Fed up of house chain nightmare!

[vanessakellie]

We put our house on the market in October 2012, but it took until October 2013 to get our first offer! Fortunately it was a good one and we accepted. Then started the chain nightmare! We found a place to buy, took 3 weeks to agree a price and since then it has been one problem after another with layers and layers adding themselves onto our supposed 'no forward chain' purchase. As of yesterday it looked like the whole chain would collapse, but we finally exchanged today. If you want to see the system changed to the Scottish system where vendors and buyers are legally bound to the deal at acceptance of the offer, sign my petition at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59504

[HaveToWearHeels]

Apologies, but you know what I mean. I am so often hauled over the coals when I refer to "England" rather than the UK.

[DinoSnores]

havetowearheels, you said, "I am happy with the UK system."

Last time I checked, Scotland was in the UK. It may come as a shock that the UK and England are not synonymous!

I would definitely prefer the Scottish system having bought houses in both countries.

[PrimalLass]

I think most people have one in mind. It's not like you don't look until the day you get an offer.

[HaveToWearHeels]

offblackeggshell my worry wouldn't be about lining up the moving dates it would be rushing to find a property after selling and settling for a property.

[offblackeggshell]

I've never heard of anyone having to rent in Scotland just because they couldn't get their moving dates to line up. Many many moons ago (1970s 1980s) I remember people having bridging loans for a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks, but I don't remember the last time I heard of it.

[PrimalLass]

We did nearly rent, but that was because we could not agree which side of the country to move to. Thankfully we found something, completed missives in 1 week and moved in and rented it for a few weeks while the mortgage was sorted.

[DreamingAlice]

I sold and bought recently in Scotland. We actually offered before we sold, as my it was our dream house but which my solicitor advised against. I went for it though I was pretty sure we would sell quickly, and we did- in 4 days. So it is do-able.

In most cases, people do sell before they buy somewhere else but as others have said upthread, you can set a reasonable entry date, you don't need to move in 4 weeks. We gave our sellers six months as an entry date, under the particular circumstances.

I think the main difference in Scotland is that gazumping is unusual (you normally have to change solicitors if you want to accept a higher offer after your property is already under offer) and also exchanging happens much, much quicker. Which means less time for people to screw around, change their minds, collapse chains, etc.

[deste]

I don't think I know anyone who had to rent while looking for a house. You agree on a moving in date and that can be any length of time. Weeks or months possibly. We are selling England and I can tell you we have never been so stressed ever, it's been going on for months.

[PrimalLass]

Horses for courses.

[HaveToWearHeels]

I am sure they haven't been homeless but maybe not in what they really wanted or have to put up with rented for a while.
I really don't mind waiting for the right house, as long as it goes through.
I waited a year for the house I am in now. We exchanged 4 week after we offered and then completed 11 months later.

[PrimalLass]

But all the taking your time is what everyone complains about on here.

No. If you offer your house up for sale you should be prepared to sell it. No one I know had ended up homeless. Maybe we are just less fussy?

[HaveToWearHeels]

Luckily every house sale/purchase I have made has gone according to plan. No one have ever pulled out either seller or purchaser.

[Turnipinatutu]

I would agree.
Both systems appear to have their flaws. And both have potential to waste vast amounts of money!

[HaveToWearHeels]

Ok so I thought you had to have a survey before you put in an offer which would effectively be wasted if you were pipped at the post by slightly higher offer. That has obviously changed.
But I stand by my decision that I will not back any petition to change to the Scottish system. It all seems completely rushed.
So I get an offer on my house (which I have to do first according to your post Primal) which could go through in 4 weeks. I then have to rush around finding somewhere to go and if I don't I could be forced into rental. Which of course would also be a rushed decision.
If you find your dream home and haven't sold yours there is no room for maneuver, you offer on it and have to somehow find the money to complete in 4 weeks. You can't ask the seller to wait until you have sold yours ?
For example my friend has been wanting to move for nearly 2 years, in the current market her house will sell quickly. She has a very small search area and due to popularity she has struggled to find anywhere. She has been "offered" a house before it goes on the market, by a lady that is downsizing but again has found no where to go. Friend has just agreed to purchase this house for full asking price and will wait until the lady has found somewhere. When this lady has found somewhere my friend will market her house. This could never happen under the Scottish system. Some one would have to go into rented at some point.

