Lying about lack of chain

[housebuyingistheworst]

As you can gather from my name, my property search has been going as smoothly as dancing in stilettos on a swamp. I've seen three nice properties recently, but the owners are still living in them. Different agents. All vendors are supposedly moving in with their kids/into rented which then magically became "their daughter's house". Is it just me, or are baby boomers becoming more boomerangy than millennials? or are the estate agents lying, as usual? I won't put an offer in because at this point empty properties are least likely to cause me massive problems, but I wonder if anyone else has experienced a bogus non chain purchase. Once you've spent hundreds of pounds you're unlikely to just pull out due to a sudden appearance of a hidden chain.

Er, I've bought quite a few properties in my lifetime, and all of them were the vendors homes, so yes, they were living in them. This is not an unusual state of affairs.
If you only want to purchase an unoccupied property, you should make that clear to agents, or perhaps buy at auction, where the time scales for purchase are pre-set.

How will an empty property cause you massive problems?

Yes, buy at an auction if you want to buy an empty house.

Empty houses are usually harder to sell as they look run down and unloved.

We didn’t want a chain for various reasons (mainly speed that we wanted to move) so we bought a new build property that had recently been completed and the development was coming to an end.

Meant that we could pretty much dictate the speed we wanted to move and get a discount because they wanted it off their hands.

Do you live in the UK? This is is normal in the UK not so in the US so maybe that's clouding your judgement. Our last purchase was an empty property being sold by the deceased children. Turned out 24 hours before exchange they didn't actually have probate. So an empty property is no safer imo

All vendors are supposedly moving in with their kids/into rented which then magically became "their daughter's house".
Moving in with their kids and moving into their daughters house are the same thing.
They're still not in a chain if they're not buying another property, I don't see your problem really.

I don't think many people can afford to buy a house without selling their current one so the majority of properties will be occupied.
We're selling an empty property and it's been hard to sell, two people thought it was haunted and that's why we weren't living in it

House buying and selling is very stressful but if you are only interested in empty homes (which is the minority really) then why are you looking round homes that are inhabited? That's down to you, surely?

Just tell the EA that you only want to look round empty houses and the job is done, or buy a new build as Yah suggested.

I don't understand what you mean about moving in with family that suddenly turns into the daughter's house - isn't that the family they are moving in with?

All vendors are supposedly moving in with their kids/into rented which then magically became "their daughter's house". Is it just me, or are baby boomers becoming more boomerangy than millennials?

We had a bogus non-chain. We weren’t bothered by buying an empty property but we were chain-free (had moved out of rental and were living with family) and the vendor / his EA both told us he was moving back in with his parents after his relationship split which was the reason for the sale. Excellent, we thought, this should be a fairly quick process.

Four and a half months later, we had to threaten to pull out (and mean it) to get to exchange and completion, because he was trying to line up completion on this sale with him completing on the house he was suddenly buying So I do empathise OP.

Failing to see the justification for the ageist pop at baby boomers.
Living in a property doesn't mean that there will necessarily be a hidden chain. There are all sorts of reasons for selling up but not needing to purchase another property.
YABU.

I meant, I now only want empty properties (probate). If occupied, only rented out. What I meant is that it's weird that all these people move in with their kids and the truth is more likely to be that they want to downside or relocate so there is a chain that the agent is trying to hide to get a quicker sale. Chains out people off. The thing about moving in with daughter - on Monday the agent said they're moving into rented accommodation, on Tuesday the same people are suddenly moving in with their daughter. The other two at least kept saying the same hung for more than 24h.

Downsize, not downside

The same thing *, sorry about the typos but you get the gist. After the number of lies I've been told by agents to date, it's hard to believe anything they say anymore.

I think you're making a big deal out of nothing. Whether they're moving into rented or with family, is still is absolutely chain-free.

@KnickerBockerAndrew maybe they really are. Or maybe after the survey and searches the agents will announce that they still haven't found a property so I need to wait (see similar threads on MSE). Or even assuming now they do want to live with their kids, they may start having second thoughts and withdraw the property from the market (it's happened to me once already). I'm saying that now I'd only take that risk for a dream house.

