How many visits by the buyers are acceptable?

[stilllearning2024]

We accepted an offer on our house in December. Our house is 10 years old. The potential buyers made two visit before offering. Both long visits just under 2 hours long. The second visit they brought along their surveyor friend to check out the house with them. They then came for a third visit after their offer was accepted with a list of items they wanted to check. This time I asked them to stick to an hour, they came with a list of items to check and literally ran around the house ticking off items on their list. They have had a very detailed survey done by the same surveyor friend who spent 6 hours on it. Fair enough they want to be thorough.

They now want to come again for 2 hours with a builder. The agent has implied a further visit might also be needed to check which fixtures they want to keep. There aren’t really many, just a few blinds.

Is this normal? Am I allowed at any point to say enough is enough? I haven’t sold a property before, genuinely interested on if this is just the norm.

Absolutely way over the top imo! We saw the house we purchased twice, about 30 mins if that each time.

No that's taking the piss.

When I bought my house I had a 20 min viewing and when my offer was accepted had another 10 min viewing

My brother sold recently. They viewed the house twice. Then put an offer in. Once the offer was accepted they went again - at the suggestion of the vendors - so my niece who's away at uni could see it. Had it not been for that they wouldn't have gone back til they had the keys.

This is a 4 bed family home with garden rooms etc so not a tiny or inexpensive purchase

I've never heard of anyone take 2 hours for a viewing. They're totally ott and I'd be refusing any further visits from them

I would say the number of visits is normal (probably more than average but not excessively so). What is out of order is how long they have taken on some visits - beyond an hour for a viewing is definitely not normal apart from for the actual survey.

Through your EA I would say that the builder is allowed to come but only for up to an hour. The buyers should come with their builder and check the fixtures they want to keep at the same time.

It is your house. You do have the right to say No at any time. However, for the sake of getting the sale over the finishing line I would agree to one more visit with the builder and one more just before Exchange of contracts, if requested. Any more requests and I would say No as it is causing stress.

No more than 4 before completion. Otherwise too disruptive to family life. Put a time limit on the visits too.
They can do all their builder visit things after they've moved in and parted with their cash.

No that's ridiculous.

I bought my first house last year. I viewed the property at the end of July, instructed the surveyor shortly after who was at the property for around 2 hours (I didn't go with him) and then viewed a 2nd time just before exchange/completion in November.

Tricky one. When we sold ours, our buyers had 2 long visits over an hour each plus another longer visit with a builder a third time when I'd specifically said they could come again but i had a work call at a certain time so needed to keep to 1 hour. It was annoying, but then equally after we had our offer accepted, we had a survey, an electrics check and a specialist damp survey on the house we were buying, which was probably annoying for the people we were buying from but had they said no, that really would have put me off as I needed those things to make sure it was right, hence why I let our buyers do what they needed to.

We had similar buyers and said no more visits until after exchange. but then the time between exchange and completion was one day so no time anyway.

They don't get to dictate which fixtures they want to keep either....

Are they FTB op? My experience was that the FTB we had were trying to get into everything, plan it all to the nth degree and expected some sort of show home on completion. Luckily the EA was a friend and was willing to manage their expectations a bit. I drew the line at passing on my phone number after they called the EA about something relating to the boiler (all documents etc had been left, it was bizarre).

Whereas we knew there would be many issues to sort after purchase, so we had 2 viewings before offer and then 1 very quick one as something specific came up on a survey, so we checked that ourselves with the vendor before carrying on.

Sounds like a nervous buyer to me. It’s ok to say it’s not convenient.

We moved last November. We accepted an offer early August and the couple asked to view again a week or two later with the children. They were there for an hour or so, with us and the agent.

We were in communication subsequently, but they didn’t come again until after exchange, when they stayed for quite a while. We didn’t mind because the house had certain things that needed explaining, regarding heating system etc. They were buying some of our furniture, so that had to be agreed. We left all blinds and nearly all light fittings as well.

2 hours! How big is your house?

