UK is this normal. Briefly perusing the MN Property Board will give a sampling of the many problems it can and frequently does lead to.

In many countries an offer is accompanied by a deposit, refundable for cause, and proposed dates for various steps of the purchase process. These may be negotiated, but the process feels very different from the rather leisurely way things work in Britain.

I think the whole system is weird in England compared to other countries and needs a bit of an overhaul.

You are describing a very normal chain. Nothing underhand or weird about it

Usually everyone in the chain knows how many people are in it and at what stage they are all at. I’m not sure what you think is wrong about this?

Yes, any estate agent will (should) do a chain check on you before they submit your offer to the vendor. They'll speak to all of the selling agents down the chain until they get to the bottom and discover there's a first time buyer, someone with nothing to sell, or an unsold house.