Vendors are being made bankrupt......what does this mean for us?

[moominmarvellous]

Hi All,

We're in the process of buying our first house, which to begin with seemed like it would be a simple affair. We're moving from rented to an empty house that the (now split up/divorced) couple wanted to sell asap.

So, survey is done, our mortgage is agreed, and we're ready to move in asap. But now it seems the male vendor has been made bankrupt and there is a possibility that the house could be repossessed as a result of this.

We're waiting to hear from solicitors etc, but just wondered if anyone had been through similar or knows if this will affect us at all since either way I assume the property will be sold?

Ideally I wanted to be in by November so we're at our new address in time for DD's primary school applications. Scary words like bankruptcy and repossession and talk of their creditors taking over are making me think it's all going to be alot more time consuming than we originally thought

Assuming that you have not yet signed the contract, the bankruptcy will disrupt the sale.

I suspect the seller agreed the sale in order to put pressure on his creditors to negotiate.

The reality is the creditors do not have to accept the price you have offered and may put it back on the market if they think they can get a better price.

Hmmmm that's what I thought.

We didn't get the place for a great deal below the asking price, but I suppose we'll have to see what his creditors say.

I was surprised that the husband agreed so quickly to the offer, as it was just below asking, and the estate agent said they'd only just dropped the asking price as initialy the guy was refusing to put it on the market for any less than they bought it for (I'm guessing from other things the estate agent said)this was about 5 or so years ago.

Just seemed strange to me at the time that he'd go for below asking when he was allegedly being so stubborn about it in the first place. Oh bugger

There's a lot to be said for a quick sale to a chain free buyer. Don't give up hope! you need to track down the trustee in bankruptcy and speak to him.

Well, we've not given up just yet.

We've discovered that the house hasn't been repossessed as yet and the lady has not gone bankrupt, just her ex partner. However, although it is in her best interests to sell up asap, the estate agents and her solicitor aren't happy as there will be no proceeds from the sale so they won't get paid. So, we've offered to cover the EA fees if she can lower the price to cover the solicitors and so far everyone seems happy with the proposal, we just need to get the nod from the receivers (I think that's who we're waiting for)

I'd hate to lose it over this, so we're doing what we can and generally pestering everyone involved every day! Fingers crossed!