Why would agent ask us to view more properties after sale agreed?

[katsucurry]

We are FTBs and had an offer accepted on a property a couple of weeks ago. This was certified by their in house financial advisor and the property was taken off the market. We had a building survey on Thursday.

I received a call from them today and they explained that the seller has dementia and her son is currently acting on her behalf.

Reading between the lines it seems the agent was suggesting the sale is likely not to ago ahead.

I was told that whilst they weren't saying it wouldn't proceed, they encouraged us to attend a number of other viewings with them this week, so as not to "put all your eggs in one basket" and that the son was hoping to review the situation on Thursday (?)

This isn't good news surely!? Why would they want us viewing other things, there must be something that leads them to think a sale is very unlikely.

Really deflated

Doesn't sound it but if the son is acting for his Laurent as opposed to having power of attorney then yes, he can't sell without going through the court of protection which takes for ever

Acting for his parent !

Had you had a memorandum of sale with the seller's name and solicitor details before you instructed your survey?

The problem with the seller having dementia is that she may not have capacity to agree to the sale. Do you know if the son has power of attorney? Ask your solicitor to clarify the situation with the seller's solicitor.

We had an offer accepted email from the estate agent on headed paper. I'm not sure if this is considered a memorandum of sale though?

I don't think the son does have PoA at this stage, the seller accompanied us on the viewing and answered our queations. We were then told the agents were communicating with the son now the sale had been agreed.

Odd that an estate agent would advise this but if I was you I would keep looking anyway. You May see something that suits you better.

The memorandum of sale would usually be sent to your solicitor, not you. Your seller will have to go through various legal checks etc and have forms to fill in certifying that they are authorised to sell the property and they have capacity to understand what they are doing. if the seller has dementia and the son does not have power of attorney this could be a problem.

Unless the son has a power of attorney already registered that just hasn't been activated yet he cannot now apply for one if the seller does not have capacity.

I would go to the other viewings with an open mind ( while trying to find our exactly where you stand...)

Thanks for the advice. In that case I believe the memorandum was sent to my solicitor as it was mentioned very early on that all the necessary paperwork has been sent.

I think I need to call the estate agent to clarify the position re power of attorney and take it from there. I get the impression the son is just helping her with the transaction and she still has the capacity to act for herself however, as the offer was put to her directly and she told them she'd think about it overnight. So I don't know if that's promising?

Just so strange that they'd encourage us to look elsewhere at this point.

Call your solicitor. The agent sounds dubious.

@jojo I have done! Agreed it best to err on the side of caution at the moment and stop any further work, and to update when I have more info. So that's one less thing to worry about.

The agent obviously strongly suspects that the property is going to be withdrawn from sale, for whatever reason, with a final decision being reached by Thursday. Sellers do change their minds all the time and there's nothing to be done about it - right up to the point of exchange of contracts. I would take the agent's advice - they won't want to lose the sale so if they think it's not going to progress they're probably right.

Agree the agent is concerned about this one. If they are telling you to keep looking then read between the lines and do so.

I'm inclined to agree. Better get back on Rightmove...