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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Offer accepted on a house but viewings still taking place

21 replies

LMV1 · 04/02/2022 19:38

Hi,

Looking for advice regarding a house that I have had an offer accepted on, I received the notification of sale from the estate agent and it states that viewings will still continue on the property until further notice.

I have emailed the EA to query this as I was verbally advised that the house would remain marketed online however viewings wouldn’t be conducted.

AIBU to think that this isn’t fair and a bit cheeky? We offered over asking as it went to best & final so it’s not as if we offered less than asking and they were hoping for more.

I don’t feel comfortable proceeding if there’s a risk we could get gazumped, I understand house buying is never 100% guaranteed until you’ve got the keys in your hand as people can pull out but it just doesn’t seem right that someone could swoop in with a higher offer when we have financially and emotionally invested in the purchase of the house.

Grateful for peoples opinions on this please.

Thanks 😊

OP posts:

TheHoptimist · 04/02/2022 19:40

Depends- if it is left in a will they have to get the bets possible price.

Get it moving quickly through the legal stuff to minimise the risk

MinorWomensWhiplash1 · 04/02/2022 19:44

When I bought my house I told them to stop advertising it and doing viewings or I would pull out. That worked well.

Wildrobin · 04/02/2022 19:48

Yes we made an offer subject to them taking it off the market. Mind you it didn’t work as we were gazumped a week before exchange and completion. I wish the system was regulated to ban this.

Wildrobin · 04/02/2022 19:49

(We’d made a very decent offer too, over the asking price)

FloBot7 · 04/02/2022 20:45

It depends. The people we bought our house from wouldn't take it off the market until DH had an offer accepted on his flat. We thought it was fair enough. We loved the house but were pipped to the post twice. The two purchasers had their mortgage offer declined just before exchange so the sellers were very wary by the time we came along.

FlasherMcGruff · 04/02/2022 22:37

I told a previous seller that I’d withdraw if they didn’t take the for sale sign down and stop further viewings. If they want more money they should negotiate with you or decline your offer, not string you along and dump you when they get a better offer. They did and I bought from them successfully.

Otherwise, people start to incur costs and invest time into planning around what they think will be their new home.

AnyFucker · 04/02/2022 22:41

Dodgy

Kite22 · 04/02/2022 22:50

Are you in a position to proceed ?
As that would make all the difference to me.
If you haven't sold, or haven't got your finance in place then of course they should continue to market it.
If you have, then I would say the offer is dependent on it being taken off the market.

Tiredtiredtired100 · 04/02/2022 23:13

If you do proceed get homebuyers insurance so you can recoup your costs if you get gazumped. It cost me about £50 and eased my mind when buying.

Tiredtiredtired100 · 04/02/2022 23:14

This sort of thing:
hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/homebuyer-protection-insurance/

Cakemumma33 · 04/02/2022 23:26

When I bought my house I said that if they didn't take the for sale sign down and then end online advertising I'd pull out. We were first time buyers with a pretty decent deposit and a mortgage agreed. They did as instructed and 8 weeks later we moved in.

oncemoreunto · 04/02/2022 23:28

We have always made removing from the market a condition of our offers if we are proceedable.

mrsbyers · 04/02/2022 23:30

We sold last year and first buyers had problems with their mortgage so couldn’t proceed and we had to start again , valuations can cause similar issues at the moment as lenders won’t lend more than their view of value

Theluggage15 · 04/02/2022 23:37

If you have a house to sell and are not in a position to proceed I would carry on with viewings if I was the seller. I’d take it off the market if and when things progressed.

OfstedOffred · 04/02/2022 23:53

I would make it a condition of any offer that it be removed from the market.

I wouldnt instruct my solicitor until they did.

The English system is crap and the gazumping it promotes contributes to our bloated property prices - the Scottish system is much better.

DysmalRadius · 05/02/2022 00:12

From a buyer's perspective, I would always want a house taken off the market once an offer had been accepted.

From a seller's perspective, I would keep marketing until the process was well underway to avoid losing out if the buyer wanted to renegotiate after seeing the survey etc, and I often see people advised of similar on here if they really can't afford to lose time when it comes to selling.

I suppose it depends if you are willing to pull out if they are still marketing it - I wouldn't issue an ultimatum unless you are prepared to follow through, but I suppose it focuses the mind and will keep you moving as quickly as you can knowing that it's still on the market, which is an underhand, but potentially effective way of getting the sale through asap.

Pepperama · 05/02/2022 00:14

Depends if you’re proceedable. If you’ve sold and have your financing in place then they should take it off the market. If not then estate agents will continue to market and see if in the meantime they can get a better offer or someone who can proceed more quickly.

Original poster

LMV1 · 05/02/2022 07:06

Thank you for your replies.

We are in a good position to proceed, we have a buyer for our property and we have a decision in principle. We are buying and selling with the same EA so they know our situation and it was mentioned on the phone the other day that both our house and the house we want will continue to be marketed online but viewings would be paused, I said good as I didn’t want viewings to continue on either property - I suppose when we offered I should’ve clearly stated that rather than just in passing conversation.

In the past when I have purchased houses I have never said the condition of my offer was that the house is to be removed from the market, it was always just done. I suppose it was naive of me to think that that is always the case!

I think unless they will agree to no more viewings I won’t feel safe in proceeding to purchase the house out of fear of someone else coming along! I know house buying is always a risk but this just seems too risky for me.

Thanks again for your responses!

OP posts:

Original poster

LMV1 · 05/02/2022 07:14

[quote Tiredtiredtired100]This sort of thing:
hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/homebuyer-protection-insurance/[/quote]
Thank you so much, I’ll have a look into this!

OP posts:

laternights · 05/02/2022 08:58

We were proceedable when we put an offer on our new house but the vendor didn't want to remove it from Rightmove etc until the survey took place, though she agreed to stop viewings. We rushed through the survey within a week and it came off the market. Could you agree to something like that? Speaking to an EA friend this is fairly commonplace these days.

Original poster

LMV1 · 05/02/2022 10:23

@laternights

That’s a good idea thank you, I may suggest that if they don’t agree to take stop viewings. Thank you.

OP posts:

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