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.

This isn’t normal.

They’ve had plenty of time to look at it, I too would be turning down future visits or offering one last 30mins visit.

We’ve only ever looked at max of 3 times for 30 mins each, that was only one house, the others we looked once!

Same with us. I would be saying no to them OP. They can get a survey done if they're worried.

Can you give them a mop and duster and ask them to clean as they go around? After all, they might as well do something useful in the two hours they're going to be there.
I am intrigued to know what they actually plan to do? Take an actual shower to check water pressure? Cook a meal to check the hob/ovens work?

I'm going against the grain and think if that's how many visits they want, you should accommodate them. If you don't, you may find they'll pull out.
If they've bought 6 previous houses they've probably experienced what many people have done ie after moving in found some minor problems which could have been detected with a more thorough check eg dripping taps, radiators which don't work properly, broken sealant, broken door handles etc, all fixable but annoying and inconvenient, and they want to know if your house has any of those things which it could, even if only ten years old.

Usually people view twice before offer, I'd say about hour and a half each time for average 4 bed would be reasonable, they may bring another person the second time, then again before exchange just to make sure, then before completion to measure things if necessary. Also you should accommodate a visit from their surveyor and an electrical check if they want one, and a builder visit if they're planning work. So the number of visits can add up.

A retired couple want to buy a 4 bed townhouse?? I presume this is over at least 3 floors?

They're clearly just bonkers OP, sorry!

I think it's fair enough that they want to be thorough. They're looking to pay you £100,000s (presumably). I know it's not the norm, but I think buyers are usually rushed into commiting too quickly.

I think the survey stuff is OK, if a bit extreme for such a modern house - but I guess if the surveyor is a friend he's just really making sure he does a good job. But I don't think bringing a builder before you've bought the house is really on - especially when any work being planned is presumably only personal design choices stuff, rather than remedial work. That should wait until they've bought the house.

I think times have changed over recent years

We sold two properties in the last year or so and both buyers had multiple lengthy visits

I would tell the estate agent they need to attend though - you are paying them after all

And one more visit only to do whatever they want to do then nothing until exchange is sorted

It’s a big investment and people are nervous these days

I am actually laughing at this thread. OP honestly to God they are taking the piss. 2000 square ft and each viewing is 2 hours. As for the surveyor taking 4 hours on the outside on a 10 year old property. Whatever are they looking at for 2 hours?

Also tell the EAs that you expect them to accompany any future visits you agree to accept. If you agree to anything maybe its a max one hour visit with the builder accompanied by EA.

Fixtures and fittings - covered by the contract and questions before contract. What additional info do they need after 11 hours of assorted visits? I'm intrigued by what the surveyor was doing for six hours in the house. When we moved here (large arts & crafts era house) we had a full structural survey and structural engineer's report done in half a day at the property by one double qualified man.

Honestly I don’t know what the surveyor was doing all that time. I was so worried he would take another 4 hours inside the house! I had to telll him he had 1.5 hours to do the inside as I had to do school pick up.

4.5 hours outside! Was he counting the bricks?

I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks this is bonkers. Of course everyone has to do their due diligence, it is a lot of money. But they have had ample opportunity to see the house and a 6 hour survey. I feel this is going to continue on and on until completion. I have young children and work from home. It’s such an inconvenience.

Your children will have grown up and left home by the time they actually get to buy the house 😂

Gosh no way too long for viewings. I would allow one more at 20 minutes before exchange on the basis it’s interrupting you’re family life, to be accompanied by the estate agent. As others have said agents should be managing expectations better.

I agree that their requests are excessive but I really don’t think you can add the survey visit into the same category.

The vast majorities of house-buyers request a survey and the length of time depends on the surveyor, the house, and what he feels he needs to check.

The fact that the surveyor is a friend of theirs is irrelevant- some surveys do take a while. We had a level 3 survey on the house we bought two years ago and IIRC, the seller told me he was here for more than 6 hours!!

I think an in depth survey is a completely different matter to potential buyers taking 2 hours per visit.

When we bought, we offered after one 15 min visit and were in a bidding war with sealed bids. We had another visit post-acceptance for about 30 mins when the seller was home (he was lovely). The house was sold as a fixer-upper and we wanted to convert to an annexe and build an extension, which the seller knew (and was one of the reasons he picked us). He was happy for the EA to let us in (while he was away with work)with our builder and architect to measure up for quotes. I would have understood if he’d refused though and I felt a bit cheeky asking but he was so accommodating, I was really grateful.

On the flip side, selling our house they had one single visit before offer, roughly 15 mins. Then a fairly basic 2-hour survey (small house though) and that was it. No queries, no requests to measure anything, just radio silence until completion! I’ve never known a buyer ask for so little, I thought it was going to fall through!

So back to your house, as it stands, they’ve had three visits. Very lengthy visits. And they want to visit again with a builder. Personally I’d be ok with that because they might need the builder’s quote to be sure about proceeding. Without it they might get the wobbles and pull out. But no more visits after that. You can just say it’s too disruptive which is fair enough. Your EA should be managing this - he’s your agent, not theirs, that’s what you pay him for.

I completely get that another visit is a faff but as they have a specific request - the builder - I’d let them go ahead but then draw the line. Oh, and set a time limit on the visit. A builder won’t need more than an hour to get what he needs.