About to put our house up for sale...anyone else? Part Two!

[InTheCludgie]

Hi everyone here is the new thread for those of us who are about to, or are currently trying to, sell our homes!

So we are now back on the market and have a viewing tomorrow morning, plus one for early next week. This week is a bit tricky as it's DS's birthday so have had to say no to a couple of suggested times for viewings.

How is everyone else getting on?

We have a viewing today! Only one this week. Wish us luck! 😂

@manateeandcake I’m an architect. If it’s a lawful development certificate that was refused then that’s not as bad as a full planning application being refused.

The scope of what is considered for the lawful development certificate application is really narrow and there is often no room for discussion. It doesn’t go to formal consultation and the decision is often made by a single planning officer. I’ve know cases where the plans have been interpreted in an unexpected way and when applied for again with more detail shown it’s been approved.

A few options - someone could actually check the volumes and all may be fine, another lawful development certificate could be applied for that is more explicit in the documentation about what the volumes are and how they are calculated.

Also though you don’t actually need a certificate of lawfulness if the work is permitted development.

If it actually isn’t P.D. Then if it’s been a certain number of years it doesn’t matter anyway, the council can’t ask you take it down. I can’t say the number years because I have to double check every time! You can apply for another certificate to say that it’s lawful purely on the basis that it’s been up for so long.

A full planning application could be submitted retrospectively, if the house is in a street where lots of other loft conversions have been done and there’s no impact on the existing street scene I’d probably be approved without the council thinking too much about it. Though there is of course the risk that they ask for something to be changed.

Or as PP said the buyer can take out and indemnity for it and you can just leave it.

Though I can see why it’s stressful if you like the house I wouldn’t let it put you off too much.

• seller take out an indemnity

@PinkPlantCase Thank you -- that is all very helpful. It is a lawful development certificate that was refused. The vendor and the vendor's architect maintain that the work fell within permitted development all along and that the council miscalculated the volume. We have been sent the architect's drawing showing that the volume is just below the maximum for PD. We are sending this to an architect friend of ours to have a look at.

Also, the work was completed very nearly four years ago and from what I've read, it looks like it would become unenforceable after four years. The vendor's EA says that they have made or are about to make another application to the council for a certificate but I'm not sure if this is on the basis of more detailed information, or the 4 year thing.

I haven't compared it closely to other loft conversions on the street, but it doesn't look unusual in any way. I'm feeling more reassured now, but the surveyor really put the wind up me.

Good look with your viewing today!

So my viewer yesterday stayed for 45 minutes, which is pretty impressive when you consider I live in a two up two down. He brought a measuring tape and started measuring all round the livingroom, asked a ton of questions about everything and climbed fully into the loft to check head height for prospective conversion as he was quite a tall guy.

EA should be calling him today for a chat so hoping it'll be good news. He was telling me he has six notes of interest on his own place (ok for some!) so no doubt he will go to closing date.

That sounds hopeful @InTheCludgie ! Fingers crossed he makes a good offer.

That does sound really positive @InTheCludgie . I had positive feedback from the agents after the viewings today and one offer quite a bit over asking price already! They advised I wait to see what else comes out of today. The prospective buyer is under offer on their property but apparently there were some interested first time buyers too. I might need to seriously start looking at rentals down south soon. It’s hard to find places that will do just a 6 month initial contract rather than a year.

HI- mine went up for sale 6 weeks ago and I got an offer over the asking price after 3 weeks, its fallen flat though as the buyer could not produce ID for her joint applicant who lives overseas. My house was never marked as sold, but viewings are being organised by the agents for next weekend when I'm away. I'm aware the market is slowing but there are still people out there looking to invest, or needing a home so its not dead in the water. Must say I've had my fill of estate agents though.

We're struggling to sell our property. It's been up for two weeks and we had an open house this weekend. 7 booked in, all but 2 cancelled. No offers. I can't help but feel really deflated. Any reassurance right now would be good.

With both of us working from home and a baby on the way we really have to move despite the current situation 😭 Hoping for good vibes.

I know two weeks isn't a lot but I'd have thought anyone interested would have made themselves known and I can't see anyone who doesn't have to choosing to buy now. Maybe I'm just really negative.

@girlboss94 It’s not too late to get offers from the viewings this weekend so don’t give up on that yet. You only need one buyer. The market may have slowed but there are still people who want to move (you are one!) Have you asked your agent for feedback?

So our viewer from Friday finally returned the EAs call, said he's interested in our property but wants to 'mull it over'. In other words, there are other houses he's interested in and not wanting to commit...

@girlboss94 I know it’s nerve wracking and it’s easy to feel that you’ll never find a buyer, but @Karmatime is right. It may be that one of the people from the weekend will ask to come for a second viewing. This is what happened with our buyers - I think it was a week or two after their first viewing. Good luck.

@InTheCludgie how frustrating! I hope he mulls quickly and decides he really wants your house.

