Fed Up!

[Rita]

Fed Up! Is actually an understatement but did not want to upset anyone by using the termanology that I feel like using at the moment.

Selling a house in the Uk is an absolute nightmare. The story so far-

We sold our house back at the beginning of August with a completion date in October. Well that one fell flat on its face when the bottom of the chain decided to just drop out 2 weeks prior to completion.

So back on the Market, luckily enough re-sold within 4days, Yippee! Should complete 15th November, Oh No! bottom of the chain (only 3 of us) cannot complete until the end of November, great as we are all ready to complete in France on the 15th December. Oh No! middle of the chain not ready to complete now but will be the 9-10th December, thats fine we still have a few days. Oh No! now will not be ready until 13-14th December once again we agree even though we have now postponed the removals for the 3rd time and all the house is packed up ready to go. Like living in a shell.  Well would you guess it the purchaser who should be buying our house has now decided she does not want to go ahead now so she has pulled out, we have asked if there is anything we can do to change her mind but she has said No!! So we are now back to square one and are unable to complete on the house in France (see what I mean about fed up!)

We feel mortified as we are letting the vendor in France down ( I suppose luckily enough for us we put in the Compromis that our house sale in the UK has to go through for us to complete in France) but this is no consolation for the vendor in France is it? We feel dreadful something should be done UK to stop this happening after speaking to the Estate Agents they have informed to that apparently this is happening 25-30% on all house sales. I have written to the PM but doubt that will have any impact. It is flippin terrible that people can do this.

A very very fed up person here,

Thanks for reading and all the help you have given me when I was researching.

Rita

[Russethouse]

Have you considered auctioning your house ? At least as long as it sells the buyer has to complete or lose a deposit.

The downside is you may not get quite so much, but it might be worth investigating.

[0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue]

How about a brigding loan to buy the house in france with?how bad do the french house owner want to sell,will they wait?we bought our house in france first with out the need to sell the UK house and were not depending on the sale of that house,but what a nightmare selling it we had the same problems has you,came good in the end. 

[I1]

Its not only chains that can cause frustration. When I sold my house, I agreed to a low price as the buyer had cash (nothing to sell) and I had nothing to buy and thus agreed to a low price for fast completion.

Then we had a surveyor who found nothing wrong. So we had another surveyor who also found nothing wrong. So we had an electrical inspection which found nothing wrong. So we had a gas inspection which found nothing wrong. So then we had to start checking on radon (not being in a high risk radon area).

I had a professionally built extension constructed whilst I lived at the property. I had all building regs sign-off, planning permission, etc. the covenants in my deeds stated that I needed written permission from the “estate” to build anything. I had a letter from the estate giving permission, yet the purchaser then started questioning and requiring proof that the person (legal representative of the estate) had the authority to give such permission, etc. etc.

My solicitor ha been trying to keep me calm through all this and in the end went a bit ballistic saying he was going to call the buyers solicitors and tell them to “get a life”.

It was all total madness and quite frustrating. I appreciate your difficulties.

[Georgina]

I can totally empathise, we are so glad we sold when we did.  I think people are becoming a bit jittery about where house prices are going to go but that does not excuse time wasters and the devastation caused when people change their minds for no apparent reason.  I think they should be forced to put down a deposit like in France and risk losing it.  I don't know if these new housepacks will solve the problem when they come in in a couple of years, but it sounds like a lot of hassle to sell.

Georgina

[Richard-R]

Have you tried selling it yourself. We did this in London, Board outside with details and phone No( 30 pounds) Adverts in LOOT(free) FFixed price Soliciitor( (1500) Sold in 2 weeks and the contracts only took a week. Saved 8000 pounds plus. Paid for shipping of our stuff and a few glasses of wine

[Boiling a frog]

[quote]Fed Up! Is actually an understatement but did not want to upset anyone by using the termanology that I feel like using at the moment. Selling a house in the Uk is an absolute nightmare. The story so ...[/quote]

Should be selling house in England Selling a house in Scotland is simple very much like the French system once you have accepted an offer then that is it

I cannot understand how the english put up with a system which is so blatantly open to abuse

[Iceni]

Many people claim that the house selling systems of Scotland, France etc are better than England - not necessarily so but they are different. The DIY approach of Rdkr won't prevent Fed up's problems but will save money.

As a first step I recommend that you cease using the word "sold" when a possible buyer shows interest - it ain't sold until completion has been effected and even an exchange of contracts in England does not guarantee that.

Second step - stop feeling guilty about the feelings of the French vendor, you have enough worries of your own.

Third - an auction will almost certainly guarantee sale completion but may not achieve the price you desire.

Finally - most of us can tell horror stories about broken chains etc so you are not alone - but that is no consolation, I know.

Keep yr pecker up (and yr chin if you are an Americsn)

John not

[Rita]

Hi Gay,
Thanks for your idea of Auctioning our house here in England ia a good one and we are going to look into it. 

Hi Outcast,

Your idea of a Bridging loan was something we had thought of, however as this is not the first time our house sale has fallen through we are concerned that it may take some time to re-sell and as we have quite a lot of Equity in our house here we do not want to borrow more and pay interest etc without knowing when our house will finally complete a sale. Thanks for the thought though.

Hi Rdkr,

Thanks for that advice regarding advertising it ourselves, I have now put it on the net with a few different websites, so heres hoping.

Hi Boiling a Frog,

Your comment about England made the same as Scotland regarding a House sale is excellent put cannot see the Government doing that! You are quite right I don't know why we put up with a system that is so blatently open to abuse.

Hi Di,

I agree we should stop using the word "sold" until the completion, but I think there should be some sort of redress when people just decide not to proceed, can understand if they cannot get a Mortgage etc.

Will try to stop feeling guilty regarding the French vendor however easy said than done, I suppose I am not the type of person that only thinks of myself. You are quite right though I have enough worries of my own so I will try! 

Will try to keep my chin up, however it is not the Christmas we were expecting, perhaps 2005 will bring better luck.

Thanks to all of you for your advice and concern.

Have a great Christmas.

Rita

 

[Ejc]

Hi,

Know exactly how you are feeling in 2003 - we were in the same position - had found a dream house - and couldn't complete on our property in the UK, chains just couldn't complete - we even dropped the asking price by a silly amount -but this time last year we lost our french home........

However we persevered - and finally sold our home this year - with it back on the market at a higher amount than we had dropped to 6 months earlier - we completed in August - and have found an even  more fabulous place just 15 miles from were we had been looking. The vendors are having a new home built - so we signed the compromise in September - and will sign the acte in May next year. We are now living very comfortably in a great rental home in the UK - and looking forward to realising our dreams this summer.

I always believe in the old adage -"if its meant to be it will work out right in the end" - last year I couldn't believe this - but now I do - so all the best for 2005 and lets hope things work out.

 

Regards

 

Liz