Buyers mortgage offer

[Livbibby]

Looking for some advice on my situation

we put out property on the market end of May and accepted an offer of asking price very early June, we then found the property we wanted and put in our offer and applied for our mortgage. Mortgage offer was received 1-2 weeks after good to go. We instructed solicitors for the inward purchase and these were all satisfied by my solicitor. Our buyers mortgage lender sent someone to valuate the house on July 17th . Their solicitors applied for searches shortly after and raised enquiries.they knocked back enquiries 6 times with the same questions untill my solicitor said no more. We then got told all enquiries were satisfied and can agree a competition date once our buyers had received their mortgage offer. We had no idea they didn’t have a mortgage offer this wasn’t communicated to us and we have been waiting 2+ weeks being told repeatedly they are expecting it this week and then it being the following week. EA is crap at communication and actually told us they didn’t have a mortgage and to put our property back on the market…. Can someone with experience tell me why we are waiting so long for the buyers mortgage offer and if we should be worried ??

Surely they must have had an AIP for the mortgage company to send a valuer back in July?

Nearly 2 months later suggests either some sort of issue now means getting the formal mortgage offer is not straightforward.

Or they are using it as a stalling tactic as they are not (yet or at all) ready to go ahead - maybe something that came up in the searches?

Ultimately all you can do is wait and hope or do as your EA suggests (maybe after giving the buyers a hard date).

Your Estate Agent should be speaking with your buyer to find out what the holdup is with the mortgage offer and then communicating to you. That is part of their job!

Our EA has been a nightmare, they reassured us last Friday it would be in by the end of the week, had no update. We called on Monday to check and they said it would be in by Tuesday. Nothing. It’s now apparently the end of this week and still nothing. I am growing increasingly concerned and can’t help but feel completely stressed out. We’ve been living out of boxes since August 26th as we were told we would be completing then, little did we know our buyers don’t even have their mortgage in place. Where do I go from here

Come to think of it, we got an AIP, then had offer accepted, then applied for the final mortgage offer, and the valuation was done as the last thing (assume the mortgage company would not bother instructing a valuer if it looked like mortgage would not be granted).

So maybe cold feet about searches or about price paying/high mortgage rates?

Your EA is right
Put it back on the market

We have asked our EA for regular updates, we have made numerous efforts to email and call and sometimes they don’t even bother to contact us back. They couldn’t get hold of the buyer for a week or two and advised to put the house back on the market which we did. Then to be told by the manager at the EA the buyer was questioning why it was back on the market and are awaiting mortgage approval, nightmare- any advice on how I can push this legally?

The searches and enquiries have been approved and satisfied….. we are literally awaiting their mortgage offer and then we can set a completion date. However the fact they don’t have a mortgage offer already is very concerning

And why have we been allowed to get to this point without them having the offer? Who is at fault here

actually told us they didn’t have a mortgage and to put our property back on the market

This is good advice.

Was the valuer definitely from the mortgage company?

If so, they've lost their mortgage offer for whatever reason - it could be that the valuation didn't match what you want; or that their circumstances have changed, but they must have had an Agreement in Principle for the mortgage company's valuer to come round, and they're now back looking for another offer. This happened to us - in our case, the value was fine; but unbeknown to us, our buyer intended to buy ours and let it out on Airbnb, and they had hoped to secure it against another property, and didn't actually have a deposit. This meant their mortgage offer wasn't through when everything was ready to go; and in the end, they dropped out and it all fell apart.

Or, they sent an independent surveyor; which is good in that they'll have paid for it so they have invested in buying, but may mean that they never actually had a mortgage. You'd have thought this would be checked by someone at some point but it is possible to get fairly far down the line without anyone checking... Perhaps they were hoping for a rates drop?

Either way, your buyer doesn't currently have a way to pay for your house, so you don't currently have a buyer that is in a proceedable position. You should have gone back on the market a while back; two weeks at the very latest.

No-one is at fault
It is the system. You could all have chased sooner, you the EA and your solicitor
But it is one of those things- no-one is too blame

If you go back on the market use a different agent if they haven't been good.
You are paying them so need good service!

Yeah I agree. I’ve never sold a property previously so wasn’t sure what my role was in regards to the above.

My mortgage offer was the last thing to come through but mine was very complicated (self employed). Did they have an AIP when they offered?

normally, your EA and you should ask for their mortgage broker to provide a letter that they can get a mortgage or they have an agreement in principle from a bank. Personally, the AIP is rubbish and not guaranteed and also only comes from one bank. I prefer a mortgage broker's letter/email because they are someone who can get the buyers a mortgage from anywhere, not just one bank and they need the buyer too - it just instills more confidence.

Regarding your buyers, it might be that they had something, but the bank(s) have caused them some issues etc. Try to find out and please be compassionate. I know it's frustrating but a lot of buyers are having a hard time, I know you didn't but that's great for you.

Otherwise, yeh. it'll just have to go back on the market if it doesn't look like you have a buyer anymore... unfortunately that's the market now. This is happening a lot and why many houses are falling in price. People can't afford them with current interest rates.

