Estate Agent Threatening to Put House Back on the Market

[neumorphic]

We had an offer on a house accepted in mid-May, and had a survey done and a few enquires based on that were sent via our solicitor by mid-June. Nothing major arose on the survey, aside from that the rear garden has a large drop and slope behind the fence, and the surveyor was concerned as she couldn’t tell whether a retaining wall was in place and told us to get as much information as possible on this.

So, we waited for responses to our enquiries. I checked in with our solicitor frequently to see if there had been any updates but kept being told they had been sent bits and pieces but were still waiting for everything to come in. I specifically asked about the wall, and also whether some checks had been done on the house as this was also recommended by our surveyor. At the end of July, we were told the seller was doing checks on the gas and electric, but as recently as a few weeks ago our solicitor’s secretary said there still wasn’t any updates on the question on the retaining wall.

We then asked the EA about this who gave us a short response from the seller, and they are now saying the seller is considering putting the house back on the market as they feel we are dragging the process out, by raising ‘new’ issues and doesn't seem to understand why we are so concerned about the wall etc. The EA told us there's a Gabion Basket wall in place that they've never had an issue with, and they've sold other houses in the development which it also affects and we are the first people to have ever mentioned it. They couldn't give us any information about who owns or is responsible for maintaining the wall which is something our surveyor wanted us to get info on.

It doesn’t make sense to me.. We have tried explaining to the EA that we have been waiting for responses to our initial enquiries but have heard nothing.. and from our perspective we have also been wondering what the hold-up is. The EA has been quite rude at times, and was only friendly when I apologised and explained multiple times how we have been waiting and waiting and heard next to nothing on our end. Also, according to our solicitor, there are some legal documents that still haven’t been received from the seller’s solicitor, so it’s hardly our fault that things are being held up.

We have finally now been sent a document from our solicitor with answers to our initial questions, but I have a feeling this was sent to our solicitor weeks ago and they just didn’t update us. Their secretary said something about them going through the responses when we come into the office to sign – which seems odd to me as I thought they would have sent us those responses much earlier in the process.

Is our/their solicitor just incompetent? Or is this just a tactic the EA uses to put the pressure on? We are first time buyers and don’t really know how the process is supposed to work, but now I’m regretting not just asking the EA for the information earlier.. We thought we were supposed to do everything via our solicitor, as per the surveyor’s advice, so that it’s all official/on paper etc.

It's very anxiety inducing so just wanted to see if anyone had a similar experience.

I think you need to be chasing people every other day during a sale and buying process or they get lax. 8 weeks to get answers is ridiculous I would expect a week max

You had your offer accepted mid May so with no major issues I would expect to be completing on the sale round about now.

Remember your solicitor works for you, you can ask them to get a move on. I think you need to explain to your solicitor that your seller is losing patience and you want to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

The EA should be talking to the solicitor as well. You pay them enough and they are the link between the parties.

I had an offer accepted for my purchase on the 1st May and we completed on the 22nd July. You should be exchanging and completing now.

We have just completed on our house, and if it was not for ne chasing multiple daily I doubt, we would have completed by now. Our solicitors were awful and not communicative at all. I would ask them to send you the original email from the seller's solicitor, you then can check dates.
I would also request assistance from the estate agent, they can check for you with the seller's solicitor if they are being sent all they need without delays.

All solicitors seem to drag their heels to some extent. I guess because each solicitor has multiple properties on their caseload. As pp have said I think you do need to chase them a lot & be quite assertive. I also agree that the EA’s can be quite instrumental too- I was surprised by how much the EA selling our house & the EA responsible for the house we were buying helped facilitate the process. I can see both sides to this but basically everyone needs a bit of a kick up the backside!

It's really odd because the EA has been talking to the solicitor as far as I know, so really they should know as much as us.

i suspect the fault lies squarely with your solicitor

how did you select them?

and also you in not chasing them relentlessly when the delay became evident

this isn’t the EA’s threat op

this is from the client

If you can't get info on the retainng wall be very very very wary.

We looked at a house a while ago which had a retaining wall at the bottom of the garden which held up the house at the back, no one would own up as to whose responsibilty it was, walked away...

The EA told us there's a Gabion Basket wall in place that they've never had an issue with, and they've sold other houses in the development which it also affects and we are the first people to have ever mentioned it

Gabion baskets are just galvanised wire baskets filled with stone and do not last forever, be wary.

Hope neither of you are using an online solicitor. Our buyers did and we nearly lost the house we wanted to buy because of how long they took.

you need to call solicitors daily. be annoying.

they've been very patient to wait this long, you look like timewasters from the outside.

The EA told us there's a Gabion Basket wall in place that they've never had an issue with, and they've sold other houses in the development which it also affects and we are the first people to have ever mentioned it.

