Buying repossessed 2022 new build- 28 day exchange of contract condition

[ThisTwinklyCrab]

I have put in an offer on a house that was built in 2022 and was repossessed by the bank. My offer has not been accepted yet, but I have been told by the estate agent that a previous sale fell through because the buyer was not able to exchange in time. There is a 28 day exchange condition which starts as soon as an offer is accepted, whereby after 28 days the company/bank selling the house will review the legal progress and can choose to pull out if things are taking too long.

I’m ofcourse extremely cautious of this as it’s not something I’ve heard of and am aware that a house buying process usually takes around 8-12 weeks if you are lucky.

Our buyers are FTB so we may be able to make things happen quite swiftly but 28 days seems crazy and a big risk. Racking up a bill as soon as we instruct a solicitor so to then have to them pull out and start the process with another house feels like it could be expensive!

Hoping there are people out there that can offer some advice/reassurance.

We had a similar experience with new build developers. They advised us it was a 28 day exchange and we didn’t meet it, the are pretty ruthless though. They didn’t do anything about the deadline and let it go but they did take the house off us as soon as our chain collapsed!

It all seems very ruthless. From what I’ve read online it’s very much a process to weed out people with lengthy chains.

Our buyers have no chain as FTB but I’m still not sure how we can get things progressing that quickly

Ask the ftb if they can manage 28 days?

This is what we will be asking tomorrow. It seems a stretch but they are currently renting so it could possibly be achieved it just seems like it could be expensive if we cannot meet it and they pull out

I’m not sure how anyone meets that condition. Even if you were a ftb, you’re at the mercy of solicitors, searches and all the legal stuff.

It never happens in 28 days, they will be fine as long as progress is being made and you are engaging, it would take longer to start over with another buyer.

I would hope this is the case

The ftb will want to do all the searches necessary and will be advised to do so to buy yours.
They then will have to have fraud checks done

28 days just isn’t long enough

Ive bought auction property in both 21 and 28days but our solicitors are given the full legal pack containing all those searches and we were always cash buyers. No chain or mortgage involvement

The fact your ftb are renting is the least of your worries

Thank you that is very helpful!

We purchased a repossession in 2018 and managed to exchange in just over 28 days...but we had already completed on our sale, were cash buyers and didn't bother with survey or searches.

Under normal circs - particularly with FTB buying yours - I'd say it was pushing it to get it done in 28 days @ThisTwinklyCrab but fingers crossed for you!

I’d say it’s impossible , even getting an appointment to arrange mortgage formally vs affordability checks can take a while plus searches , surveys. The only time I think this could work is with no chain

We had this but we didn't exchange in 28 days - this was a new build sale tho. The developer was happy everything was progressing well and the solicitors sorted it out between themselves. The developer wants to get all the sales through as quickly as possible and avoid large chains. They can be ruthless, ask loads of questions and read all the small print.

I would have thought that you need to be cash buyers to complete in 28 days otherwise it woukd be incredibly stressful.