Asking seller to take property off the market

[LindaMum]

I know there is no straight forward answer to this question but I wanted to know your views & experience on how to go about and what does it take to ask seller/EA to take property off the market after offer has been accepted. I don't want to get gazumped.
I'm aware that property's status can be changed to

• Under Offer
• SSTC
• Completely taken off the market

Let me know what can I do from my side

If you are in a good position to move and the seller is currently happy with your offer, it's worth stipulating with your offer. They can reject the stipulation and then you have the right to withdraw your offer. Or they accept both.

It will not neccessarily be binding since if someone came in with a whole lot more I presume the seller could withdraw their home entirely and relaunch it later ... but a good EA or solicitor could tell us all.

Yes I would generally make this a condition of my offer ie “We will pay £x but house to be taken off the market immediately”

If you’ve already offered and had it accepted but didn’t make this a condition of the offer you’re in a bit of a weaker position. How have they marked it on the listing? Under offer and SSTC are the same thing really.

Both houses I’ve purchased my offer was made with the condition it was taken off the market.

With the house we were buying recently (it fell through in the end just before exchange), the estate agents said they didn't put SSTC/Under Offer on Rightmove or formally take it off the market until further down the line eg when a survey has been undertaken. We weren't having a survey so said that as we'd already paid £1k to the solicitors to start the purchase going at our end, that should be sufficient and they agreed.

The house went back on the market at the start of March (after our purchase fell through) and we know it went under offer again a few weeks later because their new buyers solicitor waned to buy our search results from us. A few weeks on and it's still showing as for sale online but clearly the new buyers don't mind that uncertainty.

*wanted

what does it take to ask seller/EA to take property off the market after offer has been accepted.
Have you proved to the EA that you are proceedable, that you have the funds?

I've always stipulated that the property comes off the market but I've always been in the position of either well on the way to completing on my own property or we've sold ours and are in rented (so no chain).

I have had one person ask for the property to come off the market when they were still trying to sell their property and I refused. I have accepted taking it off the market for people whose chain is nearing exchange or if they're FTB but not if they still have to sell their property or they've just got an offer - too much can happen and I got stung in the past by taking it off the market and the buyer just twiddled their thumbs waiting for a good offer on their property.

@senua

what does it take to ask seller/EA to take property off the market after offer has been accepted. Have you proved to the EA that you are proceedable, that you have the funds?

Yes, I've mentioned that I'm proceedable and that I've funds.

As pp said, you can make your offer based on them taking the house off the market (along with other things), though they'll unlikely fully accept the offer and do that until your financial situation is fully proven and you go through the identity and anti-laundering checks required.

Every property I've bought (20+) has always been taken off the market when the offer was accepted. I can remember back in the heady 80s agents still showing, but I don't believe it is common now.
Agents not putting 'under offer' on rightmove is an annoying thing - every one I've rung about that is under offer they refuse to show, so it begs the question as to why it is not listed as unavailable.

I have always said the offer is subject to it being taken off the market and viewings stop.

Last time I bought, in a fast moving sellers market, my vendors EA stipulated that if I had not instructed my solicitor and commissioned a survey by a certain date, they could re market. Our EA said the same to our buyers.

When I bought recently, the property was marked SSTC after the Memorandum of Sale was completed and issued.

For the Memorandum of sale to be issued, which is basically written evidence of the offer, you need to have supplied as buyer evidence if funds (evidence of deposit/funds and mortgage offer if you need one) and have appointed your solicitor and that’s been confirmed. They will also need to do identity checks so get all your paperwork copies of passport etc in. Naming the surveyor you will use also helps. Many people won’t book the surveyor to actually go until the property is marked SSTC and that’s reasonable.

The Memo Of Sale is shared with the seller and buyer. It means you’re officially proceedable and lots of EAs won’t remove property from market until that is completed. Too many people make an offer and then it turns out they don’t have the finance in place. They might say they’re a cash buyer, but when asked for evidence of funds it turns out they aren’t. Or they can’t get a mortgage, or they drag their heels to appoint a solicitor.

The key for you as buyer is to provide these things ASAP. Some people give them to EAs before making an offer to show they are serious buyers. Others deliver them on the day they make the offer.

If you are seriously house hunting and havent got this paperwork together, then do it now. If you don’t, the period when other buyers can look at the property is longer and there’s greater risk of a higher offer or better buyer in terms of oroceedability appearing. You can never guarantee until exchange a sale will go through and some sellers will switch buyer at any point, but many won’t after the ball is rolling and they’ve got the Memo of Sale and you’ve started forking out for survey etc.

Essentially, do everything you can to show you’re proceedable and serious. Dont just say it but evidence it with the paperwork. Realise gathering this stuff can take a while so do it before starting to look so you can drop it off at a moments notice as required. Remember often only hard copies will do and emailed versions won’t be accepted. Sometimes you’ll need to get things certified or witnessed so work out who will do that for you and choose people you can easily access. You do t want delays of a week because you can’t see the person who needs to certify a document.

It is a fast and hot market at the moment. EAs will be less keen to mark as Under Offer or SSTC until they have all the evidence and have issued the Memo of Sale. If they pull it too fast, they lose out as lots of people who offer turn out. Jot to be oroceedable and the. The EA has lost viewings and possible offers during the time they were finding this out.

In slower or colder markets you might have more leverage to push for it to be removed faster, but unlikely at moment.

It isn’t unreasonable and you just have to supply the paperwork and expect to proceed with solicitor starting searches and booking surveys very quickly.