Buying house - what communication should we have recieved?

nhickey

We're in the process of buying our first home, our offer was accepted at start of September and we immediately set about putting things in place on our side. Our engineer highlighted a concern with the roof that needed fixing before he'd sign off on it, his report was sent to both solicitors before the end of September. Since then we are in limbo, we have had no communication from the sellars since our offer was accepted, we pushed our solicitor to contact theirs about two weeks ago and they said they would be in contact the wk after but still nothing.
obviously since this is our first time buying a house we're not sure of what is the norm but given the work which needs to be done (basically beams put in the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen) needs to be run past us as it will change the look of the room etc. We are surprised we have had absolutely no communication.
Should we be pushing things more with our solicitor or are we being too impatient? What is the norm?

the_syco

Yup, it can take some time for the process to complete.

Although it can take some time, I'd get onto your solicitor to check to see if the house is in negative equity as the sellers could then be waiting on the bank.

Another thing to consider is that they're planning on using the money gained from the sale of this house, for a new house, and they're waiting on something on that end.

Finally, how much will the roof take to repair? Is it possible that the seller hopes to sell the house to someone that didn't spot the problem with the roof?

davo10

the_syco wrote: »

Yup, it can take some time for the process to complete.

Although it can take some time, I'd get onto your solicitor to check to see if the house is in negative equity as the sellers could then be waiting on the bank.

Another thing to consider is that they're planning on using the money gained from the sale of this house, for a new house, and they're waiting on something on that end.

Finally, how much will the roof take to repair? Is it possible that the seller hopes to sell the house to someone that didn't spot the problem with the roof?

I'd agree with this, the roof isn't being repaired by the sounds of things, the vaulted roof may need extra support. Right now the owners could be asking the original architect whether this is correct and if it is, why didn't he/she know that when designing it. If their architect disagrees, then as your purchase is subject to this work being done, it is possible that seller is in negotiation with another buyer who is not as concerned about the beams.

nhickey

Thanks for both your replies. That really is our concern that they are going to back out of the sale. We just weren't sure if it's normal 2 months later to have absolutely no communication from them.
Being a small village were moving to it was easy to find out info on the sellers I know that one of the party has found rental accommodation but the other has moved back into the house. So we're a bit concerned about that. We're not aware of other interested parties but it's obvious they don't want to put in the collar ties, it's not a big job but it's still about 2k of work. Although being a small community once sale falls through because of a problem with the structure of the roof it will become common knowledge so it's unlikely they'll it on without doing the work.
We had two offers accepted on two houses at the same time we went with the country house because as a relatively new build we liked the idea of not having to renovate I think we might have to instruct our solicitor to push for a date when work will be carried out I don't want to be waiting around for months and then it to be sold to another bidder. We might have to look at pulling out and go back to the other house it's definitely still on the market and the price has dropped. So frustrating I thought getting the mortgage was the hardest part!!

cpoh1

nhickey wrote: »

Thanks for both your replies. That really is our concern that they are going to back out of the sale. We just weren't sure if it's normal 2 months later to have absolutely no communication from them.
Being a small village were moving to it was easy to find out info on the sellers I know that one of the party has found rental accommodation but the other has moved back into the house. So we're a bit concerned about that. We're not aware of other interested parties but it's obvious they don't want to put in the collar ties, it's not a big job but it's still about 2k of work. Although being a small community once sale falls through because of a problem with the structure of the roof it will become common knowledge so it's unlikely they'll it on without doing the work.
We had two offers accepted on two houses at the same time we went with the country house because as a relatively new build we liked the idea of not having to renovate I think we might have to instruct our solicitor to push for a date when work will be carried out I don't want to be waiting around for months and then it to be sold to another bidder. We might have to look at pulling out and go back to the other house it's definitely still on the market and the price has dropped. So frustrating I thought getting the mortgage was the hardest part!!

2k of work? I would consider that small money. At the end of the day if that's all the engineer found that's a good result.

You have two options - ring the EA and ask him to contact the sellers asking them for a reduction in the selling price to allow for this work to be completed post purchase or suck it up and buy the house as is and do the work yourself at your own cost. Its virtually unheard of to get sellers to do work to a house before purchase, extremely rare. Depends on how much you want the house really.

At the end of the day sitting around twiddling thumbs while you "think" the vendor is repairing something is naive! You should have gotten an answer or plan from the EA as soon as the engineer discovered the issue.

BTW you dont need the engineer to "sign-off" on the house before you can buy. They inspect the house, write the report and give a reccomendation as to the potential issues and you make a decision whether you want to buy the house or not. The ball is firmly in your court!

pwurple

2k of work? And you're waiting 2 months already... sure that's the 2k burnt in rent. Phone the estate agent, and your the solicitor. Tell them in light of the engineers report, you want to take the 2K off the sale price and drive on. Job done. Push push push.

nhickey

cpoh1 wrote: »

2k of work? I would consider that small money. At the end of the day if that's all the engineer found that's a good result.

