All financial info when offering

[tokyo1]

So we're currently looking for a house. Wow it's competitive. FTB so all very new to us. Is it normal for vendors to ask for complete financial info when you submit an offer? The vendors are asking for bank statements, proof of deposit etc etc it just seems like a lot and a little off putting as the timescale is so short. Perhaps its because they only want very serious offers only and want a quick sale? We have looked at others and this is the first time we've come across such strict specifics.

When I mean submit an offer I mean we've only just viewed the house and cannot offer unless we provide all the info they've asked for. I'm just asking whether this is usual now?

Hmm which Estate Agent?

It is normal for cash purchases, and they'd want to see a decision in principle and deposit but be wary of being pushed down the route of using their mortgage broker.

We provide the estate agent with all that info - not the vendor.

It’s normal in the market I’m in. They want to know the most secure offer, not just the highest offer. It was made clear to us that it was the fact that we were happy and able to very quickly hand over everything that was instrumental in being recommended to the vendor.

Look at estate agent act from the 70s, it's illegal for them to make you go through their financial vetting. You need to show something like proof of funds, MIP.

They want to know you can afford your offer and want the proof. It is completely normal in my experience selling my last two houses. I want to know as a seller you can afford to buy my house before I accept your offer and lose other buyers. I had a buyer withdraw 4 months down the line as they couldnt raise the mortgage it was a total PITA and down to my shite online agents who hadnt vetted them well enough.

I also had an offer from a professional couple (pharmacist and Dr) who put in the highest bid but when EA looked into the finances some was tied up in their business (pharmacy) and it was questionable they would be approved for the money needed. I would rather know that upfront that further down the line.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

They want to know you can afford your offer and want the proof. It is completely normal in my experience selling my last two houses. I want to know as a seller you can afford to buy my house before I accept your offer and lose other buyers. I had a buyer withdraw 4 months down the line as they couldnt raise the mortgage it was a total PITA and down to my shite online agents who hadnt vetted them well enough.

I also had an offer from a professional couple (pharmacist and Dr) who put in the highest bid but when EA looked into the finances some was tied up in their business (pharmacy) and it was questionable they would be approved for the money needed. I would rather know that upfront that further down the line.

Some of our money came from our business - thankfully the estate agent and the vendor understood - they both ran their own businesses, so were more clued up on why we had done this and we were seen as safe pair of hands.

hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/do-estate-agents-need-proof-of-funds/

This is what you can be asked for when putting on an offer.

When using an estate agent, they shouldn't be giving your personal information such as amount of deposit, LTV to the vendor. Unless you give express permission. You're covered by the Data Protection Act. It's none of the vendor's business how much mortgage risk you're taking on, they don't need to know how much you have in your bank account. All they need to know is that you have been approved for a mortgage, and the estate agent has seen proof of that. The estate agent can't insist you speak to their own mortgage adviser. See the estate agent act for that bit.

If you are dealing direct with a vendor that may make a difference.

I understand providing MIP info, but have no idea why anyone is prepared to share details of their bank accounts / balances with an EA.

To me it seems like a massive risk to share that info with each EA that asks. And increasingly I am being asked for it just to view, nevermind make an offer.

EA’s are not subjected to the Professional Ethic requirements that a Solicitor or Accountant works under. I also have no idea what they are doing with the info or how it is being stored and controlled.

I am happy to supply it to my Solicitor and have him confirm funds but not to just share it in any other way.

The sooner the English house buying system gets overhauled the better.

Interesting replies! Thank you for the link, that was really helpful. I wouldn't have thought to query the 'in-house' mortgage broker that EA try to push. We were told we had to be 'vetted' be allowed to view a house and that had to be done by their own MA. Who actually was really incompetent.

What happens if you own outright, and won't be having a mortgage for your next purchase?

My brother is a FTB and submitting offers at the moment, and if his offer is the highest, or on par with another, he's had to submit all financial documentation. His is to make sure his is a serious bid, to check that he's in a position to progress quickly etc.

