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Original poster

Buyers mortgage broker advising not to start searches - WWYD?

26 replies

Calicopromise · 26/07/2021 09:25

We accepted an offer on our house at the beginning of June. We’ve found a house, have had our mortgage offer and commenced searches. Our buyers are still in the process of getting their mortgage sorted and their broker is advising them not to start any searches until that’s done.

We are conflicted on what to do. My husband spoke to a friend who is an EA, he said put the house back on the market because they’re making no commitment to buying and if the broker is advising that there’s likely a problem. Until last week we were under the impression that their searches were in process and we were all aiming for completion early September. Any words of wisdom?

OP posts:

Wrenegade · 26/07/2021 09:36

Hi,
I am currently in the process of buying and I was given the same advice actually. The solicitors recommended not starting the searches until we had our mortgage offer because if we didn't get the mortgage offer we would have wasted money on the searches.

Sure enough the survey came back and the property had so many issues the mortgage lender wouldn't give us the mortgage offer meaning we wasted £400 on the solicitor's searches.

This time around we have waited for the mortgage offer before instructing the searches to be done.

Tulipvase · 26/07/2021 09:44

We bought and sold last year and it was our solicitor that advised holding off on the searches as she said once ordered we would have to pay regardless and she used a private company (xpress?) so it didn’t actually hold up the process. In our case there was a small boundary issue she was worried about (and our buyer was a bit of a pain so I think she thought there was a fair chance that it could fall through).

However, I’m not sure why the mortgage broker would be advising holding off, I think I would want clarification on that.

Original poster

Calicopromise · 26/07/2021 09:53

Thank you for your replies. It’s reassuring to hear that other buyers have had similar advice but yes, I think the main concern is that this has come from the broker suggesting they may not be confident the mortgage will come through.

How long do you think is reasonable to wait for their mortgage offer? We are now at 8 weeks.

OP posts:

senua · 26/07/2021 09:58

I thought the current idea was that you got a mortgage-in-principle and EA didn't countenance an offer from anyone without one. This is on your EA - they shouldn't have suggested that you accept from somebody who wasn't proceedable.
Tell your buyers that they are still the preferred bidder but if somebody else comes along who is in a better position then you are open to offers.

Wrenegade · 26/07/2021 10:00

I see what you mean about the advice coming from the mortgage broker, it could be that they have a concern or are they acting as a go between for the solicitors? Have they had the survey completed on your house yet?

I think our mortgage offer took 11 weeks but we were waiting on the surveyor’s report to be sent to the mortgage lender.

Thisisanartattack · 26/07/2021 10:03

8 weeks is a long time for a mortgage offer, have they had a survey booked yet? We had this same problem with our buyers, it turned out they were struggling to get the mortgage and had been declined by a few lenders. I gave them a deadline of a couple of weeks to get the survey booked or it went back on. I ended up putting it back on, sold the same day for more money and this person had their mortgage offer within a week.

DeeplyMovingExperience · 26/07/2021 10:10

We had to give proof that we were proceedable before our offer was accepted. It's pointless waiting for a potential buyer who cannot show that they are in a position to actually buy your house.

Keep marketing until you find a buyer who is ready to go (and can prove it).

Outnumbered99 · 26/07/2021 10:12

Given the service standards of some of the lenders although 8 weeks is a long time and pre-covid would have been unheard of sadly at the moment we see that time delay often a couple of lenders spring to mind immediately.
It sounds like the broker is acting in their clients best interests to me but you wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for some further information or clarification from the buyers.

Original poster

Calicopromise · 26/07/2021 10:12

No, they’ve had no survey yet. Our mortgage offer was finalised within two weeks but I know the whole market is weird at the moment so thought perhaps I was being unfair. I think we will have to give a deadline and potentially go back on the market.

OP posts:

niki26 · 26/07/2021 10:22

@DeeplyMovingExperience but surely no buyer will have a mortgage ready to go because you don't do the full application until you find a property. We got an AIP within a couple of hours from our broker and used that to make offers etc.....but we still had to do a full application when we found the right house.

The mortgage company then asked a few more questions and for a few more docs - it took another couple of weeks to get the offer.

I don't know - that's how it was for us anyway!

KnobJockey · 26/07/2021 10:29

So annoying. We sold our house, no chain either end. Our buyer put the offer in in October. The mortgage offer took til March to come through, so we didn't complete til the 30th April (5-6 weeks from mortgage offer to completion, and that included a weeks delay for a query). So 6 months to complete.

KnobJockey · 26/07/2021 10:32

For that- they took a week or two to put a full application, the mortgage company took about 7- 8 weeks to send out a surveyor, they requested a full damp survey on the property. This was done and back to them within 2 weeks, they took a month to make a decision, then about the same again to get official paperwork out. Even though they agreed to it, the buyers said no searches- or even a retention fee to the estate agent- until the paper copies of the mortgage were received.

