What happens now we are pulling out of sale?

[flushing]

We are first time buyers. We offered on an ole terrace built in 1890 and everything has been going fine (mortgage in place, all funds checks etc, searches fine) until we received the level 2 survey last week.

The seller disclosed around this time that there were no building regulation sign off for removal of an internal wall, installation of a log burner, gas and electricity checks but the survey also revealed the double extension has no building regs, it’s a single skin wall, there’s damp all over the place, upstairs and down.

It’s just too much for us to take on so we’ve decided to walk away.

We know we’ve incurred some solicitor fees for searches etc and the cost of the survey.

Are there any other implications to pulling out now? If we find another property of the same price is it easy for the mortgage company to revalue the next property and we can move on quickly?

As it’s a bank holiday we can’t contact anyone until tomorrow to tell them we are pulling out and I’m worrying that it’s going to be difficult to move to something else.

Just make it clear to the EA that you are doing this due to significant issues not disclosed then found by the survey. Make sure you’re not seen as a flakey buyer, you may want another property being sold through them so manage that relationship.

it seems worth me reminding posters that you can get insurance for this kind of situation

I had it in 2022 - it may still exist

That would mean at least getting some of your solicitors cost back. I think.

She didn’t ask me not to say what was wrong, just not to share the actual report with the estate agent. In fact we did actually tell them the most important things to us - that there was condensation and mould in the roof space and that the valuation was £50,000 less than we had offered.

@FourThingsAndALizard to your point

comment that the problem should have been revealed on the estate agent’s form is true, but we are currently also helping my elderly brother sell his rather run down house, and the agent told him it was perfectly all right to put ‘don’t know’ on the form

I think your point needs to be qualified. I would have concerns about an EA saying its OK to put Do not Know in a property questionnaire if it was to withhold key information aka lying by omission (fine to say Do not know if that's true, of course).

We are currently on the market since last week and I've noticed how much more regulation and guard rails there are now, compared to when we last moved house 10 years ago.

Money laundering checks, EA obligations under the Consumer Rights Act to ensure accurate and honest disclosure of facts, such that they would be accountable if they put inaccurate information on property brochures etc. even if the information was provided by the property owner, so they have skin in the game to be much more honest than years ago when EAs were infamousfor playing fast and loose with the facts.

Our EA has been very thorough and fact checks everything we sent in our questionnaire which I think is a good sign.