You have two options - ring the EA and ask him to contact the sellers asking them for a reduction in the selling price to allow for this work to be completed post purchase or suck it up and buy the house as is and do the work yourself at your own cost. Its virtually unheard of to get sellers to do work to a house before purchase, extremely rare. Depends on how much you want the house really.

At the end of the day sitting around twiddling thumbs while you "think" the vendor is repairing something is naive! You should have gotten an answer or plan from the EA as soon as the engineer discovered the issue.

BTW you dont need the engineer to "sign-off" on the house before you can buy. They inspect the house, write the report and give a reccomendation as to the potential issues and you make a decision whether you want to buy the house or not. The ball is firmly in your court!

I know I said it wasn't a big job. My question was actually around should we have had some communication from the sellers 2 months I merely mentioned the structural problem to highlight the need for some communication. I'm aware of my options such as reducing price by cost of works but as they haven't got in touch we can't negotiate a compromise. BTW I do understand the whole signing off thing, it was more figure of speech and both our engineer and my brother who is also an engineer advised us not to purchase before the work is done as it's structural. We've asked for expert opopinioi think it would be foolish to ignore it.
Its a buyers market, we're first time buyers and have all the advantages that goes with it. We just weren't really sure what type of communication we should have gotten at this stage it felt like we should have more but I just wanted some opinions before I rang them up to put pressure on them I don't want to be unreasonable.

BeatNikDub

Ask the EA to follow up with the vendors too if the solicitor is getting nowhere.
Sometimes when surveys are done and the buyer comes back looking for a reduced price the vendor may back out but you think you would know by now! And not over 2k!
Solicitors can be the long route as they bloody insist on communicating only through letter whereas your estate agent can just pick up the phone and get back to you.
I hope all is ok!

nhickey

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Ask the EA to follow up with the vendors too if the solicitor is getting nowhere.
Sometimes when surveys are done and the buyer comes back looking for a reduced price the vendor may back out but you think you would know by now! And not over 2k!
Solicitors can be the long route as they bloody insist on communicating only through letter whereas your estate agent can just pick up the phone and get back to you.
I hope all is ok!

I know it's going to be so drawn out. We always felt they were reluctant sellers so we're a bit nervous of them pulling out. We had to put a ton of pressure on them to go into negotiations to buy it. I rang our solicitor she told us that their solicitor is holding up the contracts while they are waiting some land registry paperwork which is pretty lame excuse and she says they still aren't aware of the problem with the roof ... She's sending them a letter (like what you said!). I didn't realise we could talk to the estate agent over this it's great to know that. I'll def follow up with him next wk ... We'll see what reply the letter gets!! Thanks for the advice.

cpoh1

nhickey wrote: »

I know I said it wasn't a big job. My question was actually around should we have had some communication from the sellers 2 months I merely mentioned the structural problem to highlight the need for some communication. I'm aware of my options such as reducing price by cost of works but as they haven't got in touch we can't negotiate a compromise. BTW I do understand the whole signing off thing, it was more figure of speech and both our engineer and my brother who is also an engineer advised us not to purchase before the work is done as it's structural. We've asked for expert opopinioi think it would be foolish to ignore it.
Its a buyers market, we're first time buyers and have all the advantages that goes with it. We just weren't really sure what type of communication we should have gotten at this stage it felt like we should have more but I just wanted some opinions before I rang them up to put pressure on them I don't want to be unreasonable.

2012 is calling you back!

Seriously, its all down to how you communicated the findings from the engineers report to the EA, contacting solicitors is a waste of time for this stuff.

You should have either asked them to fix it or give you a reduction and told the EA you wanted a response by X days or weeks.

I find it very strange that you simply rang the EA, told them about your engineers findings and then left it at that. And then waited 2 months to follow up? Bizarre really.

Get on the phone and ask what the story is!

nhickey

cpoh1 wrote: »

2012 is calling you back!

Seriously, its all down to how you communicated the findings from the engineers report to the EA, contacting solicitors is a waste of time for this stuff.

You should have either asked them to fix it or give you a reduction and told the EA you wanted a response by X days or weeks.

I find it very strange that you simply rang the EA, told them about your engineers findings and then left it at that. And then waited 2 months to follow up? Bizarre really.

Get on the phone and ask what the story is!

I'm not in Dublin house prices are still under the asking price & we were the only people to express interest in the house so you can stop with the attitude.

We weren't aware we had to so we haven't told the EA about it we just have been working with our solicitors like I said we are totally clueless about all this.

cpoh1

nhickey wrote: »

I'm not in Dublin house prices are still under the asking price & we were the only people to express interest in the house so you can stop with the attitude.

We weren't aware we had to so we haven't told the EA about it we just have been working with our solicitors like I said we are totally clueless about all this.

Have you made a call to the EA yet?

