Selling Your Property - Problems

There are several types of problems which can arise when you are selling your home. Ranging from taking the decision not to sell after you have put your property on the market to problems with solicitors, there is usually a set course of action to follow.

Estate Agents

You and your estate agent have entered into a contract, so in the event of a problem the first thing that you should do is check the terms of the agreement that you signed. If you feel that their final bill is too high you should ask for a breakdown of costs - do not forget that VAT will have been added. If you can not reach an agreement you can ask your solicitor for advice - for which you will have to pay. Alternatively you could ask for advice at your local Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

If you decide to take your property off the market whilst you are under agreement with the estate agent you may have to cover the costs they have incurred. Check the agreement for details.

If you decide to appoint another estate agent as a joint agency sale, you must ensure that you are not breaching the terms of your contract.

If you decide to change your estate agent completely, then you can do this at the end of the contract period but should check the terms to find out whether you will have to reimburse their costs.

Buyers

If a buyer withdraws their offer before contracts have been exchanged, they are not under contract, so you can do nothing. Equally, if you have incurred any costs, you are liable for them, not the buyer. You may ask the buyer to contribute, however this will be a moral decision for them.

If the buyer reduces the offer before contracts are exchanged then it is up to you whether or not you accept the reduced price. You may negotiate, or hold firm in which case they may withdraw their offer. Once contracts are exchanged, the buyer has to pay the price stated on the contract.

Solicitors

If you feel that your conveyancing costs are higher than they should be, you should ask your solicitor for a breakdown. If you are still not happy you should take it up with the solicitor. If you do not agree with their explanations then you should take independent advice, in which case you can visit the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Lenders

In rare cases when your property is valued you could find that the price has dropped to the extent that if you sell at the valued price the money realised will not cover the outstanding mortgage debt. This is known as negative equity. Several schemes are in force to help in this situation. One way of dealing with it is to transfer the existing mortgage to your new property rather than paying it off. Lenders will be able to advise you if you find yourself in this situation.

No interest in your property

If your home has been on the market for a long time with little or no interest, it is time to have a drastic rethink. Your estate agent should be able to advise you about a course of action. It may be that you need to invest a little bit of money to realise your asking price. You may need to reduce the price of the property. You could do some research and have a look at similar properties in the same area to see why your property is not attracting viewings. It may be that the market has slowed down, in which case you could decide not to sell at all until it has improved. You could spend this time improving your property and so realising an even higher asking price when the market has picked up. It may be that the estate agent has not been heavily marketing the property, in which case you could change agencies or appoint joint agencies.

More Selling Your Property topics below:

• Estate Agents - what can you expect from an estate agent?
• Private Sales - avoiding expensive estate agents fees
• Viewings - what you should say, what you should answer and what you should ask.
• Offers - how can you tell when an offer is the highest you will get?
• Surveys - as a seller, what can you expect from the survey?
• Legal - what is involved with conveyancing for sellers?
• Financial - what can you expect to be paying for when you sell your property?
• Selling Pack's - how the government proposes to speed up the property buying process
• Moving - what you should organise in order to have as easy a move as possible.

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