If I could have one magic wish to make conveyancing slightly easier, it would be that there should be more transparency.
We do not get told the length of the chain nor the identity of other parties in it. How long is the chain? I don’t know. And clients find it difficult to understand why we do not know!
And the other thing that we do not know is about whether the buyers of our clients’ property need a mortgage.
“Well, of course, they don’t need a mortgage – they are cash buyers.”
There is a long standing joke in my office – “so, he’s a cash buyer with a mortgage.” Someone else posed that very question on LinkedIn this week! “When is a cash buyer not a cash buyer? When he needs a mortgage.”
The other one is a cash buyer who is selling his house and will be using the cash from the sale of that house.
So, when clients say to us that they thought that the buyer was a cash buyer – and that is what the agent told them – we do need to start asking more questions. And when I ask for details of the chain, please don’t answer by telling me that I should ask the agent.
If you are acting for my client’s buyer, then you know whether or not your client, the buyer, has a sale. I admit that there may be occasions when you are not acting in a related sale , but your client should have told you where the funds were coming from…
So, how about we all start to work together on this and provide full details of what our clients are doing. You know if your buying client has a sale, and you know if your selling client has a purchase.
Don’t keep that vital information to yourself. Share it with the rest of us! It helps us all in the long run.
2 Responses
I was at the top of a very long chain once (probate property), no movement for ages. I spent days chasing down the first time buyer, only to find I was acting for them, and awaiting a mortgage! A chain sheet would have helped.
The ol’ “I’m cash from mortgage” line – how I chuckle!
Agents at the top of a chain often sound very jaunty when they tell me their sale is chain free. But then I ask if theirs is a probate sale (and probate granted) and they have no idea.