House sale stress

[Eugenie76]

We accepted an offer 2 weeks ago on our house. We then offered on a new house. This offer has been accepted. We have given our solicitors details to both estate agents. Our buyer has not given his solicitors details so I feel that I don't want to pay for searches etc until he has. Is it usual for a buyer to have not done this after 2 weeks? He is a cash buyer.

Join the club! The first rule of house selling ( and buying ) is to accept most people involved will stretch the truth. Large sums of money are involved and people are looking out for themselves!

This is why it is one of the most stressful things you can do. Try to verify everything through your EA and solicitor. But remember your EA is also in it for the money!

Your buyer should have their solicitor ready. Are you sure they are cash buyers?

Before completely accepting an offer we are asking for solicitors names and purchasing timescales. However, we have just wasted 2 months on a purchaser who could not proceed with the deal!

Nothing is perfect, back to square one! Good luck.

Your buyer may be ensuring they have the mortgage application underway first? Speak to the estate agent and get them to contact the buyer and ask about the solicitor.

The EA says he's a cash buyer who wants to rent it out. So it seems strange to me that he hasn't instructed a solicitor. He asked for my phone number to ask a few questions about the kitchen extension and seemed genuine to me. But perhaps I need to suggest the EA chases him. I'm feeling responsible for the rest of the chain!

As an investor he may be offering on multiple properties, before deciding which to proceed with.

Maybe suggest you will not take the property off the market until you believe he is committed to the purchase, which can be shown by instructing a solicitor and then other steps in a defined time line. When we sold our house we said they needed to commit to survey (i.e. expense) within a week to show they were serious. As a cash buyer he may not bother with survey, so talk to the estate agent and work out if there are other steps to show commitment.

This is why some EA now ask the buyer for a £1000 deposit on making an offer which is given to the seller if they back out or returned to the buyer if the sale proceeds to completion

Unless your buyer instructs a solicitor, your solicitor will not be able to start work on your sale. Normally all the solicitors involved will acknowledge each other before work gets underway. If one of the solicitors in the process is unknown then work cannot start (except on your purchase, but your solicitor has to wait for the contract papers to arrive).