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Original poster

Unusual house offer - any thoughts please?

39 replies

UnusualOffer · 15/01/2023 20:10

My partner has had an unusual offer on his house. He isn't on MN so I'm looking for perspectives/ideas/experiences on his behalf. His estate agent hasn't come across this kind of offer before.

The prospective buyers are on the market (recently I think) and priced to sell. They are downsizing but haven't sold. They're offering 5K under the asking price (an offer he'd accept) but want to pay him £500 per month to take his house off the market. The £500 would come off the house price on completion but is his to keep if they pulled out of the sale.

Yhere are benefits and pitfalls we can see but it would be great to get other perspectives.

OP posts:

CandleCandleCandle · 15/01/2023 22:34

No he shouldn’t accept it or any offer unless they’ve sold.

Tamarindtree · 15/01/2023 22:43

Avoid at all costs.

titchy · 15/01/2023 22:45

No. Think about it, they could take two years to sell, in the meantime they've secured your dp's house at the agreed price, and they've only paid £12k - a fraction the purchase price, for that certainty.

Petronus · 15/01/2023 22:58

There’s so much to think about as mentioned already - what if they keep him hanging and then try to gazunder as the prices fall? It’s just not worth the solicitors fees

samqueens · 15/01/2023 23:35

I’ve had EA and solicitor suggest an up front non-refundable payment from buyer to secure a period of time off the market as a possible solution to me wanting to stay on market and then wanting the security of knowing it was theirs.

I’d be happy to do it on the above basis, but only through solicitor and for a set period - eg. X amount buys them four months off the market to get to exchange, if they can’t exchange in that time it’s back on market - and any payment is non refundable.

The market is pretty dire right now and EAs I know aren’t expecting it to pick up til spring, but it could also take a downturn at that point so really about your husband’s financial need and attitude to risk.

Other approach is to say you won’t take it off market but will allow them to do surveys/run searches etc at their own risk, so they are ready to go if/when they get an offer on their place. And you won’t accept an alternate proceedable offer without giving them the change to proceed first at the same price (no more than 5 days grace to go ahead). They may well not go for that but you never know.

It will help your husband more to have them spending their money getting shit done for purchase than giving him £500/month by the sounds of it. At the end of the day, in this scenario: if he gets a better offer they have to match it, if he gets a proceedable offer and they can’t proceed he is free to take it. And in the meanwhile they may be able to turn themselves into buyers who can act super fast if/when an offer comes in on theirs. So kind of win win for him maybe. But I’d only communicate via EA/solicitor and not direct.

Thesonglastslonger · 15/01/2023 23:40

He’d need to pay a lot more than £500 to get a good lawyer to draw up an agreement that protects him with an arrangement like that. Thousands easily. Are they offering to pay his legal fees? No?

I would not touch this, mostly cos they are clearly mental and mental buyers are exhausting and expensive. They are asking favours without even having the courtesy to make an asking price offer.

What does he lose if he says no? Either someone else buys the house (yay) or he doesn’t find another buyer but these gus do find a buyer and come back and buy the house (yay).

Thesonglastslonger · 15/01/2023 23:41

Also if they want the house that badly they can either get a bridging loan or sell their current house for less…

custarding · 15/01/2023 23:51

HundredMilesAnHour · 15/01/2023 20:19

My first thought is the income tax implication. Assuming the sale eventually goes through, the difference between the income tax he'll have paid on the £500/month (I'm assuming he's an honest person and declares it) means he's worse off than if they paid the full amount as part of the property sale (which isn't liable for income tax - and even if he has to pay capital gains, this is still less than income tax). Worse case the additional income could push him into the next tax band and impact him significantly (obviously depends on his current income).

This is really good advice

Onekidnoclue · 20/03/2023 13:06

The only way this works is if they commit to a completion date and fail to complete so you get the deposit plus interest on the outstanding balance. It’s a horror show though. Mortgage company will hate it and so will the solicitors for good reason!

BeachBlondey · 20/03/2023 13:38

We did something very similar, when we bought the house we are in now. We had no plans to move (so our house not on the market), and one night I was scrolling Rightmove and saw this house. Fell in love with it. Viewed it the next day. Made an offer of £5k over asking, together with a £1500 deposit to show we were serious, as long as they would give us 8 weeks to sell. They agreed. We immediately got ours on the market, and sold within the 8 weeks (just). It was a bit hair raising, but it worked for us.

If your Partner is in no rush to move, what has he got to lose? As long as he keeps the £500pm if it all falls through.

Kinsters · 20/03/2023 14:34

@HundredMilesAnHour what makes you think it's taxable?

If the house sold then, yes, it would be subject to capital gains tax as part of the proceeds of sale. But if the purchase didn't go through then I'm not convinced this would be taxable income as it's not been "earnt" by him in any meaningful way, it's not something he set out to do or does/plans to do regularly etc.

I know this is a moot point as the thread is fairly old but I do love a taxable/not taxable discussion!

TheClash2023 · 20/03/2023 14:49

No way. My compromise would be that they can reserve yours for a week, reduce theirs to a price that will sell instantly and if it's not sold by the end of 7 days you continue marketing yours.

Rubyupbeat · 20/03/2023 14:54

Is this not similar to a bridging loan?. I know we did similar when our buyer messed us around ( mind you it was 20 years ago) and we didn't want to lose this house. They were eager to move, it was a new build they were going to.

Hallmark1234 · 20/03/2023 14:55

I wouldn't do this. If they want it that badly they should be offering OVER the asking price, not under.

I waited for a buyer to sell once, but they'd offered £10K over the asking price and as we hadn't yet found anywhere to buy, we accepted.

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