Seven weeks and still no memorandum of sale from Purplebricks

[ilovelunch]

I have had an offer accepted on a house, unfortunately sold by Purplebricks. It's been over seven weeks and I still haven't received the memorandum of sale. The case has been with their compliance team for most of that time. I have provided everything they have requested usually on the same day, but over the whole process they have asked for 'one more thing' and then based on that document, another 'one more thing' and so on. It often takes a couple of days between each of those requests for them to get back to me with another request.

I am a first time buyer, so don't have anything to compare my experience to, but based on reading online it seems like usually it only takes a couple of days to get the memorandum of sale! I have contacted the seller and they are also putting pressure on the EA from the other side to see what the hold up is. I am very frustrated!

My son sold his property thru purple bricks, thinking it was Strike to begin with. He had the same issue, it took them over a month to verify they were genuine buyers. Numerous calls, emails etc trying to push them along, we're no use.....

All you can do is contact the seller again and say you’ll pull out if you don’t have it by X. His fault for being a right arse and hiring PB. Also they’ll probably tell you you have to pay for money laundering checks as well. Honestly my advice would be just steer clear of PB properties. Always painful.

The problem with Purple Bricks is that the seller pays them their fee upfront. So there’s no incentive for them to push things along, as they already have their money. Traditional estate agents don’t get paid until completion.

You don’t actually need a memorandum of sale per se though. If you’re in contact with the seller, ask them who their solicitor is. Then your solicitors can get things moving without a MOS.

I didn't realise the solicitors could move forward without the memorandum of sale, I thought the memo was needed as the trigger for the conveyancing process to begin. I have already provided my solicitor with my proof of funds and ID etc - is there more that they can do without the MOS?

Yes , they can order all searches etc and you can start survey and mortgage process but you're liable for costs if the seller pulls out.

Memo of sale is just a piece of paper with buyers and sellers details, their solicitors details, maybe anything particularly agreed. It's not legally binding in anyway.

Seller needs to pull their finger out and push PB again and again.

I mean you're liable for search and survey costs anyway but they would be wasted if seller doesn't proceed.

As @ComeOnJohnny says it’s really not needed at all. For example if you are selling a house privately to someone, there would be no EA to issue a MOS.

I’d just liaise with the seller now and do it between yourselves. PB have introduced you as a buyer and taken their fee. There is no further value they will add to the process.

All the memorandum of sale contains is:

• Property address
• Agreed sale price
• Buyers name, address and solicitor details
• Seller’s name, address and solicitor details

If you and your seller give those details to your respective solicitors, then they can start work.

Wow… I’ve just come across this thread on google & had to make an account just so I can comment. I’m having the exact same issue on getting the memorandum of sale. It’s always “just one more document” which I send & it takes them days to respond just for them to come back & say “one last document. I’m currently going into week 7 without a memorandum of sale. I’m ringing an emailing every day but getting nowhere. I’ve said to myself one more week of it & I’m pulling out the sale & avoiding every single property on the market listed with purple bricks! No wonder their reputation is absolute trash in the industry!

Hi @DanCundey, sorry you are having a similar experience! Thankfully my memorandum of sale was eventually issued 5 days after I started this thread.

I don't know if it made any difference but I messaged my seller through the Purplebricks app to explain what was happening and to say that I was frustrated. I wanted to keep them in the loop and didn't want to risk them pulling out if they thought the delay was my fault!
I also realised that if I rang the compliance team immediately after uploading each new document they requested, it made them aware sooner rather than having to wait 3 days just for them to check my file again.
I would have pulled out except I wanted the house! And also the market in my area is so busy at the moment it had taken me months to actually have an offer accepted so I didn't want to be back to square one.

If it's any consolation, once I got the memorandum of sale things moved quickly and I didn't have any further issues with Purplebricks. I now have the keys and am actually moving in this weekend.
Good luck!