Buying a house that has fallen through twice

[jesspluss]

Just had an offer accepted on a house that has previously fallen through twice due to buyers pulling out. The most recent one was a couple of weeks ago.

Can I buy their survey and searches to speed things up? Or is it best to get my own survey?

Have you been told why the two previous sales fell through? Ask the agent if it was because of the survey or some other problem with the property.

You can certainly ask, it does seem silly to have another one do exactly the same!

I wouldn’t be worried about buying a house that’s fallen through twice in this market - the market is dire at the moment, including people pulling out for personal circumstances.

You need to find out when their searches and surveys were done and by who, if they’re still current. Then of course you can buy them. If their sales were protracted it could be that certain checks run out during the course of your purchase. Your solicitor will know

Hi OP,

You should get your own survey, but probably can buy their searches (one for the lawyers to confirm I guess). It would certainly be beneficial to ask the sellers / EA if they have any info on why the sales fell through, and if it’s survey driven what specifically so your own surveyor can be pre-warned.

Surveys from a reputable surveyor offer the people who instructed said surveyor insurance protection. For my sisters house purchase, her surveyor missed an important defect and she was able to claim the funds to fix this from the surveyor down the line. If you were to purchase a survey already done, you would not get this.