[Turnipinatutu]

So you cant take your time finding the right house then?

[PrimalLass]

You get an offer on yours first, usually. It tends to work OK, somehow. Mostly because the legal side works really quickly and the survey (home report) is done upfront so no faffing around for weeks waiting for that. Plus I don't think solicitors put forward an offer unless you have a mortgage agreement in principle.

Twice we have completed in 4 weeks. But if we had not found somewhere we would have had to rent.

We did miss out on a nice house that way, but it's just tough.

People are just more ready to commit when they go into the process I think.

[Turnipinatutu]

Excuse me being thick here, but how does the no chain thing work?
Surely you can't commit to buying a property if you haven't sold your last one. Where does the money come from? Does everyone getting some sort of bridging loans? If you sell your property before buying the next, is it normal to have to rent?

[PrimalLass]

The open viewings times in Edinburgh works very well. Except when you are selling and trying to buy at the same time, and can't be in two places at once!

[holidaysarenice]

Except where I live in scotland its still offers over.

Opening viewing = no way. It just causes a bidding war. Often people set up to make it look more interesting so that if its sealed bids you think you have more competition.

Sealed bids you have no idea who's offering what. Ridiculous.

Oh and for highly competitive properties if you wait for an opening viewing it will be long gone.

[peggyundercrackers]

I'm in Scotland and agree with primal, the Scottish system seems much quicker and sales don't seem to fail as much as they do down south. When we moved 4yrs ago we sold our house, bought a new one and moved into it all within 4 weeks whereas someone I work with in England took nearly 12 weeks to do it all, he couldn't believe it could happen so quickly here.

[Underthemountain]

That's a very good summary.

[PrimalLass]

I haven't sold for 5 years, but I think this is how it goes at the moment. Anyone please jump in to correct me if I've got it wrong.

Buyer:

• Find a solicitor to act for you.
  
• View property. (Buying in Edinburgh is great because there is usually open viewing on Thursday nights and/or Sunday afternoon, which means buyers can get round a few properties in the 2-hour slots. And if you really like one you can phone and try to view it before the Thursday.)
  
• Check home report, which is independent and usually available with the house details online.
  
• Make an offer via solicitor. This includes an entry date.
  
• Conclude missives. Entry date and contract is now binding.
  
• Move in on date agreed whether you have sold your house or finished your rental contract or not.
  

Seller:

• Engage a solicitor that has a property department.
  
• Solicitor arranges home report (survey) - by law this must be done before the house can go on the market.
  
• Market at HR value or round about it. Usually 'offers in the region of' or 'fixed price'. With the market picking up I suppose there may be some 'o/o' pricing coming back for top properties. We sold in 2009 when the market was shafted at 15k under the HR value.
  
• House goes on the area's solicitors property website (espc, aspc, tspc, gspc etc. - like Rightmove but was around long before it I think.)
  
• Do viewings. Most sellers do these themselves here.
  
• Agree price, including date.
  
• Conclude missives.
  
• Move on date agreed whether you have bought a house to go to or not.
  

People seem more committed to buying and selling from the outset. No testing the market (too expensive for sellers because of HR cost) and no sellers making an offer and pulling out because the legal side moves very quickly.

[HaveToWearHeels]

OK explain the Scottish System to me then ?

[Underthemountain]

I totally agree primal.

[PrimalLass]

No, you said there was too much money wasted in the Scottish system (untrue these days because we did keep home reports unlike the Conservative Govt, so it is a great saving for buyers and sellers have to be realistic) and that you don't like the offers over system (that has been mostly negated for the same reasons as the money wasted survey point).