Is there a new thread for “Anyone putting their home on the market in early 2025”?

[IWasBornIn1989]

The other thread is full 😏

It’s been about three months. The issue is we live on a relatively new but large big estate, so all the houses on the market in our area are exactly the same 😅 it’s made standing out in a busy market quite tricky. I think we should seriously consider it. DH seems to think that accepting anything under the asking price is an insult to his manliness for some reason I can’t comprehend!

@Hermioninny there isn't actually any legal requirement for a seller to do a boiler service, it's just considered good practice to prove everything is ok. Our solicitor has asked them but she said they can say no. It's difficult because it doesn't seem like a good enough reason to pull out now but equally frustrating. I think they are probably thinking well it's sold as seen and we know it's empty, which is true I guess. I think because we pushed them down on price already they probably feel they don't want to spend any more money.

Congratulations on your offer, that's great news!

@IDontDrinkTea it's so hard because you have to guess whether they would have put in a lower offer expecting you to push back or not. We offered £430k on a £440k listing and thought they would push us up a bit more but accepted it and we were surprised. The house fell through in the end but not because of cost. In our area it would be common right now to accept an offer under listing price, it's a buyer market here. If it's been 3 months, have you had other offers/interest? If not then I would be surprised if you got asking but an element of it is right person at the right time. You could try a counter offer and if they say no you can still accept their offer, this happened to us on the house we are buying.

I am going to join you all. DH and I have finally decided to move in together after being married for 5 years (don't ask!). I have had valuations between 425k for a quick sale and 475k, have decided to go on at 450k and reduce after a few weeks if no interest. Saw a perfect house an amazing victorian semi which needed gutting but could be so lovely but sadly sold to a cash buyer. In my area houses seem to sell within a few weeks or linger on the markets for months and months. I live in a popular market town so we shall see how it goes. Wish me luck!

I put in an offer on a house in March and exchanged last week 🎉 due to complete next week. I’m a ftb so figuring this all out as I go. What should I expect on completion day? Do I just need to go and pick up the keys when the EA tells me I can?

@Billybobidy Yes usually the Solicitor lets you know you have completed and tehn you can collect the keys from the EA. I have had some complete at 9am and others drag on all day. How excitng for you and good luck!

Thank you! 😊 It’s a fairly short chain and it’s all been pretty straight forward so fingers crossed it’ll be earlier in the day!

Out of interest, how long was exchange from the searches coming back? In know 2 out of 3 of mine are back,and the 3rd due this week, but my solciotr is still radio silence, and I've no idea on expectation of raising any enquiries with the other side (obviously then relying on them dealing with it quickly) and then being ready to exchange?

Online seems to say generally 1-3 weeks, but would be good to know an actual experience! My buyers want to complete by end of July - 6 weeks.

Our searches were back mid April. We could have exchanged much earlier but 2 of the solicitors went on holiday in that time and then we had a hold up relating to a strip of land. If we didn’t have that hold up we probably could have exchanged mid to end of May!

The only search we have outstanding on our purchase is the local authority one, we’ve been told it will be and of June. Trying to find out what’s still outstanding on our sale, and our sellers onward purchase. All the surveys have been done, not sure if there was any issue with the one on our house but it was only done last week. After not doing anything for months because they didn’t even know what a survey is, our buyers booked a level 3 survey last week. We had the same done a couple of years ago so we aren’t expecting any drama but you never know do you. We are still aiming to complete before August. After a week break I’ve just sent another round of emails to agents and solicitors to find out what’s going on 🤞

@ScoobyDoesntmy experience is that it depends on the queries raised post searches / surveys and how complex they are.
When I moved before I had a list of queries which were bizarre, and only really required a "no" answer. Contracts were shared soon after for signing.

Interested to see if anyone else has any differing experience. Just been informed that the searches are back on my partner's sale and we are waiting for queries to be raised. We are hoping to complete on that sale by the end of July at the latest as on holiday early August!

Our buyers have also just declared they are having a survey now they've had all the searches and enquiries done. That's for the end of next week. We were told it's around 6-8 weeks from the point your solicitors get the contract drafts prior to searches. It really does depend on the questions from those and the survey though. I was also feeling confident for end of July but not so sure now.

