Why don't they change the awful way properties are bought/sold in the UK?

[wereonthemarket]

Surely it isn't in anyone's interests to have such a flakey, stressful system in place.

People view. They make an offer which doesn't really mean a lot. Buyer accepts. Survey is done. Buyer renegotiates offer.

Then at any point - even after each party has spent potentially thousands either one can pull out or completely change the offer?!

Why isn't the insane system streamlined? Buyer lists property and pays for survey, searches etc which are shown to potential buyers. An offer is made with the seller paying 10% deposit. And surely then everything moves faster, is less stressful and stops so many sales falling through?

What did you spend that much on, Filo?

Incorrect. Surveyors dont work for the client like the way you say, they dont make things up or lie in their report, like some EA may do to make a sale. They survey they house and just hand it to whoever paid for it. They are professionals not directly involved in the sale, they are impartial.

It doesn't matter what systems and protections you have in place, people will always find a way to take advantage of them.

The time it takes to complete a sale sucks major arse though.

The Scottish system isn't that much better. It can stil take months to sell or buy a house once a chain is setup.

'The Scottish system is great'

Tell that to my mate who bought when every other bugger wanted to and finally 'won' the 17th house he bid on.

I am glad it worked out for him. I would have been in nervous breakdown territory far before that point.

I agree. A good friend of mine is buying a house at the moment. Her husband is a bit of a dick, and they have put in offers and withdrawn them on three houses so far just because he can't make up his mind. Finally they are due to move into one in a month and still looked at another house last week. I think it's quite shitty tbh.

This was insightful thanks!

It's an absolute shit-show of a system.

I moved house recently and it was a complete nightmare. Our buyers deserved to be sent to the nearest gulag for all the trouble they caused, and the vendor we purchased from was an out and out git.

There’s an open petition you can sign to change the way house buying and selling is done in England. I’m not from the U.K. and I’ve never come across such a strange and faulty system as the English one. In most countries an accepted offer is binding and if you pull out you pay fees/% of house you we’re buying (but nearly no one does)

If they had 16 failed offers I think they’d possibly been poorly advised by their solicitor regarding the amount they were offering. It’s not unusual to offer on 2 or 3 properties and not get them, but you offer what a property is worth to you, and a failed offer to them was clearly worth more to someone else.
Offers aren’t always about the money though. We once sold a house to a buyer who offered slightly less money, but their dates etc worked better for us.
I’d never sell to a buyer who was involved in a sale south of the border because of how long that system takes. A friend had a nightmare in that scenario, and I see so many tales on here of buyers dicking about

I was told some time ago that in some countries there are no chains. Instead, people take out bridging loans.

Chains are awful. Someone you’ll never meet can cost you thousands or ruin your long-term plans. Also, if someone else’s solicitor makes a stupid mistake which delays your sale or scuppers it, apparently they’re not liable to you for any financial loss you incur as a result. Yes, this has happened to me.

Where I come from:

1. Seller calls the newspaper (or visits a website) to list an ad for their property with some info about the house and a telefone number
2. Buyer sees ad, calls numbers, asks basic questions, arranges a visit
3. If both parties are happy, they call a Notary (probably a different profession under this name in the UK) and set up a meeting where they both show up and sign the contract

That's all.
For the decades that our family was building, flipping, buying and letting houses, we've never had a single problem.

Yes this you can't withdraw offers in Scotland like they do in England I'm not sure what the other uk countries are ike .

I seem to remember a move to sellers having to provide a 'buyer's pack' sometime in the past 15 years or so, in England? Don't know what became of it.

To people saying it's a lot easier where we live: seller & buyer get together and do the deal with legal advice, what happens in a 'chain' situation where the buyer needs to sell their place, and the seller needs to buy themselves a new home?

This isn't the uk this is England. Scotland has a totally different system.

I think that point may have been touched upon! 😂

You absolutely can withdraw an offer in Scotland

This would make the chain situation impossible though? You couldn’t risk your deposit unless you had already accepted a deposit from your buyers, and had an onward purchase to buy simultaneously.

So offers would be delayed until everyone in the chain was ready… and it is often chains that cause hold ups and grief.

Yes, it was the Home Information Pack (HIP), which was mandatory for sellers from about 2007. It had to include an Energy Performance Certificate, local authority searches, title documents, guarantees, etc. The Tories hated it and repealed it pretty much as soon as they came to power in 2010, except for the EPC.

How does it work if you need to sell your current house to buy the new one?

The English system isn't fit for purpose. That said, the Scottish system has its issues. Whilst it's great once your offer has been accepted, the whole offers over/closing date system is madness, encouraging houses to be sold for ridiculous prices because potential buyers are fearful of losing out.

The French system is the best I've come across by far. Price negotiated in much the same way as England, a short period to be sure, then you're committed to the purchase (other than any clauses added to the contract such as being unable to secure a mortgage).

One lawyer only, costs shared, so there's no adversarial nonsense. The buyer receives a pack containing all the info on water, electrics etc, if you want a survey you can have one. On completion day, everyone (buyers and vendors) goes along to the notaire and the paperwork is gone through in detail together. Everyone signs, shakes hands and the deal is done.

The buyer's pack thing never really worked (already I've forgotten what the term was) because conveyancers as a matter of professional probity made their own enquiries as normal so it didn't really speed things up.
Although it's awful when buyers pull out (it's happened to me) there may always be genuine reasons why a buyer couldn't remain committed e.g. job loss. You couldn't really legislate for genuine reasons e.g. job loss, bereavement, bad survey as opposed to just changed mind/being a dick.

I know, the offers over system is awful in the UK.

I'm sorry I REALLY wish I'd said England (not UK). I realise Scotland is different.

And thanks to those who said move to Scotland - clearly you realise the house I was selling would still be in England though - right?!

I know what you are saying about all surveys not being equal but maybe there is a way to bring that into line? Then a seller paid for the survey, searches and so on so that everything was transparent from the start?

It feels like the system is just so unnecessarily stressful and seriously needs a update! And like someone pointed out - people are paying for the same searches as everyone else in the street - what a waste of time and money!

The whole of the UK isn't England 🤣🤣🤣 these types of threads always crack me up. Thank you for the laughs, it's really cheered me up this morning.