As far as I am aware they did, the EA informed us they had anyway and used their in-house mortgage advisor aswell

I completely understand others situations are different and can be quite complicated I’ve got nothing against my buyers at all for struggling. This country has made it immensely difficult to obtain mortgages I get that. All I am asking for is solid communication and and a little more clarity on their situation in regards to their mortgage process. Is it on the way, is it with the underwriter etc….. I’m sure you can understand our concern

@Livbibby If I was you, I'd be calling the solicitor handling your sale and asking them for a clear view on where the buyers mortgage is. They might need to push the buyers solicitor for an update. You can ask the same question of your EA; who can ask the buyer direct. I'd tell both of them that you need an update by 6pm this evening.

Then if you haven't had a satisfactory explanation by then; and you're not confident that they've got an offer, I'd relist.

Mortgages aren't too delayed right now, but complicated cases can take a week or so to be reviewed - if someone is self-employed; for example. But a weeks and weeks long delay would be concerning, because no movement is not good, and generally the longer delays are caused by waiting for a valuation.

@YouveGotAFastCar i have emailed my solicitor for sale asking for an update and had no response as of yet but will give him untill later this afternoon. I will be calling if I’ve had no update. We called the EA this morning and the person who was supposed to call us back yesterday is on annual leave today so unable to get an update from them. Our buyer actually contacted us personally on Facebook on Saturday and said it will be back by Tuesday. We’ve message them directly back and had no response.. I know they are in rented accommodation currently, could this be the reason they are delaying this?

Oh - and just for info, people kept telling me to be patient and hold my horses when our buyers offer was taking ages. I just had a feeling that they were being very fluffy with updates, and not really telling us anything.

It turned out that we were right. The EA had reassured us that they'd seen an AIP and proof of deposit, but they hadn't. The solicitors wouldn't be drawn on anything as they deal in absolutes. The buyer wasn't providing regular updates to the EA, because they'd initially tried to get - and failed - a normal residential mortgage, and then they had to do a whole new application for a buy-to-let mortgage; and then finally a whole new application with a specialist lender... that required a valuation on both his existing and our property, and then he couldn't raise the deposit. He gave very wooly updates to make it seem like everything was proceeding and it was just slow, or with the underwriter, or waiting for an update due tomorrow, forever.

I appreciate it's rough for buyers, and was then too, but people don't tend to be murky if they don't need to be.

We sold very recently, and it took 6 months. Part of the issue was it took our buyers maybe 2 months to get their mortgage approved, even though they were in a solid position with a 50% deposit. No reason for the delay - it just took a really long time.

We also bought late last year and it took us a month to get our mortgage. Again, nothing complex on our side.

So it could legitimately be delays out of their control. Is there anything different about the property you’re selling (eg is a flat with cladding)?

There is nothing you can do legally to push it through - you either wait if the buyers are legitimate or you put it back on the market.

@Livbibby Cross-posts.

Rented accommodation would be a reason to delay setting an exchange date, but it wouldn't delay their mortgage offer - the bank has full control over that. It's issued or it's not.

I'd be very nervous in your position. It's not going to plan if it's so delayed.

@Hedgehodge thanks for your response. My property is a standard 3 bed Semi so I don’t think this would cause any delays.

We have our back up option ready to go ahead with but because we are in limbo with our current buyer we cannot action that yet.

Times are hard I am very empathetic to that.

clarification and a solid answer is all we need but aren’t seeming to be getting that from any involved

@YouveGotAFastCar we are very nervous hence me reaching out here to try and get some advice from people in similar positions…

I really don’t know where to go from here as neither my solicitor, EA or buyer are communicating

I have bought and sold 6 houses over the years but have found the sale of my fathers house so much more stressful. My father died last year so as soon as probate went through, I put it on the market in April at £440,000. In May I accepted an offer of £435,000 from a couple who were downsizing and did not need a mortgage. Their house already had a buyer so I was expecting an early completion date. The buyers actually moved into rental accommodation a few weeks ago as their sale went through.

However, there were delays caused by their solicitor, they did not respond to my solicitor, asked extra questions repeatedly and were insisting on getting a signature on the contract from my brother who lives in Australia - he is not an executor and is not legally required to sign it but they appeared not to understand the laws around a Trust that my father set up, despite my solicitor referring them to the relevant information.

After several weeks of debate and expense of getting my brother to sign the contract then returning to to me via FedEx as the solicitor would not accept an electronic signature, we were finally ready to exchange on Monday. On Tuesday I was informed that they were not proceeding with the sale!!!

The house is now back on the market at a lower price of £400,000 to reflect recent changes in prices - almost six months wasted! I would have accepted a lower offer from the buyers as I am aware that the market has changed but they have not asked for a reduction, just walked away.

The whole process seems to be so much more stressful than previously, not just delays in getting mortgages but also in part due to buyers getting cold feet I think. The EA has told me that this is the second time that the buyers have pulled out of a purchase at the last minute.

That’s another point to note - they may have crap solicitors too. Another reason why our sale took so long was because their solicitor was useless, constantly repeating questions that had been answered and asking questions that were irrelevant to the transaction, and repeating those questions when told they’re irrelevant.

We were in direct contact with our buyers so got in touch with them at one point and their solicitor was telling that the delay was on our side as we weren’t answering questions or providing documents.

Its possible the buyers aren’t being given the full picture either.