BeatNikDub

Well it's not really the estate agents job once the legal stuff has kicked in but if you really are getting nowhere then a call is definitely worth it and totally par for the course.
The survey would always be reverted back to the EA too as it usually requires final negotiations.
Let us know when you get more news.

nhickey

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Well it's not really the estate agents job once the legal stuff has kicked in but if you really are getting nowhere then a call is definitely worth it and totally par for the course.
The survey would always be reverted back to the EA too as it usually requires final negotiations.
Let us know when you get more news.

Ok that's what we had thought originally but it's good to know if things hit a wall we could run things past them. The solicitor heard from theirs today and they are getting an engineers report this wk so we should have the paper work in the next fortnight. she said herself that their solicitor is being very slow with things he was waiting to have everything sorted before he sent out the contracts which isn't necessary some documents concerning land registry were holding it up too. Hopefully things will start moving faster now.

On the plus side the bank was totally on the ball and our mortgage is good to go.

L1011

BeatNikDub wrote: »

Solicitors can be the long route as they bloody insist on communicating only through letter whereas your estate agent can just pick up the phone and get back to you.
I hope all is ok!

I had the reverse, solicitor used email, EA was phone or post only. In the end it didn't matter as the private service added months anyway

ted1

pwurple wrote: »

2k of work? And you're waiting 2 months already... sure that's the 2k burnt in rent. Phone the estate agent, and your the solicitor. Tell them in light of the engineers report, you want to take the 2K off the sale price and drive on. Job done. Push push push.

If I was selling I'd say it's sold as seen, pay the agreed price or jog on.

nhickey

ted1 wrote: »

If I was selling I'd say it's sold as seen, pay the agreed price or jog on.

Haha .. not if you actually wanted to sell it ... Outside of Cork, Galway and Dublin it's still a stagnant market.

MouseTail

Even in a stagnant market, sellers rarely do remedial works, its usually negotiation on price. If you suspect these are reluctant sellers, they definitely won't fix it.

nhickey

MouseTail wrote: »

Even in a stagnant market, sellers rarely do remedial works, its usually negotiation on price. If you suspect these are reluctant sellers, they definitely won't fix it.

It stabalising the roof to stop it collapsing .. I'd prefer they did it but anyway my query wasn't about that I'm fully aware of all the options from that side of things we've been very well advised.

My comment above was in response to Ted1 saying that as a seller he wouldn't negotiate he'd walk away rather than drop the price. That may be an option in some places but where I live that house will stay on the market until next summer when they'll have to drop the price to try reignite interest.

MouseTail

The sellers are stalling, either because of the roof, or more likely they are not interested in selling and the roof has just given them an excuse to dig their heels in with the bank (if you are correct that they are selling reluctantly). I think you need to find out if this is a forced sale and act accordingly. Have a good read of the negative equity thread here.

I wish you luck with it, but I would be keeping my options open if I were you.

nhickey

MouseTail wrote: »

The sellers are stalling, either because of the roof, or more likely they are not interested in selling and the roof has just given them an excuse to dig their heels in with the bank (if you are correct that they are selling reluctantly). I think you need to find out if this is a forced sale and act accordingly. Have a good read of the negative equity thread here.

I wish you luck with it, but I would be keeping my options open if I were you.

I know your probably right. We have another house in mind that we previously had an offer accepted on but went with this one instead, the price has dropped too. We will give this the fortnight and then look at the other house again and tell our solicitor we're thinking strongly of pulling out. I feel they may be dragging it out to get Christmas in the house but that might be naive of me!

BeatNikDub

What did Estate Agent say?

pwurple

ted1 wrote: »

If I was selling I'd say it's sold as seen, pay the agreed price or jog on.

And jog on they will!

Depends on the sale obviously, but sometimes this is another negotiating chance, split the difference etc. Not much in it here though.

tzsteve

nhickey wrote: »

Haha .. not if you actually wanted to sell it ... Outside of Cork, Galway and Dublin it's still a stagnant market.

I don't think so.......... My wife and I have put some asking price offers on houses in the Westmeath area only to be told we had been outbid...... Finally went sale agreed on a property last month but had to go above asking prices..... a year ago would have been a different matter.

nhickey

tzsteve wrote: »

I don't think so.......... My wife and I have put some asking price offers on houses in the Westmeath area only to be told we had been outbid...... Finally went sale agreed on a property last month but had to go above asking prices..... a year ago would have been a different matter.

Houses here are going for on average €15k under the asking price. We agreed 6k under because it was ready to move straight in and obviously we really liked it. But anyway it's something we can negotiate on when they come back to us. We had previously had an offer accepted on another place (again under asking price €15k) but they messed us about the EA wouldn't take our calls over the summer when we rang to see if our offer was accepted or what was happening (we were bidding against another person) so we moved on to the house we're trying to buy now & in the middle of price negotiations the other EA rang us and offered us the house at our original bid & we told him we weren't interested since he'd ignored us for 2 months. Since then that house has dropped its price by 8k and they've changed EA to try drum up interest again. We are gonna view it again and make a bid at end of November if this isn't going anywhere. We're giving the solicitor the wk he said he'd forward the contact's to ours and if he's still at nothing we'll contact the EA and then just walk away.