@girlboss94 You could still hear back from last weekend's viewers. When we were looking earlier this year we went to see a house that had an amazing garden but it wasn't perfect and needed work. We didn't give any feedback for about a week (maybe two!) because we thought it was a no-go. We couldn't stop thinking about the house and garden though and eventually went for a second viewing and even then I think we took a few days to decide. We were pondering it so long that we almost lost the house but luckily put an offer in on time and got it in the end (it's lovely but still needs work 😆).

I think now that the market is slowing down there may not be that panic to get offers in immediately and buyers may have more time to think before making an offer. Hope you get one soon!

Buyer number 4 lost yesterday, their buyer pulled out. I'm actually done now. I am taking my property off the market and will try again next year.

@InTheCludgie oh no it sounded so promising. Hopefully he makes his mind up quickly.

@Ladyofthelake53 That's insane, fourth one! The system is so broken.

No updates here. Doubt we'll sell anytime soon. The market in our town has basically frozen over. We'll give it until the end of the month, then take the house off as well. See how things develop in the new year. It sucks because we have so outgrown this place and we're really depressed cramped in here but what can you do. The constant maintenance of a very old house is just too much with young children, pets, work... But what can you do. Trying to be more grateful for what we have and accept that it is what it is.

So sorry to hear that, @Ladyofthelake53 It really is a terrible system but even within that it sounds like you have been terribly unlucky.

Sorry to hear you are losing hope, @ecochiroptera It really shouldn't be so hard to move house when you want and need to. I hope you get an offer soon.

@Ladyofthelake53 I am so sorry 💐

Thank you for kind nessages.

I was going to take my house off the market but estate agent has persuaded me to stay on saying prices are going to fall etc. All relative though isn't it.

I've got a viewing here Friday but I'm exhausted with it all to be honest and I am tempted to cancel it. Not sure what to do.

Thought I'd maybe stay on for a month and see what happens

I had offered the day before I lost buyers on a flat after losing a property I loved a few weeks ago. Just mot sure what to do

Good luck to everyone x

So sorry, @Ladyofthelake53 . It’s a brutal
process. See what comes of the Friday viewing and then have a good think over the weekend.

@Ladyofthelake53 I'm so sorry, you must be utterly fed up.

Sorry to hear your buyer fell through again @Ladyofthelake53 no wonder you are fed up! I'd go with the Friday viewing and see what happens, then decide after that.

We've had a message from the EA asking if we would be happy to reduce the price again. It was a flat NO from DH and I'm tending to agree with him here. We've already gone to a fp which is below what we believed we could achieve (which wasn't even that much, we would have been happy with 5k over asking, bearing in mind this is traditionally a sought after area in Scotland where o/o is the norm). Plus, our overall pot of money has also been reduced due to legal issues with part of our deposit source, which we weren't initially made aware of by the solicitor.

If we drop, it means we will struggle to do what we want to the new house, likely for years. This would potentially be the third house we have owned, the first two we lived with ugly 80s bathrooms and kitchens for around five years each time and had little money to do what we wanted for ages. I really don't want to be in that position again.

@InTheCludgie the issue with your deposit sounds so frustrating!

Viewing’s have picked up a bit here. We had 2 last week and 3 this week, one of them said they really liked the house, will discuss with their partner and arrange a second viewing, that’s the most promising feedback we’ve had so far 😂 can’t decide whether to get my hopes up or not.

I have got used to living in a state of enhanced tidiness which with a toddler is no mean feat. The process of house selling may have made me tidier than my mother ever could.

When your estate agent tells you who’s coming round does everyone else google them? Yesterday we had a man who works for the church followed by the LGBTQ+ outreach officer for a local university, both with very different online profiles! Made me chuckle anyway.

@PinkPlantCase sounds v promising re second viewing, and also good to know that your house has a broad appeal!

We had also got used to keeping the house a lot tidier than usual despite DC's best efforts (they are 6 and 9 so not as bad as toddler age, but still blissfully unaware of the mess they create most of the time) and I really believed I had finally become a tidy person at 45. I must report that now our house is off the market, we have pretty much reverted to the status quo, and I am actually quite enjoying the freedom to leave things in piles again if I want to.

I did google some of the people who came to view, and one turned out to be the political editor of a newspaper on the opposite end of the political spectrum from us. DH writes about politics and economics and has a large collection of books which would very much have betrayed our leanings, so we enjoyed picturing this chap surveying the bookshelves in horror. He did not make an offer 😀

I ended up with 3 offers after the viewings at the weekend and have accepted one. The buyer has a flat under offer to an investor and will have a big deposit. I’m keeping everything crossed that it works out and I don’t bitterly regret not going with a (much) lower offer from a FTB. The agents have an excellent sales progression team and are good communicators which is reassuring. House is off the market so we have quickly reverted to being a lot less tidy!

Congratulations @Karmatime and lucky you not having to keep the place tidy so much now! Though I have to say I've loved how little housework I need to do on my days off as I am keeping this place so spick and span (every cloud and all that)...