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

[RogerS]

So, you're thinking about selling your late mothers' flat, eh ? You've found a buyer..a lovely 80-year old lady who already has a friend living in the same residential block of flats. And she's found a buyer...what was that? He made and had the offer accepted back in October. Exchange in two weeks. Silly, not those two weeks...the next two weeks.. oops, wrong again. Trying to get the money together. Commercial loan here. Money from abroad there. I told the estate agents - Foxtons - this stinks.

Lovely old lady hoping to be in before Christmas. Which comes. And goes. Finally we all exchange Jan 2. Completion Jan 27. Lovely old lady packs her house up. And two days before completion, said plonker-man says 'Not got the money in place...can't complete'. Poor lady. All set to go. Lunch with her friend booked in her new home the next day. Not going to happen. I really do feel sorry for her. She's a lovely old dear.

So plonker-man who, as it now seems, has an aunt who works for an overseas bank and would like to send me £10,000,000 from my long lost uncle who I never knew I had says "I'll have it in place for Feb 5". That's today. Lovely old lady all packed up and ready to move. Again. Only.....plonker-man hasn't got the money in place. Evasive as hell.

Completion now scheduled for Feb 19. Actually we're forcing the issue now and have issued a Notice to Complete. If it doesn't happen then we get her deposit and she gets his. £80,000 worth from plonker-man. Part of me hopes it does fall through.

Oh, what was that ? The deposit money ? As of yesterday, it hadn't come through apparently. News to me. Our solicitor certainly never mentioned it. Well, I never..always thought exchange of contract and getting a deposit went hand in hand. Apparently not. You live and learn. (Stop press..it actually came today to the lovely old ladies solicitors). Did I mention that I thought the whole deal stank ?

So ...three questions. Why didn't plonker-man's solicitors carry out due-diligence vis a vis where the funds were coming from, money-laundering, proof of ID etc ? Doesn't look like they did.

Why didn't Foxton's carry out due diligence as to whether or not plonker-man had the funds for the purchase ?

And why am I drinking so much ?

 

[marcros]

Brings back bad memories. We had a similar thing a few years back, day before exchange and completion the buyer decides he has no money because he has spent it. Estate agent said that because they knew him they had assumed he was good for it.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Well.

How to put this?

Professionals wear suits. The reason that they wear suits is because they want to attract an air of respectability, project gravitas, dignity and morality. They want to lie, in other words. Non-professionals (such as estate agents) like to put on the uniform in order to gain the gravitas they feel they need.

If someone is wearing a suit, he is lying to you.

My apologies to anyone reading this who wears a suit habitually.

What I can guarantee in Roger's tale of woe is that,no matter who is at fault, and where the blame lies, and what checks were not made, the professionals will all get their fees (with the exception of the estate agents, who live in a complicated world of "nearly professional").

 

[lurker]

I am trying to buy a bungalow.
Vendor is one of these firms that give you cash in return for your house when you snuff it.

They wanted to complete in 20 days including Christmas holiday period. Obviously we told them to get lost. Finally got from them the papers this week (remember it was them who wanted to fast track). Deeds, titles and all important stuff was completely unreadable as it was a photocopy, of a photocopy, of a, of a.
They seem to think they are above usual formalities for house sales.
I would be pretty “annoyed “ with the estate agents but they are all scum so only to be expected, I suppose.
We may pull out ........... but we certainly are not paying what we originally offered.

 

[Steliz]

If someone is wearing a suit, he is lying to you.

My apologies to anyone reading this who wears a suit habitually.

Do you generalise much?

If you have time to write an apology after an insult then just delete the insult instead.

 

[lurker]

As a retired chartered professional, and looking back.
I only wore a suit for meetings and conferences, which were essentially a waste of my talents.
So I guess it was all a con the days when I wore a suit.

 

[lurker]

If someone is wearing a suit, he is lying to you.

My apologies to anyone reading this who wears a suit habitually.

Do you generalise much?

If you have time to write an apology after an insult then just delete the insult instead.

He may have generalised a bit but he is not far wrong.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

If someone is wearing a suit, he is lying to you.

My apologies to anyone reading this who wears a suit habitually.

Do you generalise much?

If you have time to write an apology after an insult then just delete the insult instead.

I worded that badly: what I meant to say was if you are offended by what I said, that is unfortunate.

Is that better?

