Subject to contract meaning:
Subject to contract means that the house buyers and sellers involved in the contract are generally still negotiating and not eveything is final yet. Sold subject to contract is where the sellers have verbally agreed to the offer, but are waiting for the final legal contract to be arranged and signed. This is also considered the first stage of the process in buying and selling your house. No money will have been exchanged yet and the agreement is not legally binding, the price can still be negotiated.
- In the property world SSTC (or Sold STC) stands for "Sold Subject to Contract", meaning that an offer to buy a property has been accepted by the seller. At this early stage it is a verbal agreement rather than legally binding, hence the qualifying term "subject to contract".
- Nine in every ten home sellers expects to complete their property transaction within three months of their property being ‘Sold Subject To Contract’ (SSTC), according to results of the 2019 Property Academy Homemovers Survey. In reality, just over half (55%) met that timescale.
- Research by proptech company, View my Chain, suggests the process from SSTC to completion takes 120 days. Obtaining a mortgage typically takes five to six weeks and the exchange and completion process over three.
- In addition they calculate just over a month is spent organising and waiting for the return of searches, and another month to sort enquiries between vendor and purchaser.
- Further to consultation initially carried out in 2017, the government published proposals earlier this year to improve the home selling process and make it “quicker, cheaper and less stressful”. Reservation agreements trials were due to take place in the new year.
Gazumping - house price
The definition is that the house seller will accept a reasonable offfer for their property and then slightly further down the line, gets offered a better and higher price by someone else, this is referred to as "Gazumping". It is really not a nice thing to happen to anyone in the house buying process. This is sometimes the downside of being out of a legally binding contract. Unfortunately this practice is legal too, it can also refer to the seller suddenly raising the asking price.
What most eager and financially ready house buyers do is to ask the seller to take the property off the market and act quickly to show they are serious. Avoid being gazumped by acting quickly, getting your finances ready for the mortage and everything else, prove to the sellers you are ready, especially in high demand areas such as Bromley that are price sensitive. If you are the house buyer, you can take out an insurance policy to protect you from loosing money on valuations, surveys and any other legal fees.
And of course if you need to speak to a property expert in Bromely give us a call. Contact us on Bromley 020 8467 8304.