Huge Red flag!

They’re brazenly lying to you because any decent surveyor will have flagged this up to their clients. Estate agents are known to be lying bastards and the really good ones are in the minority. Remember, the EA works for the seller, that’s who has engaged them and will be paying their bill, so never assume that EA are on your side. Some of them will do almost anything to get a sale.

Remember how many post office staff were told they were the only ones who’d had a problem with the Horizon software and being the honest folk they most certainly were, they accepted the response that they were the only ones who had complained….!!

Buyer Beware.

I’d go back to the EA and say you are very much serious about the purchase but there is an outstanding query that has not been answered which is one of the reasons for delay on your side.
Then reassure them you are now going to be calling your solicitors daily to get things moving.
it’s a really stressful process but as others have said you need to be annoying to the solicitors- they are used to it and will prioritise you if you are on the phone asking for updates on a regular basis.

The EA is acting on the vendor’s instructions, they are sick of waiting.

Almost certainly the delay will be with the “solicitors” (most likely some hapless half trained legal executive), so you should start with them. The EA can talk to the sols
to get an idea of how things are progressing but you instructed them so it’s up to you to actually move things along.

The firm we used in our move were monumentally bad, they lied to us, made some critical and costly mistakes and even lost the contract the day before completion.

Chase, chase, chase.

It’s a mistake to think EAs sell houses, at least in England. I understand even some EAs believe that’s their job, but it isn’t. What the agent should be doing to earn their fee is to facilitate the sale and hold it together until at least exchange. It’s in their interest as much it is in the purchaser and vendors. No sale no fee.
i understand being a 1st time buyer you being a little unsure of the process and most likely a little nervous of dealing with a solicitor. However it will most likely be a conveyancing clerk dealing with your purchase and probably many others, and of course you’re paying the bill. sadly it appears in this day and age it’s who shouts the loudest gets the best service. Remember at the stage of the purchase I believe you are at, if it all falls through now, you will still be picking up a fair bill from your solicitor.
So I would make a telephone appointment stating you want to have a face to face run down of the current situation, be polite but firm, don’t be fobbed off. Make it for a couple of days time, not some distance time in the future, to be fair it may not be your side holding the transaction up. However they could pick the phone to the other side. I promise you if they know your coming in it will focus their minds.
I would then do the same to the EA.
As regards to the wall, go and have a look, talk to the neighbour whose garden it’s retaining. If it’s a newish development go to your local planning department and have look at any documents they may have, regarding landscaping etc.
Remember, regardless if there is an issue, and when and if there is a problem down the line you’re the one holding the baby.
But if I had to make a guess unless it’s a humongous structure, I doubt there is any issues.

I dont think it was solely down to your solicitor regarding the wall. I think you should have got a specialist in to give you a report.

And 4 months is a long time to still be raising questions. You need to be more proactive & keep chasing your solicitor.

However. ...putting the house back on the market is just cutting their noses in spite of their face. A brand new purchaser is going back to square 1 & completion likely to be another 3 months or so. The vendors are best off sticking with you & they know it. It's a scare tactic and it's working.

We had an absolutely awful house moving experience. It is Solicitors that hold everything up, most of the time you don't know who is at fault. In our case it was the purchasers solicitors as our solicitors were BIL. Our EA threatened to put our house back on the market to get the purchasers solicitors to pull their finger out. However EA are actually useless at chasing or doing anything beyond getting people in the door for viewing. I had to be on the phone constantly to try and hurry people along. In the end it took 6 months and the threat of putting it back on the market before completing, we didn't actually want to do that as we had our house lined up, but it worked!

a family member was looking at buying a house and the surveyor raised concerns about damp. My family member paid for the highest level of survey available as Tory are cautious, this was something not likely found on basic survey. The sellers acted like their noses were pushed out of joint but my family member insisted on further survey to be done relating to the damp. This revealed an issue with a path built outside and the surveyors needed to get under the floor to investigate properly. Well they did not want anyone under the floor at all so following advice my family member got quoted to lower this path (seemed it was too high and bridging the water) the EA and sellers acted like my family member was being unreasonable but when the quote came back for a substance amount they completely pulled out and put it back on the market. They knew for sure what the issue was and didn’t want people poking about to find it so don’t always believe the EA if they say they’ve never seen a problem they just want the house sold

Seller here

Do you want to buy the house or not? You cant change the wall.. so you buy it knowing that

Tell your solicitor to crack on

No - the buyer is NOT paying the estate agent. And lawyers rarely deal with the agents, irrespective of how much money they are being paid. They may take a phone call from the agent, but they will not report back to them. The agent is working for the owner. The buyer's lawyer is working for the buyer.