Perhaps you can disabuse me of my jaundice world view: do you have any examples of people who wear suits, who are also worthy, honest, upstanding members? Clergy? Undertakers? Chartered accountants? Most accountants I know don't even wear ties, let alone suits.

Edit: should I mention that a significant proportion of my family are in the legal profession. I consider myself reasonably well qualified to judge, in a sweeping generalisation sort of way.

 

[sunnybob]

Many years ago I bought leasehold shop. My lawyer agrred the lease and gave me a copy. After reading it I threw it back at him. There were clauses in the lease that would have specifically stopped me trading. He hadnt noticed. (nice suit though)

Years later when I sold the business (same lawyer, newer suit), he cost me thousands because he didnt inform me of my tax liablities.
Have you ever tried to sue a lawyer? Dont bother. (hammer) (hammer) :roll:

More recently, exactly the same situation as the first post. my wifes mothers small flat is for sale. the man in the suit went though the same as above, after 4 months delay, we cancelled the agreement and decided to leave it rented. Another 4 months and the man comes back like he's only been gone a day and wants to buy and our solicitors (different firm, same tailoring quality) cant understand why we are fuming because they were not aware we had cancelled.
We did eventually sell, but I rode shotgun over every step of it and NOTHING got done until money was paid.

I can see this post going the same way as the last two rants, so fair warning, I'm not coming back to this one, but no, I dont trust people who dress smarter than me and want to talk money.

 

[RogerS]

...
Have you ever tried to sue a lawyer? Dont bother. (hammer) (hammer) :roll: ....

I have. I won.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I used to wear a suit. It was a very long time ago and I was not in the legal or financial trades. Software company. But I always did my job to the best of my ability.
I'm not at all certain I still possess a suit. If I do, I probably can't get into it...

 

[SammyQ]

I wore a suit most days of my working life. I never sold anything, nor mis-interpreted the law. It was expected, indeed, rigorously enforced, by my immediate superiors for the first two decades of my career.

Thanks T.N.

Sam

 

[powertools]

If someone is wearing a suit, he is lying to you.

My apologies to anyone reading this who wears a suit habitually.

Do you generalise much?

If you have time to write an apology after an insult then just delete the insult instead.

I would assume that the fact that you seem upset by what TN said you wear a suit and are a professional of some sort.
I also assume that you intended to say ( If you dont have time to write an apology after an insult then just delete the insult instead) the fact that you didnt kind of proves the his point.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Years later when I sold the business (same lawyer, newer suit), he cost me thousands because he didnt inform me of my tax liablities.

Surely that would be up to your accountant not your lawyer?

 

[SBJ]

So many hard done by people with chips on their shoulders. There are as many conmen and fraudsters who don't wear suits as wear them.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Ipsos MORI Veracity Index 2019 - trust in professionals:

• At the top 86%+ - nurses, doctors, dentists, teachers, engineers
  In the middle - professors, judges, police, civil servants, clergy
  Playing catch up - politicians 14%, govt ministers 17%, estate agents 30%, business leaders 35%

No listing for solicitors or chartered accountants but may not be that different to business leaders. We could probably all have guessed this anyway!

Interesting that those at the top of the list mostly don't wear suits, but all those at the bottom do.

 

[stuartpaul]

I wore a suit most days of my working life. I never sold anything, nor mis-interpreted the law. It was expected, indeed, rigorously enforced, by my immediate superiors for the first two decades of my career.

Thanks T.N.

Sam

Don’t worry Sam, - I suspect T-N’s somewhat remote grasp on reality has slipped (again).

 

[RogerS]

So many hard done by people with chips on their shoulders. There are as many conmen and fraudsters who don't wear suits as wear them.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Yup. Vegans get such a bum deal.

 

[RogerS]

Ipsos MORI Veracity Index 2019 - trust in professionals:

• At the top 86%+ - nurses, doctors, dentists, teachers, engineers
  In the middle - professors, judges, police, civil servants, clergy
  Playing catch up - politicians 14%, govt ministers 17%, estate agents 30%, business leaders 35%

No listing for solicitors or chartered accountants but may not be that different to business leaders. We could probably all have guessed this anyway!

Interesting that those at the top of the list mostly don't wear suits, but all those at the bottom do.

Um...maybe. Not sure if Dr Shipman or Dr Paterson wore suits ?

Now how did we get from an old lady being mucked about to suits ?

 

[RogerS]

The key thing that I took away from this whole sorry event....sale of the flat..not the thread ..was that Exchange of Contract and the actual deposit are not concomitant. I always thought that they were.