mentletv

We had decided to buy a repossessed to beat property prices. It's not gone well since we’ve lost out of £1000’s in mortgage and survey fees due to an incomplete HIP. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the legal position? The seller (the bank) agreed our offer and stipulated that we much exchange in 21 days. We quickly instructed a solicitor, completed surveys and agreed a mortgage – and were ready to exchange within that time. The one exception being that the seller’s HIP didn’t include the local searches (a legal requirement). We’ve chased these as best as we can, but couldn't exchange without them. If it were not for the incomplete HIP we would have exchanged already. Now the seller has agreed a higher price with someone else. :angry: We have lost £1000’s now due to the seller never providing us with a complete HIP. Do we have a case to try and retrieve our lost solicitors, mortgage, surveyor’s fees? Very frustrated.

Thanks for your thoughts. Not something I would consider. I think you'd have to be pretty desparate for a quick sale and a lump of cash before you'd go this way. I see this as another investor looking for a way to make money from others. It may work for some people, but I can't help but feel it is rather cynical.

I’m not sure what I think of this scheme. I wonder if other people are familiar with it. This company (http://www.8515.co.uk) guarantees to buy your property for the true market value (as assessed by a surveyor). They give you 85% of the sale price straight away, and the remaining 15% within five years. They expect to make a profit by cashing in on the rise in prices over the coming years. They make this guarantee even if property prices fall (are these people crazy?). Perhaps this is an option if you want to sell you house quickly before property prices drop! The stated benefit is if you need a quick sale because of a cash flow crisis, downsizing, job move. Is this a new scheme or a scam? Does anyone have any experience?

This thread's a relief. I thought I was the going crazy trying to fit all these bits together and not have a picture with huge gaps in it. I think the mad people are the ones still in denial thinking 'everythings going to be alright'. ...I wonder if I can find a good deal on a property somewhere really remote (rental of course).

I have just seen a presentation by a company called Property For Life (PropertyForLife.com). The presentation was actually at a Church and organised by the Minister. This is a property purchasing scheme offering to use the power of syndicate buying to negotiate up to 20% discounts on new BTL properties off plan or in construction. The angle presented was that a purchaser should put down as little capital as possible and take the largest mortgage. If PfL had negotiated a 15% discount – and you got an 85% interest-only mortgage on the asking price then you wouldn’t need to spend a penny (besides solicitors fees etc). It was explained that as property prices increase more equity could be taken out of the property for a tax free income. If property prices went down temporarily you’d still have the interest covered by the rental fees. Besides prices always go up in the end. Worried about interest rates? Then get a fixed interest deal. Now is the right time to do this. You can’t loose! PfL charge 2% commission on each property and you need to use their mortgage broker / solicitor (more money made here). I suspect that further sweeteners are paid by builders… I personally know many people at the presentation. They were already reaching for their wallets. Given the setting I suspect many took a lot of this on trust and hadn’t appreciated they were getting a sales pitch. The whole session was presented as ‘we can help you guys out of the poverty trap’. I am sure no one realised that the person who organised the PfL visit was on commission either. There is a definite logic to what was said, but I wondered what else should have been said if a properly balanced view was being given. David Austin from PfL introduced himself as having a £2.5m property portfolio. Is he really in £2.5m debt-trap should the market change? Or is he ‘financially free’? What do people think of this kind of advice? Personally the idea of owing so much money put a chill through me. I have a heap of notes from the presentation if people want to know more.