RE: Re: A nice toy for the Kitchen :)

["Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx>]

English law works differently:

You start by making a non-binding offer on the property. Assuming that
the vendor accepts, you each instruct solicitors to act on your behalf.

The various bits of "discovery" then take place BEFORE you
"exchange"
(ie - enter into a legally binding) contract.

The normal bits of discovery are:

- The purchasers solicitor will runs checks with the local authority to
ensure that there are no problem like "there's about to be an 8-lane
motorway built across the back of the field that's described in the line
'lovely view across open fields'."

- A list, room by room, of all equipment that's LIKELY to be in a house,
and three columns for the vendor to fill in against each item - "Yes,
included in sale", "Yes, but excluded from sale", "No,
doesn't exist at
this property."

- The exact layout of the list varies, but it's materially been the same
in all the places I've bought in the last few years.

Only AFTER this, which typically takes 6-8 weeks do you make a legally
binding offer and "exchange contracts".

The bad news is that either the buyer OR the seller can pull out at any
time up to the exchange, leaving the buyer having to foot the bills for
all the work his lawyer's already done, or the seller left with no buyer
for his house after all! (Normally, this then means that the seller then
can't afford to move into their next house because they're no longer
able to sell the existing one fast enough, and the whole "chain falls
through.").

The good news is that you avoid the wranglings about "what was
included"
because it's all written up in a legal contract which you have 6-8 weeks
to go through.

Most "regular property buyers" wish that we had the Scottish
system.

Mark Harrison
Head of Systems, eKingfisher


-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Lowe, Wintermute Consultancy [mailto:ian@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 24 November 2001 02:33
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Re: A nice toy for the Kitchen :)


>This is not a cheap fridge, I hope it's freestanding as if it's
integrated IIRC it will be classed as a fitting in the
>house and the buyer can insist that it stays or ask you to put the
space right with doors etc.!!
>
>This happens with dishwashers, washers, ovens, hoods and hobs as if
integrated the buyer can insist that it stays if it
>leaves an ugly big hole.
>
>Mind you, you lot have that awful English law stuff to deal with ;-)

We ran into something like this when we sold our first flat. Scots law
seems surprisingly mature about these things.

After a lot of lawyers swapping trashy letters, We basically arranged
through the Estate Agent to meet the couple directly to chat, and
reoslved the entire thing within minutes.

The entiure "can you prove this is part of the deed etc" argument
was
dissolved by one statement: "Sold as Seen: This item is not part of
the
Offer".

Put bluntly, you simply restate the missive such that the specific
fittings are not included.  The lawyers may moan, because they recoil in
horror at the thought of *changing* anything, But the missives can say
whatever the hell you like, as long as you have legal ownership of the
items in question.

At this point, the buyers may choose to walk away, or they may decide
they wish the purchase to continue, minus the fittings in question...

Ian.

Note: I am not a lawyer.  :)



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