DeeplyMovingExperience · 26/07/2021 10:38

To expedite the process, it's possible to commission all the relevant searches through your own solicitor and have them available in as part of a vendor's pack.

Getting all the paperwork prepared in advance makes a big difference. All the guarantees for any work done, previous conveyance pack from when you originally bought the property, damp inspections etc. You can even commission your own survey if you don't mind spending the money.

Thisisanartattack · 26/07/2021 10:40

@DeeplyMovingExperience our buyers had an AIP but still couldn’t get an offer. Anyone can input details to generate an AIP it doesn’t guarantee an offer

Livingintheclouds · 26/07/2021 16:34

@DeeplyMovingExperience I was advised by my lawyer against that. The person who pays for the survey and searches are the ones covered, not a third party. So say they buy the house and find it's riddled with woodworm that the survey should have picked up - the buyers have no comeback to the surveyor as they didn't pay for it. Likewise if the searches miss anything.
OP I'd give a deadline. Get their finances sorted or you are putting it back on the market.

optimisticpessimist01 · 26/07/2021 17:18

Our solicitors advised us to wait until the mortgage offer and homebuyers survey had been completed before conducting searches.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 26/07/2021 17:42

How long do you think is reasonable to wait for their mortgage offer? We are now at 8 weeks

Oof. We had our mortgage appointment last week - had to wait 2 days for the appointment, and Barclays said the offer might take four working days, but it was in by the next lunchtime, with the hard copy letter received the next day.

We were advised not to do searches until we have the offer & survey back, so I don’t think that’s unusual advice at the moment, but 8 weeks feels like a really long time to be waiting for a standard mortgage offer.

Polly99 · 26/07/2021 19:45

An offer in principle can be sorted in hours. A formal offer following valuation will take a bit longer. If they haven't sorted their finance after 8 weeks then I'd suggest they are unable to do so. Put it back on the market and only take it off when you have an offer from a buyer who has their mortgage offer in place.

NelleBee · 26/07/2021 20:57

My experience of this was we had a DIP, and put in offer which was accepted. Broker applied for mortgage, solicitors were appointed.

Solicitor didn’t suggest we wait for searches and reminded us twice over a 10 day period we needed to send the money for the searches. It had occurred to me that if anything went wrong with the mortgage we would lose out search monies which I why I held off at first. But the broker seemed super confident we would get a mortgage and I knew searches were taking ages the area (10 weeks on average). So we instructed the solicitor to do the searches. I knew it was a gamble but thought it worth the risk as we would lose more money if we missed stamp duty holiday deadline.

Next thing broker is messaging saying why have you instructed searches I told you not to instruct searches until you got your mortgage offer. If you don’t get your offer you’ll have wasted your money. I was panicking then as I lost confidence and thought what does the broker know that he’s not saying. As yeah, it made me feel like he wasn’t confident we would get an offer.

Fortunately we did get the mortgage offer but it took a over month. I was glad I did searches though as we would’ve missed stamp duty holiday deadline if I hadn’t.

In a nutshell it does seem to be the advice brokers are giving. And there was no reason to think I wouldn’t get the mortgage (excellent credit and asking for way less than the maximum) other than there being an issue with the house survey/valuation.

Thisisanartattack · 27/07/2021 21:03

Did you make a decision OP?

MortgageBroker · 27/07/2021 23:29

always advise clients not to start legal work until Mortgage offer is issued, nothing is guaranteed until then unless you have the cash to buy.

Stef92 · 27/07/2021 23:38

You do not carry out the searches until you are in receipt of your mortgage offer. Yes they could have a decision in principle but until an underwriter has verified their income (people do lie on applications so it needs checking) and a valuation has been carried out on the property they are purchasing there is still doubt as to whether the mortgage will be offered. You may think your house is fine, and it probably is, but a valuation survey can pick up on things such as damp and a report may need to be carried out or may not value the property at the agreed purchase price which could issues for loan to value. If searches were carried out and then the application fell through then the buyer would be liable for paying the solicitor.

Mortgage applications can take a few days or a few weeks depending on the lender. As long as you're getting updates I wouldn't worry too much. Mortgage market is flooded at the moment so timescales will be a bit longer than usual

LemonSwan · 27/07/2021 23:45

We are 10 weeks into conveyancing - searches paid on day 1.

Only just got a mortgage issued yesterday on third attempt.

So no idea why they haven't paid for searches. Its a miniscule fee in comparison to the cost of buying a house.

SpeakingFranglais · 28/07/2021 06:33

DDs mortgage broker recommended not even instructing a solicitor until she had her mortgage offer, but, he was shit hot, she had a good deposit and credit history and he worked very closely with one firm of solicitors that he passed all the work he could to (he got commission).

The mortgage was approved in about three weeks and the solicitor was then straight onto the searches.

Palavah · 28/07/2021 06:41

I think the key question is whether they have submitted their mortgage application, and when. As a PP says, if they've not done that by now then they don't sound committed.

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