Buyer dragging their feet.. help?!

[llihl13]

Hi everyone, I could really do with some advice here as I’m starting to pull my hair out and I’m not sure if I’m worrying unnecessarily (it could be my crazy hormones this month.)

I accepted an offer on my house last Wednesday from a cash buyer. From the beginning they have been notoriously bad at answering the phone when the agent has tried to call, whether that was when booking viewings, talking about offers etc.

Anyway, offer accepted Wednesday and the agent still hadn’t heard anything from them by Friday about solicitor details. Finally they got back to the agent end of the day Friday with their solicitor details. Memorandum of sale got sent out Tuesday.

Had a call from the new build developer I’m buying from on Thursday to say they’d called buyers solicitor and the solicitor said the buyer had not yet instructed them. Since then, the agent has tried to contact the buyer to get an update and they haven’t answered any of their calls. I called agent this morning and they said they will keep trying and to give it a few days as sometimes people just don’t have that sense of urgency (even though they know we are needing to exchange within 4 weeks).

Am I right to be worried here? Granted they have been slow at communication from the beginning, but it isn’t giving me much hope that they are serious. What should I do moving forwards?

@llihl13 It's the agents job to make sure the buyer is proceedable which includes either evidence of mortgage in principle or proof of funds. You shouldn't need to chase them on that, they should be doing that anyway - it's also in their own best interests. Many people think they are cash buyers when they aren't such as having no mortgage but a property to sell (mortgage free as opposed to cash buyers). You do not want to wait for the second viewing and wait for them to instruct a solicitor all so your solicitor can check it's the cash purchase you've been led to believe. I hold my hands up to not being a fan of EA's generally. You often need to practically sit on them to get anything done. Buying a new house isn't particularly stress free in many cases unfortunately and selling certainly isn't. If the buyer gets pissed off being asked to provide evidence of proof of funds there's usually a reason.

Lots of people have very demanding jobs/work long shifts/where they can't stop work to answer or make private messages.

Your buyer supplied solicitor details within 48 hours; hardly an unreasonable delay. IME, just as a courtesy, I inform my solicitor first (and ask them to confirm they are ready to act).

Had a call from the new build developer I’m buying from on Thursday to say they’d called buyers solicitor and the solicitor said the buyer had not yet instructed them.

That developer has no business asking your buyer's solicitor for confidential information about their client.

I'd expect my solicitor to stonewall any such impertiment enquiries from an unsolicited cold caller and refuse to divulge any information about my business, without my informed consent.

FYI, cash purchasers don't just pay up by return of post. Their lawyer first has to conduct a full exchange of missives with the sellers solicitor, do full diligence to confirm that the seller is in fact the legal owner; that there are no conflicts or disputes of ownership or debt liens on the property. They also are obliged (by law) to check that the buyer's money belongs to them and is legal.

Honestly? I think your expectations are massively unrealistic and you'll be in the same position with the next buyer too. You need a plan B.

Can I ask, why did you make an offer on a new build with such a tight deadline before you'd had an offer on yours? Or had a previous buyer fallen through?

i’ve bought three houses in my life and used a different solicitor for my last purchase as it was going to be a bit complicated and I wanted someone local to the purchase property. They didn’t consider themselves “instructed” until I returned all my paperwork, property details, the finance fact finding… there were about 4 different documents I had to complete. They were also old school and used post only not e mail for the sending/return of this paperwork. I actually spoke to solicitors the day my offer was accepted. The paperwork I needed to complete arrived 5 days later. I had it back in the post around 4 days after that. Allowing for weekends etc it probably was not far off two weeks until they would have considered themselves “instructed.” But once instructed i had no more paperwork to do. From my end we were done. Just a thought. They might not be dragging their feet, they might simply be ploughing through paperwork. On the other hand the lack of contact would bother me too. My last sale I l rejected a higher offer because they’d been a bloody nightmare to contact and I preferred the nice easy to contact lower offer people.

You need a plan B however exchanging in 4 weeks just isn't viable it can take months.

I appreciate your honesty, and this is why I’m really confused on what to do as some people are saying put the house back on the market asap.

I will draft an email to send mid next week if we haven’t heard anything. I appreciate things take time and the buyers don’t live close by, but it’s the lack of communication and not answering the phone that’s giving me a bad feeling.

I honestly do understand that, and want to give them the time they need to come and see it etc. but the lack of communication and not answering the phone is giving me a bad gut feeling so I need to start thinking about plan B, hence why I started this thread for advice.

Surely second viewing should have happened before the offer? Sounds like they are having second thoughts.

How much more communication are you expecting in a week and a half?! They've told you who their solictors are. They've booked a second viewing (and will presumably instruct said solicitors once they've confirmed to themselves they definitely want to proceed). They have or are providing proof of funds to the EA. Until they've done the second viewing, what else is there to do?

I agree with the work thing, I have a demanding job where I can’t always take calls. The difference is, if I see the agents have called, I will give them a ring back when I can to make sure I don’t leave them in the dark - something my buyer isn’t doing.