We had an offer accepted last week and had to submit scanned copies of our ID plus proof of mortgage/deposit before the EA would take the house off the market (and cancel all the viewings for Saturday!). We had all of that scanned and ready to go as the market is so fast at the moment! These don't go to the vendor, they are just seen by the EA and ours had a portal to upload them to which seemed to be GDPR compliant (I'd be wary about scanned attachments in someone's inbox!). They should have details of data privacy etc on their website.

They want proof that you have what you say you have and can afford the offer you've made, because some people do lie about funding/being cash buyers etc and that just wastes everyone's time.

It's also likely there will be multiple people offering (we viewed on first day, along with some others, and knew they had further viewings booked for the weekend) so we presented our offer to make us as appealing as possible to elderly vendor selling longterm family home - emphasised our chain-free position, that we wanted a family home and worked locally. It's possible a vendor would accept a lower offer from someone who is more able to proceed or in a stronger financial position.

There is no need to use the EA's mortgage advisor though!

Good luck!

Oh and our offer was conditional on satisfactory survey and house being removed from market (as this cuts the risk of gazumping) so the proof we had to provide was to back this up.

@RidingMyBike

Oh and our offer was conditional on satisfactory survey and house being removed from market (as this cuts the risk of gazumping) so the proof we had to provide was to back this up.

Thank you for sharing. This is all really helpful! We have all the info ready to go also and I believe we are in a good position. However it's an 'offers over' house and we're just stuck in regards to how much to offer so they don't straight out reject it for being too low or go high and waste money we didn't need to! But you're right, the market is moving so fast right now. Lots to think about.

@thegcatsmother

What happens if you own outright, and won't be having a mortgage for your next purchase?

I assume you would show them proof of this.

Offers over is a tough one but it's still important to be realistic as your mortgage company will value the property and won't loan more than they think it's worth. So accepting a sky high offer may backfire on the vendor. Have seen two houses come back on the market recently, don't know if that was the reason (could have been awful survey or change in circs) but apparently a third of offers accepted don't get thru to completion.

Do your research and know what similar properties have sold for recently. Have all your paperwork etc ready and know which solicitor you're going to use so you are good to go. And always check the vendor's position and mention how well you fit with their timeframe (if you do!) when making the offer as they may well accept a lower offer that's going to go thru faster than a complicated higher one.

@RidingMyBike

Offers over is a tough one but it's still important to be realistic as your mortgage company will value the property and won't loan more than they think it's worth. So accepting a sky high offer may backfire on the vendor. Have seen two houses come back on the market recently, don't know if that was the reason (could have been awful survey or change in circs) but apparently a third of offers accepted don't get thru to completion.

Do your research and know what similar properties have sold for recently. Have all your paperwork etc ready and know which solicitor you're going to use so you are good to go. And always check the vendor's position and mention how well you fit with their timeframe (if you do!) when making the offer as they may well accept a lower offer that's going to go thru faster than a complicated higher one.

Thanks. We did offer slightly over on two properties which were fab but got outbid 'significantly over asking' so it just seems we have to look at much below our budget as it leaves room to go up what even is this market at the moment?! Insane. Anyway good luck with your purchase. Hope it all goes smoothly.

I got conned into using the in-house Estate Agent Mortgage advisor and terrible and made the whole process more stressful

Proof of funds is appropriate- whether that be a statement you have the cash or deposit and financing arranged. Providing bank statements is not necessary - unless only the balance is showed.

Mine was offers over and we offered the exact price. They kept me waiting a couple of weeks to see if they got a better offer though. It needed work though.

It's also v variable by area and depending what you're looking for. We've had offer accepted at 0.9% over asking price (no other offers as we got it accepted on the second day it was on the market so nobody else had had time to get one in!). Some houses here are going SSTC within days on the market - ours appeared on Rightmove on a Monday, first viewings were Thursday, our offer accepted Friday, all Saturday viewings cancelled.

Other houses are just sitting there and not selling - these are usually ones that need a lot of work doing for the price or in a less convenient location.

Proof of funds via the estate agent yes. Sending your bank statements to the sellers absolutely no way!

It's the estate agent. I was once asked for proof of funds before a viewing. I think that so many are failing through they want to weed out tinewasters.