Buyer's questions without a solicitor

[woebetide8]

So... as I posted a few days ago our buyers wanted £30,000 off after their survey, but we held tight and told them we would only take £4,000 off for the damp, which they are considering. They had their survey done really fast and although we have a solicitor in place they have not hired one yet BUT this morning our EA forwarded a load of questions they sent her late last night and it's all about planning consent, boundaries, certificates, gas boiler services, etc, stuff that should really be asked by a conveyancing solicitor during the sale. We don't have the answers to most of it, and want to go back and say, "get a solicitor" because this buyer has already been exhausting and they haven't even agreed a price since the survey. Do we have to do our own conveyancing at this point – shouldn't they have a solicitor on board to do that? I can sense they are going to be a pain so want the solicitors to deal with this one now. Any advice on when that should happen?

There is nothing out there, so I wouldn’t fret too much.

I am trying not to fret but worried if this buyer follows through, and I can't find anything until next year there will be a price deficit...

Op it's a bit ridiculous to be worrying about them not having a solicitor in place yet when you haven't even found a house you want to buy !! What's the point of them incurring solicitor costs for searches when if you can't find somewhere you want they won't be able to buy yours ??. Unless you're offering to go into rented then the hold up in the sale at the moment is all you.

I see your point of view, but I can't get an offer accepted without their revised offer, so it's the classic chicken and egg of house conveyancing. My worry is not who is holding this process up, but if they are legitimate buyers or not...I can only go by my own experience which is that when I really like a house and I've offered on it and that offer has been accepted (which happened a while ago) I instruct a solicitor...

If they have paid for a survey does that not mean they already have skin in the game ?

I guess it would depend to me how reasonable the questions were, and whether I would be expected to answer them for any other potential purchaser. If you would, then not sure there is any harm in getting that info together now if it is not costing you money and sooner or later it is going to have to happen for someone else if not them.

The "revise down from 30K to 4K" does seem a bit iffy. Their opening gambit does suggest they are expecting a decent chunk knocked off the price.

I'd concentrate on agreeing the sale price before toing and froing with lots of questions. So a response of 'we're more than happy to answer any queries, however first we need to reach agreement on a revised price'.

The solicitor stuff doesn't really matter until that is done.

Yes, I've ported a mortgage and it isn't quite as straight forward as it sounds. I would try to find out if their lender has actually agreed, in principle, to porting the mortgage. Even if they have, as the poster above says, the lender still has to be satisfied that the new property is one they want lend on - and for that a solicitor is required and all the checks a lender would require if they were taking out a new mortgage.

I'd be inclined to keep the house on the market until such time as they agree a price and retain a solicitor to demonstrate they are credible buyers. The estate agent needs to ensure they do have a mortgage offer and aren't making incorrect assumptions about porting a mortgage.

@woebetide8 My experience with estate agents is that they won't put something as SSTC until they receive all the information from the buyers including solicitors details. Did that not happen? Have you not received the memorandum of sale? That should have their solicitor named on it too.

I already made that point but OP has not responded.

I think I'd agree with your concerns OP. I'd send the queries to your solicitor to answer even if some come back to you.

I'd tell the estate agent to ask them to confirm the price and the choice of solicitors asap before answering. As pp said, the mortgage company will require a conveyancer that meets their internal criteria before they will approve the mortgage, even if it's just porting it across. They want to protect their loan.

They pulled out of the sale today. No reason given, just "changed their mind"... very frustrating...

That's annoying but they sounded flaky so probably for the best. Hope you can find another more solid buyer soon.