It’s good to hear about the work that goes on in the background, thank you for that. I will certainly keep this in mind but I cannot get the nagging thought out of my head that they aren’t responding to calls or emails. If they are doing work in the background, why not just say so?

I appreciate your honesty! I guess there’s nothing I can do about the 4 week exchange deadline, I can’t argue a standard process.

The reason we made an offer on the new build is because we spoke with both an agent and the developer about the tight turnaround, and both assured me it wouldn’t be a problem. The developer is helping us with the sale (assisted move) and said it should all work out time wise. In hindsight I should’ve realised it was tight, but I suppose I got spun a yarn….

@K10f1

They didn’t consider themselves “instructed” until I returned all my paperwork, property details, the finance fact finding… there were about 4 different documents I had to complete. They were also old school and used post only not e mail for the sending/return of this paperwork

Not "old school"; this is up-to-date best security practice. My own solicitor warns never to commit any confidential financial details/bank information to her in email, because lawyers systems may be targeted by hackers seeking such info.

Your EA called them on Thursday, it's now Saturday afternoon - again, not very long in the scheme of things so understandable they haven't got round to calling back yet. Plus, as far as the buyer is concerned, the second viewing needs to happen before anything else, so what else is there for them to discuss with your EA in the meantime?

Good to know, thank you. I will definitely keep in mind how much work they may be doing in the background. But yes, the lack of communication is a worry, as I’m sure you kept parties up to date when you were filling out forms etc in the background!

Perhaps unrealistic of me again but I thought they would they would do the second viewing sooner if they wanted to double check they were happy to proceed. 2.5 weeks between offer and second viewing is a long time to wait with no progress being made, and if I was the buyer I would consider the fact the seller was on short timescales (and if that didn’t work for me, then not go for that property). But I guess not everyone is like that 🤔

If it was you and the EA had called a few times in the week, would you not want to get back to them to reassure them you were still wanting to proceed?

That isn’t me being snarky, genuinely interested to know.

That’s what I thought, but they do live far away. They said it was to measure up for furniture, but who knows now

I agree, I’m going to draft an email to the agent to make sure of these things. Thanks!

No, I wouldn't necessarily think I needed to reassure them if I had booked in a second viewing. I would find it a bit annoying, tbh!

I think the problem is they are not local buyers. If they were, the second viewing would be done and dusted and the wheels more in motion. Instead, you are at the mercy of them needing to make a three-hour journey to get there. It's a pain all round.

if I was the buyer I would consider the fact the seller was on short timescales (and if that didn’t work for me, then not go for that property).

I bet anything your EA has told them not to worry about the timescale. The EA is going to try to keep them sweet because if they don't sell them your property, they're going to want to sell them something else on the agency's books.

If they aren't sure enough to start the ball rolling without a second viewing, then they shouldn't have put in an offer.

All new builds are a 4 week exchange period- the one I am buying wasn't ready for another 5 months from when I reserved it, but was still 4 weeks to exchange. They have extended it but they need it to happen ASAP. They need you to exchange way before the completion date to make sure they are definitely getting the money as soon as the house is built. They are a business.

Update - agent has called twice today (one morning and one afternoon) and they are still not answering.

It is taking all of my willpower not to email the buyer….

A week and a half is no time at all and hassling them is very likely to cause the same to fall through especially when you don’t seem to know if they are aware of the 4 week thing.

The developers will want the sale to go through by the end of the financial year but it’s very unlikely to happen regardless - ours wanted a similar thing to get it through within a particular month but in the end they simply had to wait , if you don’t make the 4 week thing realistically they will have months to wait while another buyer is found for your property etc

If they aren't sure enough to start the ball rolling without a second viewing, then they shouldn't have put in an offer.

Exactly this.

We are in the process of buying somewhere and had an offer accepted 8 days ago. That was on condition that any future viewings were cancelled.

Solicitor is instructed, survey is arranged and we have had to provide proof of funds (we're cash buyers). All this had to be done before the memorandum of sale was issued yesterday.

The EA has been pretty hot on chasing us to make sure that everything is in hand. We've been away from the UK for many years and have seen some horror stories abouts EAs, but we seem to have struck lucky and found a good one - touch wood.

We aren't local buyers, we don't even live in the UK so everything had to be done once we got home 6 days ago. If we hadn't got everything done then our vendors would be quite right to assume we were time wasters and continue with viewings. I wouldn't blame them.

We will definitely want to go back to the property to do some measuring etc before relocating, but that's waaaay down the line once contracts are exchanged.

It's all a lot simpler here and we are on steep learning curve going back to buying in the UK. Hope it works out for you OP, but your timescale seems unrealistically tight.

In my experience the developer does mind an awful lot if the sale is delayed. I bought a new build and despite being the first to buy on the site by about 2 months the b***d developers threatened to put it back on the market despite my non-returnable deposit as my mortgage was delayed by 1 week. I still hate them for the stress they caused me.