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The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property.

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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 29 Feb 2020, 11:04

TrimTheKing wrote:You can get rebates on council tax when it’s empty, but I assume you know that.


Only for a limited time, the length of which is council dependent.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 04 Mar 2020, 16:28

Pure schadenfreude.

The muppet solicitor who failed to carry out any due diligence into the availability of the buyers' funds and thus causing four failed completion dates and a final rescinding of the contract.

He's gone. Booted out. 'De-partnerised'.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby TrimTheKing » 04 Mar 2020, 16:52

Sounds like that’s not a first strike...
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 04 Mar 2020, 18:11

Possibly. I'd put money on him not doing due-diligence.

Oh, and the fact that I - two links up the chain - have seen a copy of his wife's doctors' certificate for her TIA, a copy of his deposit account statement at HSBC and his actual Completion statement showing all moneys in and out. The buyer that is...not the solicitor !
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 21 Mar 2020, 23:10

Well, now here's a turn up for the books. He's appeared on the scene again, talking about a bridging loan, had a surveyor round already and now her solicitor has contacted ours to say it might all be kicking off again. Which will be a bloody miracle given the state of the housing market now.

Asking if the price was still the same plus our legal losses from last time-Yes
Did we want another deposit - Yes

Instructed our solicitor to (a) ensure he had the deposit when we exchanged (b) shorten the time between exchange and completion as much as possible and (c) if completion fails again to immediately send the Notice to Complete.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 09 Apr 2020, 07:43

The saga continues and gets more bizarre by the day. Our buyers' solicitor seems to think that the contract to purchase our flat and the contract for him to buy our purchasers' house are one and the same. He's not willing to stump up another deposit and simply thinks that he can waltz back into frame as if nothing had happened. Never mind our wasted legal fees, additional maintenance charges on the flat etc since the FOUR failed completions down to this moron.

So said solicitor is saying 'No deposit required for the purchase of the flat as you've already got it' ! Doh :eusa-doh: It's a separate contract, you stupid woman. And we are sticking out for the deposit again.

Just checked emails...in three weeks time it will be one year since we accepted her offer. If she's not prepared to stump up the she can go swivel.

Moot point if completion and the house move can go ahead in any case. The flat is empty and so that's not a problem but she's living in her house. Also getting a removal firm in ?
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 02 Jun 2020, 16:20

And it's all gone pear-shaped. Our buyer has decided that she doesn't want to move. After over a year since we accepted her offer. We got her to agree that she would be better off totally ignoring the Egyptian and getting another buyer. We even had one (both agent and potential buyer) lined up.

But the effing old biddie kept banging on about' 'Oh there's this friend of the family who is interested in buying it. When did you last speak to them.? Don't remember".

Am so effing depressed. It is compounded by the fact that our mother signed the lease with Kingsdale whereby they charge an arm and a leg for 'selling' the flat. I use the term loosely. I recently made an enquiry under a pseudonym to assess how they went about selling. The answer ? They don't. They do SFA. Even to the point of using Zoopla and not Rightmove. We could also put it with another agent who would use Rightmove but then we pay double fees.

I am going to get sh*t-faced tonight and probably all tomorrow as well.

The only ray of sunshine is knowing that the cause of all this grief - the Egyptian - has lost £85k and is going ballistic. He emailed our solicitor five times, Kingsdale, our ex-buyers' solicitor who has written to his solicitor telling him to cease and desist. Suck it up, Mr Egyptian......suck it up.

Ha ha...just remembered. At the time of the first abortive completion she signed up to pay the council tax and has been ever since. There is no way that I am even going to attempt to unravel that. If she wants the money back, of course she can...but she probably will have to wait a long time.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 14 May 2021, 16:00

So nearly one year on and where are we ?

Still up that creek looking for the proverbial. Covid hasn't helped. But there are now 10 out of 30 flats for sale in the block. It's not a question of price being too high. Simply that no-one has expressed any interest for the last year in any of the flats. There are no buyers for this type of property.

The service charge doesn't help. My sister and I have racked up nearly £20k in accrued charges. The CMA are looking into these one-sided and unfair leases but not holding out any hope there.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby Blackswanwood » 14 May 2021, 19:10

Is renting it out an option Roger?
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby AJB Temple » 14 May 2021, 21:10

So Roger, your buyer, who pulled out, is circa £85k better off because her buyer failed to complete? Do you think this unexpected windfall factored into her decision?

It seems with a third of properties in the block being on the market, probably covid concerns, and an onerous service charge, a dearth of buyers is inevitable. Is there any mileage in organising a meeting of all residents and owners to gain control of the freehold collectively? (I was never a property lawyer btw). That being a route to slashing the service charges?

Can it be auctioned? Fire sale price perhaps, but at least you are rid.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 14 May 2021, 22:12

Blackswanwood wrote:Is renting it out an option Roger?


Lease forbids it.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 14 May 2021, 22:14

AJB Temple wrote:So Roger, your buyer, who pulled out, is circa £85k better off because her buyer failed to complete? Do you think this unexpected windfall factored into her decision?

It seems with a third of properties in the block being on the market, probably covid concerns, and an onerous service charge, a dearth of buyers is inevitable. Is there any mileage in organising a meeting of all residents and owners to gain control of the freehold collectively? (I was never a property lawyer btw). That being a route to slashing the service charges?

Can it be auctioned? Fire sale price perhaps, but at least you are rid.


Thanks for the suggestions, Adrian. It's a fully staffed retirement home and so buying the freehold isn't really an option.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby AJB Temple » 14 May 2021, 22:56

Ah. Sorry to hear that. This retirement home "investment" problem has been building into a scandal for a while now. Numerous legal cases and press articles of lock in leases and onerous service charges complicated by an ever changing residential mix. I have heard of a couple of pending cases arising from attempted contract repudiation hinging on elderly purchaser not understanding the onerous nature of their investment (which is in fact not really an investment at all) and claims against solicitors for absence of due diligence or explanation at the time of transaction.

I presume disclaiming is unattractive or you are out of time.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 15 May 2021, 05:42

AJB Temple wrote:...

I presume disclaiming is unattractive or you are out of time.


Please...can you tell me more ? {Disclaimer : I know you're not practising law any more :D }
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby Blackswanwood » 15 May 2021, 06:36

You may have already done so but if not approaching the Leasehold Advisory Service may be useful. Is this a retirement facility run by one of the major providers or a niche player?
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 15 May 2021, 07:26

Blackswanwood wrote:You may have already done so but if not approaching the Leasehold Advisory Service may be useful. Is this a retirement facility run by one of the major providers or a niche player?


Thank you for that suggestion. It's Kingsdale. I don't know whether they would be considered niche or a major player.
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby Blackswanwood » 15 May 2021, 08:16

I was just wondering if there would be any leverage through your MP. I’ve just dropped a message to someone I know who deals with this sector to see if they have any insight on Kingsdale. They look to be a reasonably sized player. I’ll let you know what they say. Cheers
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Re: The Ups and Downs ...mainly Downs..of selling a property

Postby RogerS » 15 May 2021, 09:32

Many thanks, Robert.

From what I can see from the Leasehold website is that most of the concern has been about exit fees rather than ongoing service charges. Some companies agreed to alter their exit fee strategy amongst whom are Bovis. Bovis originally built this particular block and whether or no there is an ti-in with Kingsdale, I know not what.

The Kingsdale organisation seems very opaque.
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