I think you're making major generalisations here. Basically house buying and selling is a total minefield in this country and you will get decent buyers and sellers of any age, and a few rogue ones likewise. Speaking as a dreaded boomer here, when we were selling our period house we told our buyers that if necessary we were prepared to go into rented. For us the priority was always to sell, as we owned a quirky old cottage which we believed we wouldn't sell easily. We actually sold in a fortnight , found a property we wanted to buy and started negotiating. However we honoured our promise and exchanged contracts on our sale without having exchanged on our onwards purchase. Luckily this did happen a few weeks later and we actually accommodated our buyers by delaying completion at their request. You're limiting your choices by such a negative attitude.

An empty property doesn't necessarily mean a quick easy transaction. There are often other problems with empty properties which may slow the legal process down.

If it's a probate property, check that probate has been granted. Probate properties are often put up for sale while the probate is still being applied for.

Is the property registered at Land Registry? An unregistered property will mean that the vendor has to provide all the old deeds and documents to prove ownership, otherwise they cannot sell. Executors of a probate property may have difficulty locating the paperwork which will delay matters if they cannot prove ownership and authority to sell.

Sellers of empty properties may never have lived in the property and will therefore have very limited knowledge. If there have been any works/alterations/extensions on the property, the sellers may have no paperwork or knowledge and you will have no guarantees that the work was done to an acceptable standard, nor any certificates. Obviously this may not matter if you are intending to refurbish.

If the empty property is a repossession, then the property will stay on the market until exchange. Any higher offer received during the period to exchange may be accepted over yours. Repossession properties may not have working utilities and the general maintenance may be non-existent. Again, you are unlikely to receive any guarantees and will have to accept the property as is.

Bear in mind that EAs want to sell. They don't check facts and do embellish the truth. They work for the seller and the seller pays their commission on completion of the sale. That's all that matters to the EA.

the 'I'll move in with my daughter' was a lie in our case, we also had to threaten to pull out when all of a sudden it turned into a chain. It happens because people don't want to move twice. In the end she did do it. I did move into a rental to break our sales chain but it is rare.

no property is chain free unless actually empty, and as mentioned even probate is hassle. But if you will only look at chain free places you'll be looking a long time.

I think you're being overly suspicious but you're perfectly within your rights to only consider vacant properties. You'll be massively narrowing your options though.

Ours was an empty house when we put in an offer, we found out no probate! It took 6 months. Not sure how probate works but the house had been empty 5 years!

Dont just blame the agent - often both buyers and sellers tell the agent lies or sometimes simply change their minds!

Whether they go into rented or stay with family, that's still not a chain. 🤷 You sound surprised that the houses are occupied?

@BarrenFieldofFucks no need to be sarcastic. I've had such rotten experiences with estate agents and vendors that I'd be crazy not to be suspicious at this point. I also find it strange that so many people who aren't quite senile decide to move in with their kids. Last time I checked the UK wasn't too big on multigenrational households (care homes are preferable). As I said, for a great house, I'd take the risk them changing their minds /revealing a chain. But so far the nicest houses I've seen happened to be vacant (probate).

The plan is - be more machiavellian than the agents and vendors. I used to be sympathetic to them, but now I only look out for my own happiness and interests.

We have spent thousands and now the chain gas appeared. We have given them till close or the day today to get it sorted or we are out. It's not worth the stress or the anxiety and myself and DH are done. Good luck and house buying is shite.

I'm 33 and have just sold our lived in house with no chain, we are moving in with FIL as the house we are purchasing needs renovating so although I guess technically there is a 'chain' Our sale is not dependent on us moving in to our purchase, we actually want the sale to proceed quickly as it is longer for us to save while at FIL waiting for completion of the purchase. Not a Baby Boomer, nor lying about the lack of chain.

In the past it was called 'the cheque is in the post'
Now it is - 'we can move really quickly because' :
We are in rented - meaning (we still have a property elsewhere to sell to raise the funds needed for the purchase)
We are cash buyers - meaning (we will have the cash once we have sold our property)
We will move into rented/relatives - meaning (no we wont but it helps to clinch a sale!
Have friends who have experienced all of the above!
Why are people so deceitful?