Sale agreed, got keys - what can I do?

rionn

Hi a bit of advice, we went sale agreed yesterday on a property ..

I have the structural engineer out today when I went to meet him he gave the keys back to me, would any of you take a copy of the keys and do a bit of painting and cleaning while we are waiting for contracts to be signed?

Also we have to buy an oil burner and tank and I seen one advertised locally second hand should I buy it? Really what I would love to no is there much that could go wrong now.. The estate agent said the bank have the deeds so thinks we should be wrapped up in 6-8 weeks.

We would love to start painting and cleaning now as we'd love to be in for xmas.

Would any of you start work at it.. Thanks !!

D3PO

DO NOT start work on a property you don't own.

Just because your sale agreed doesn't mean you will complete a hundred and one things could happen that stop the sale.

If it doesn you would be libel for costs to rectify any changes you have made and or could be charged with criminal damage. (extreme but possible)

Sunny Dayz

Would you not been seen to be trespassing if you let yourself in? I think if you need to measure up for eg kitchen, furniture etc you can arrange to visit property for that.

From personal experience, just because you are sale agreed doesn't mean you own the house, and trust me so many things can go wrong in the meantime.

mick121

rionn wrote: »

Hi a bit of advice, we went sale agreed yesterday on a property ..

I have the structural engineer out today when I went to meet him he gave the keys back to me, would any of you take a copy of the keys and do a bit of painting and cleaning while we are waiting for contracts to be signed?

Also we have to buy an oil burner and tank and I seen one advertised locally second hand should I buy it? Really what I would love to no is there much that could go wrong now.. The estate agent said the bank have the deeds so thinks we should be wrapped up in 6-8 weeks.

We would love to start painting and cleaning now as we'd love to be in for xmas.

Would any of you start work at it.. Thanks !!

No no no no.dont do a thing.Sale agreed means just that it does not mean sold.Do nothing until you own it.This takes time and a lot of things can go wrong.Best of luck op

Ray Palmer

I had the keys to a place I was sale agreed on and it was great for doing measurement. I could get builders down to price work. Great advantages but I would never have made any changes to the property at all. The sale also fell through so lucky I didn't

Moonbeam

buy it then do work on it!

mari2222

Not sure about Ireland but I read that 1 in 3 "sale agreed" fall through in the UK.

odds_on

mari2222 wrote: »

Not sure about Ireland but I read that 1 in 3 "sale agreed" fall through in the UK.

I've had 5 fall through in the last 15 months.

rionn

Thanks for advice folks would any of you mind telling me how a house sell could fall threw, just the solicitor has the deeds and I am a cash buyer tks!!

L1011

rionn wrote: »

Thanks for advice folks would any of you mind telling me how a house sell could fall threw, just the solicitor has the deeds and I am a cash buyer tks!!

Land registration issues / title issues meaning it can't actually be sold, for starters.

DO NOT do ANYTHING to it until you actually close and don't copy the keys either.

the_syco

rionn wrote: »

Thanks for advice folks would any of you mind telling me how a house sell could fall threw, just the solicitor has the deeds and I am a cash buyer tks!!

Another cash buyer drops an extra €50k. Extreme, but you asked.

ABajaninCork

Ain't yours until you've exchanged...

Henry Ford III

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Ain't yours until you've exchanged...

....and paid in full.

rionn

Right guys thanks for the advice!!, I will be staying well away till exchange was just tempting.. :rolleyes:

snowey07

dont do anything until you legally can stand in it and know its yours. For starters you wouldnt be insured if something happened to you or the house

Mousewar

It'd be a bit weird anyway if you went and were painting the walls while the current owners were sitting there watching telly. They might, you know, notice you.

rionn

Lol the house is empty hasn't been lived in! tks

Despot Dan

My Dad (75) bought a fixer-upper and he had the entire house gutted (by himself) by the time contracts were signed.

TwoShedsJackson

Despot Dan wrote: »

My Dad (75) bought a fixer-upper and he had the entire house gutted (by himself) by the time contracts were signed.

What would he have done if the sale fell through?

fricatus

Despot Dan wrote: »

My Dad (75) bought a fixer-upper and he had the entire house gutted (by himself) by the time contracts were signed.

He's lucky there weren't any problems with the sale, that's all I'll say. When we bought recently, we were dying to get started with the renovation work but our solicitor ordered us to do everything by the book: architect and builder could visit for survey and measurement purposes, taking photos, etc., but only by arrangement with the estate agent - no copying of keys for example, in case the place was burgled and the owner pointed fingers!

QuiteInterestin

snowey07 wrote: »

dont do anything until you legally can stand in it and know its yours. For starters you wouldnt be insured if something happened to you or the house

+1, heard of a case where someone got the keys before the sale was complete and while doing work on the house there was a fire which caused significant damage. They either didn't have insurance or it wasn't covered as it wasn't in their name yet. Last I heard, they were possibly going to try to claim off the estates insurance which is not going down too well with the rest of the estate as it will cause their insurance to go up. Not best footing to get off on with the new neighbours.

traineeacc

We were tempted to do similar in a vacant property executor sale thankfully didn't as their was an outstanding charge that the estate was refusing to discharge and the sale fell through in the end and I believe the executors son is now living there as its close to where he goes to college! Don't do anything until have the keys, so important

ted1

Despot Dan wrote: »

My Dad (75) bought a fixer-upper and he had the entire house gutted (by himself) by the time contracts were signed.

So he's one on a million. Well done him.

No Pants

rionn wrote: »

Thanks for advice folks would any of you mind telling me how a house sell could fall threw, just the solicitor has the deeds and I am a cash buyer tks!!

How long is a piece of string? The seller could change his/her/their mind. You're assuming that their motivation is to actually sell the house.