Am I allowed at any point to say enough is enough?
It's your house. You are allowed to refuse visits from anyone. They don't have any rights to visit just because you're under offer.

Whether refusing them is likely to mean they get cold feet and pull out is a different question. That's a judgement call you can only make based on how likely you think it is you'd get another buyer quickly or if they might actually wise up and stop being ridiculous.

First thought that crossed my mind too. I'd be minded to tell them that anything attached to the walls is staying (i.e. curtain poles, blinds, kitchen cupboards, etc) is staying but there are no other fixtures up for discussion.

They don't get to choose what they want in your house without agreeing with you, or negotiating a price with you for it.

The more awkward they are, the more stubborn I'd end up being!

The in depth survey is more than enough OP. I'd refuse any more visits too, unless you need the sale to go through, in which case the estate agent can accompany them (unless you fear they'll rummage through your knicker drawer!).

I'm also going to hazard a guess and say I bet they're FTB who think the whole process revolves around what they want over and above all others.

House buying and selling is painful enough without buyers like that!

I think the estate agent should be managing their expectations a bit more here rather than just passing on their requests to you. You don't want it to look like you are being awkward, so your estate agent should point out that it's not typical to request these lengthy visits. If they insist, fair enough but they should try and filter the requests.

I reckon 2 visits prior to offer and 1 visit between offer and exchange is about right. We booked a double appointment for our post-offer visit as we wanted to take measurements and it's quite a big house. The first 2 visits were under half an hour though.

I reckon 2 visits pre offer and I’d allow one short one after offer accepted . I certainly wouldn’t be entertaining builders / surveyors / friends/ relatives it would be couple / couple + children only .

As FTB recently we viewed twice. First viewing on my own for about 20 mins. Then took my DH for the second viewing, another 20 mins. No more until we got the keys.

This is ridiculous. Way way over the top. And you are the ones who decide what you are leaving not them. Apart from fixtures which stay anyway. They sound total pains.

It’s a 4 bed town house. Just over 2000 sq feet so not that big!

Thank you this is really helpful. I will have a word with the EA.

The length of the visit will depend on the size of the house. A 2 bed takes less time to view than a country estate but I am guessing you would have em mentioned that if it had been relevant!
With both houses I've bought, I'd had the initial look around with the estate agent, been back for a second viewing within 48 hours, put an offer in and then, nearer exchange, gone for a measuring up visit.
When I sold my first home, the FTB did an initial visit, then a second visit again within the first 48 hours, then came around with her parents, then came around with their parents' friend who was a surveyor. The surveyor I understood and I think her parents coming was helpful for me as they were a bit more realistic about some things than the FTBs themselves were. I then felt I had to allow his parents to come as, apparently, they were stumping up some of the money for it and I wanted the sale to go through. Then, though, it got utterly ridiculous as they wanted a set of grandparents who were visiting from overseas to view it and then a sibling and so the list went on. As did their list of ridiculous questions, particularly for a Victorian property!

I visited mine 3 times, once to view, then I offered My second visit I did a 'survey' and took my mum. 3rd visit was the day before exchange to check nothing had deteriorated.

The buyers are a retired couple, husband was a Solicitor. They have both bought and sold at least 6 properties in the past as their surveyor friend told me he had completed all their surveys. I just can’t for the life of me understand what they want to be doing for another 2 hours.

When they had the house surveyed, I was initially told it would take about 4 hours. Well on the day the surveyor spent 4.5 hours just doing the outside. The house is only 10 years old.

My DS was a 1st time buyer recently. He visited the house once, alone, put in an offer, had it accepted. Then he instructed a surveyor - no idea how long she was there as he didn't go with her. Then, as it was nearly 3 months between offer and exchange, he viewed the property again as a pre exchange check (under my advice).

Your purchasers sound excessive. That said, it depends how desperate you are to sell and whether you think they'll pull out if you refuse. But I would say that they have shown their colours and are likely to continue to be a pain in the a*se throughout the process.

Nope. Tell the estate agent that they can't do this.

Then 2 hours is absurd.