Putting an a house offer has become such a hassle

[AvacadoChic]

I've moved house several times over my life, the most recent about 7 years ago. I've been looking at a new place and expected the process to be the same as always but this time around it's dragged on and we haven't even got as far as putting an offer in yet.

We saw a house, and phoned the estate agent with a low offer. The estate agent got back to me by email the next day and said that I have to fill in a form with a lot of questions and documents to upload. I didn't have time to look at the form until the following day and then I saw that it would be quite time consuming, so emailed back asking if they could get an idea if the offer would be accepted, as it was a lot of work if the seller would say a flat out no. The eatate agent refused but said that we didn't have to fill out the form, just send him some documents. I sent the documents and the he replied asking for more documents. I've sent those and I'm waiting for his reply. This process has taken more than a week and I don't have any idea if the seller if willing to accept low offers. It would have taken them 30 seconds to ring up the seller to see if he would even entertain our offer. It just seems such a pointless waste of time.

In the past, I've always put in an offer overr the phone and only when it's accepted does all the paperwork begin. It's a lot of extra work for a house that I might not even get.

The whole system is pants; you can get all the way through to almost exchange and it all falls through

Scotland has it better

Admin fee? That sounds illegal as they have to forward all offers

@Babymamamama ADMIN FEE?! I’d be asking Martin Lewis/similar consumer expert about this and definitely not be paying to make an offer on a house.

Yep, we noticed this change too recently, it's a royal pain in the bum and time consuming. We didn't need a mortgage either, as the funds coming out of a house sale which was already under offer.

The whole process has taken us 8 months to buy a house, insanity. Friend of mine in New Zealand said average is about 6 weeks!

They want ID, proof of funds in the bank, proof of where the money came from that is in the bank, mortgage in principle, proof of address. They didn't ask for all the documents in one go, its been over several emails. Maybe tomorrow they'll come back with more requests.

And yes, part of the form was about using their people for various things or 'taking the risk' by getting my own. 🙄

I'm half tempted to just knock on the house door and put in the offer myself!

Yup this doesn’t sound right at all

Ugh I hope this doesn’t happen to me. I’m using gifted money I don’t have in my bank yet

This is good advice. This EA’s process is not typical.

When I sold a house in London 12 years ago our EA made a point of pre-qualifying prospective buyers. I really appreciated this. There are rogues out there that willl offer, then mess you around. In the meantime, interest in your house from people that would actually buy & had the funds would be missed.
I imagine when you are shopping for a house, the pre-qualifying is annoying, but from the vendor’s standpoint it is beneficial.
Interestingly, when that sale was underway & nearing completion, some rogue made a last minute over the price offer out of the blue. The agent put it to us, but we ignored it and sold to the pre-qualified buyer.

I would also try to inform the vendors that their Estate Agent is not acting in their best interests by placing so many hurdles for potential purchasers to negotiate. Years ago friends had an EA who would not submit an offer unless the potential purchaser agreed to use their services, mortgage, solicitor etc.. They denied doing this when questioned by the seller so we went into their office to discuss this property and recorded them doing what they'd denied doing. The sellers removed the house immediately.
There was a TV programme about sharp practices not long ago.

In Scotland I believe there is also a two week period where items that could not be tested previously and were found to be deficient can be claimed for, eg boilers, I wish we'd know this when we bought a flat there!

We have just sold. This isn’t standard practice in the UK. Usually the information gathering process starts after an offer has been accepted. Also I think EAs are legally obliged to put forward every offer they receive. Ignore the forms. Offer by email, say briefly how your situation - under off/cash buyer, ask them to forward the offer to the buyer at their earliest convenience.

What documents? I can see proof of funds (a simple bank systems) and MIP but what else? As for ‘revealing’ too much - I think that’s irrelevant. I may have £1m in the bank but if I think your house is worth £200k that’s all I’m going to offer

They want ID, proof of funds in the bank, proof of where the money came from that is in the bank, mortgage in principle, proof of address

Sounds sensible to me 🤷‍♀️

But then you’re not proceedable
You have to wait until they actually have the money before you can buy something
This is not new news

It’s sensible and it’s the law people don’t realise how much the money laundering compliance side as tightened up
I knew people that made 60 grand doing drug runs in the 90s and then just walked into Connells and bought a house with it. And now no doubt bang on about how hard they’ve worked for everything they’ve achieved in life
You really wouldn’t get away with that now

All very normal yes. But not before a verbal offer is agreed. That's pointless. Why would someone go through all the hassle of providing the documents just to be told the offer is rejected 3 days later when that could happen in 10 minutes.

It is for making an offer. I obviously expect to be able to show it later on.
I’ve made offers before and never been asked to fill out a form, just answered a few questions on the phone.

Exactly.
Our current house we were in a bidding war for. We were all making offers and then it got whittled down and the last and final etc

Exactly @DappledThings . Funds evidence gets checked by whoever is acting for the purchaser, and we (conveyancers) are likely to ask for more information than the EA since we're the ones who can get fined/sent to prison and struck off if money is being laundered.

This is no longer true

I work in property compliance. The estate agent is trying to establish three things:
Who you are (ID, address etc.)
Are you able to proceed (ie. got the money)
Is it clean money

Estate agents have a legal obligation to report offers. Half the reason buying a house is so painful is because people mess about, don't follow processes, and act on bad or unqualified advice.

Isn't making offers before you're even on the market or under offer one of the things that destroys property chains? If you're selling and not under offer how long do you think the vendor of the property you want should wait for you to get in a position to go through with the purchase?

And the vendor can refuse the offer on that basis. Or accept it in principle but continue to allow other viewings. Perfectly reasonable. Plenty won't even allow viewings when not under offer.

But to receive an offer and refuse to even say whether you consider the offer acceptable or not and make someone jump through paperwork hoops just to say " sorry, too low" days later is ridiculous.

I haven’t bought a house for nearly 20 years, and back then it was a case of telling the EA my offer, EA then calling the vendor, and getting back to me with the response.

But a friend recently sold her house, and it seemed different. She said whenever someone made an offer, the EA told her about it, but advised her not to respond until they’d checked out the buyer’s finances. My friend was happy to give buyers the benefit of the doubt, but the EA made it clear this would be a bad idea.

On balance I think it’s probably a good idea. It’s frustrating for genuine buyers, but presumably weeds out the ones who aren’t serious, or don’t have the funds available.