We have gone back to the EA of the house we are buying with a list of queries from our survey and also some requests eg for them to get a boiler service to confirm the heating/water actually works still. I said they listed the property as being well maintained on the property spec, so would expect a service to have been done in the last 12 months. I don't think it's unreasonable. Despite being empty it's not like they advertised it as a house that needs renovating/can't be lived in!

The house we are buying has an 8yr old boiler that has never been serviced. I am surprised someone would pay for a new boiler then never think to service it, especially with young kids in the house. Anyway, the solicitor has said they need to get it serviced before we complete the purchase. We shall see.

People never fail to surprise me... We are selling our new build and have always serviced our boiler but someone we know on our estate has never bothered to.

The people we're buying from have put down on the property information form that it is unknown as to the maintenance/service status of the boiler 😬 they've lived there quite a while.

My Vendor is an ex-landlady off loading her rental - all I got was a gas safety certificate for the boiler, so I know I will have to get the boiler and radiators serviced. She also claimed not to know who the utilities are with despite being chased a couple of times. I assume she wont be reading the meter on moving day! Its strange that people don't regularly service the boiler - I have always had a contract as when it goes wrong it is a major issue.

I know nothing about renting properties but do they not have to have a boiler serviced as a landlord?

@Gunz we are buying a property that was rented out and I thought they did have to have the boiler serviced for the gas safety when tenants were there. Our issue is they had it done when tenants in but not since they left and it now out of date. Legally people don't have to supply it but we have tried to put our foot down on this.
The property has had the electrics tested as it was rented. Ours was tested when installed in 2013 but we noticed it says recommended every 10 years but presume that's just advisory and our buyers can't demand it. Do people usually do it?!

We ended up dropping our price last week and also changed it to 'offers in excess of'. We've gone from 4 weeks with no interest whatsoever to having 6 viewings booked in! Fingers crossed one of them likes it!

@Alim0we've just done the same yesterday. I hope we get the same sort of response you've had so far! Keeping my fingers crossed one of those viewers turns into a buyer for you 🤞

@OtiMama You don't have to provide a service record for the boiler or electrics. My buyers went down this line of wanting these for my 1970s house. I did get the boiler serviced, even though the boiler servicing was not due until July. With regards to the electrics I told them I would facilitate but not pay for. The RCD had been replaced in recent years. With the purchase the Vendor has shared very little information on the PIF and been painful to get answers. She has owned the property for 13 years and declared she didn't know what fences were owned by her. You get to the point where you have to call time on the enquiries.

@Gunz thanks, that makes me feel better that our electrics haven't been inspected for over 10 years, although in house standards ours is still fairly new. We have put our foot down on the boiler service with our vendor because it is actually out of date for an annual service. Feel it's a bit overkill asking for another if it's in date!

Amazing in 13 years if she's genuinely never had to deal with a fence on some side...that being said ours were probably quite flimsy originally!

Our sellers have declined to have the boiler serviced before completion. So that’ll be one of the first jobs we do.

@OtiMama Yeah total nightmare at the moment dealing with her. We are at the point where exchange dates and completion are being suggested. I am taking the pragmatic approach - this is a chain and we need to accommodate banks/mortgages and need to have some gaps. So looking to exchange 30th June - with completion on 8th July. Apparently she is pressing for it to be quicker. I told the EA she is not moving house and cashing in on her investment so what will be will be. Others have to organise removals. We are at the 16 week mark but she has been banging this drum for for the last 3 weeks.

Just out of interest is that in addition to an annual one already done as standard or refusing one at all? Wonder if ours will do the same. I feel I am being a bit petty as it's not expensive to have done but for me it's the principle, don't advertise your house as well maintained on the EA spec if the boiler isn't serviced routinely.

@Gunz that sounds really annoying. I guess she's kind of backed into a corner anyway because if she really wants her funds it's not like she's going to pull out so she has to be lead by you. I guess for us we are waiting until the end of next week for the survey from our buyers to be done...probably be a further week until they receive the report. You can see how the time just goes on.

Nope they’ve never have it serviced apparently.

The long survey turnaround times are a bit of a joke I think. We had a structural / level 3 done and we got the report on the same day. A week is ridiculous.