While the rest of the country has been consumed with rioting and falling markets, I have been consumed with trying to sell my house.
I did not, however, realise that according to data from the UK’s largest conveyancer, almost one in three house sales collapsed in the first half of 2011 due to buyers and sellers getting cold feet, the elimination of Home Information Packs and economic uncertainty. Sales have also fallen through because of a chain collapsing, unfavourable surveys and sellers withdrawing properties for sale and deciding to rent them instead.
It had all gone very smoothly, too smoothly I now think. A lady and her two daughters were the buyers and they wanted to move in asap and certainly well before the start of the new school year. Knowing that they wanted to be in quickly I found somewhere to rent and made new arrangements for my family and my furniture. She asked me to move out on 6 August, which I did, and we agreed to exchange and complete on 8 August, which never happened.
So, not only do I not have a sale, despite sticking to my side of the bargain, I also have to go through the whole process again and speedily as my house is sitting vacant. I am aware that this is just one of many similar scenarios to befall house sellers and buyers in the UK every year, a reason why moving house is rated behind only death and divorce in the stress league tables.
In the UK, the process of trying to sell one house and buy another is ridiculously frustrating and costly and no government has ever been able to make it simpler.
The last time I was buying and selling a house was in 2007. It was, as you might expect, not a smooth and straightforward process but one that involved me selling my flat and living on my best friend’s floor until I could get into my new house. But back then I thought there was some hope.
The Conservative party had enlisted the help of Kirstie Allsopp, TV property guru, to help them find a means of speeding up and simplifying the whole process. Out of desperation, and a love of ‘Location, Location, Location’, I was firmly behind the idea. Now, 4 years on, having been through the same trouble and strife all over again, I’m not so sure.
In other countries house sales go through in a matter of weeks not months and no other country sees a third of all house sales fall through. In some countries, like just over the border in Scotland, an offer is legally binding which means the buyer getting searches, survey and mortgage offers in place before making a formal offer. And, perhaps estate agents could do more to establish the buyer’s situation, both financial and otherwise, before they put forward offers.
If other countries can do it, why can’t we?
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