Offer to purchase question

[Toxxyc]

Or I'm going to simply try my luck and see if I can retract the offer.

 

[quovadis]

Or I'm going to simply try my luck and see if I can retract the offer.

If you spook the seller or the agent (who could be taking a chance) they may just sign and you're stuck. But do whatever you want...

Edit: Understand that a competing offer is not a grounds for your offer to be retracted. The offer may stipulate something they don't want the headache to deal with (like the tenant) and may just want to get this over with.

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Oh ****, the agent just let me know that an offer came in higher than ours on the property. This might just be my chance to get out of it without worrying about anything further!

Do it. Now.

You'll thank us later. Eviction is a drawn out process that will cost you! Those tenants are already thinking of ways of not moving out. You can tell by the way they've been acting

 

[APoc184]

You need the seller to present a counter offer, reject your offer or for your offer to expire (assuming you specified an expiry). Edit: You might want to be sly and advise the agent you're prepared to consider a counter offer if they counter you in writing. Then decline to counter and retract.

Again!! Deja Vu.

This is exactly what we did to get out of our first little blooper!

 

[Toxxyc]

Agent doesn't want me to retract. Fudge. She says I can add more clauses though, because the OTP isn't accepted yet, so I'm going to add so many that they never will accept.

 

[newby_investor]

Question.

If you buy a place in poor condition, knowing that you'll need to fix things up, is there a way to get around the required certificates of compliance?

 

[Sinbad]

Agent doesn't want me to retract. Fudge. She says I can add more clauses though, because the OTP isn't accepted yet, so I'm going to add so many that they never will accept.

If it's not accepted I'm sure you can withdraw.

 

[Speedster]

If it's not accepted I'm sure you can withdraw.

@quovadis, what are the implications here? If an open ended OTP hasn't been accepted yet, can the purchaser withdraw the offer?

 

[Toxxyc]

If it's not accepted I'm sure you can withdraw.

Question.

If you buy a place in poor condition, knowing that you'll need to fix things up, is there a way to get around the required certificates of compliance?

I believe it depends on the bank giving you finance. Some banks are more lenient about COCs and building plans, but others simply outright demand it (apparently FNB is quite strict about that).

If it's not accepted I'm sure you can withdraw.

You'd think. I think there's very little interest in the place, so the agent doesn't want to retract.

So now my question - is a one-sided and signed OTP really valid? The sellers info isn't on there, the numbers that should be there are missing, not even the agent's signatures are on there?

 

[quovadis]

If it's not accepted I'm sure you can withdraw.

Agent doesn't want me to retract. Fudge. She says I can add more clauses though, because the OTP isn't accepted yet, so I'm going to add so many that they never will accept.

Once you present an offer the only option is for it to be accepted, expire, rejected or countered. You still require something to be exercised. I'm not sure how an OTP can be amended after the fact UNLESS that OTP has not been presented by the agent who by LAW has to present it anyway. Depending on who the agent is representing this is super dodgy.

 

[quovadis]

@quovadis, what are the implications here? If an open ended OTP hasn't been accepted yet, can the purchaser withdraw the offer?

Normally an OTP will state that an offer is only good for a timeframe or period. In the absence of anything specified it is generally practice that a reasonable time be allowed for the offer to lapse. The question is what is reasonable? Well that depends on circumstances and whether either of the parties wants to pursue some legal process determining that.

 

[Gozado]

So now my question - is a one-sided and signed OTP really valid? The sellers info isn't on there, the numbers that should be there are missing, not even the agent's signatures are on there?

Yes, it is valid, as an Offer To Purchase. It first contains only one signature, that of the person offering to purchase. Once the seller signs, too, the OTP ceases to be merely an offer, and immediately becomes the contract of sale/purchase.

The part I don't understand is how a purchaser can offer to purchase a property into the unknown, without any seller's info on the OTP. I thought that the OTP was, in effect, a letter: "Dear Owner, I would like to buy your property at this address. I am willing to pay you so much. Do you want to sell? Signed, Potential Purchaser." As such, it must, surely, be addressed to a specific seller. Or can an OTP stand without the seller's info?

 

[Toxxyc]

The OTP states the property's address, but not the seller's info. That's all blank.

Anyway, let's see what happens with all this.

 

[quovadis]

I believe it depends on the bank giving you finance. Some banks are more lenient about COCs and building plans, but others simply outright demand it (apparently FNB is quite strict about that).


You'd think. I think there's very little interest in the place, so the agent doesn't want to retract.

So now my question - is a one-sided and signed OTP really valid? The sellers info isn't on there, the numbers that should be there are missing, not even the agent's signatures are on there?

Any electrical installation requires a COC period. It's not optional. The Occupational Health and Safety Act states that you aren't allowed to advertise or sell or let anything without one. As for the OTP you shouldn't have signed an uncompleted anything - As long as they don't add anything that is material to the contract and just insert property details and sign then you would have a hard time invalidating it.

 

[Toxxyc]

Well then that place won't have a valid COC for ****. If you've seen the place, you'd know why.

 

[rodga]

You need the seller to present a counter offer, reject your offer or for your offer to expire (assuming you specified an expiry). Edit: You might want to be sly and advise the agent you're prepared to consider a counter offer if they counter you in writing. Then decline to counter and retract.

This is what you should have done.

 

[quovadis]

Well then that place won't have a valid COC for ****. If you've seen the place, you'd know why.

That doesn't mean it cannot be remedied by the property owner nor invalidate the OTP.

 

[zerocool2009]

Its now law, you need much more than only a COC. Drain certificates aswell. Plans must be current and valid. If you see cracks, you need an engineer. Ag, the list goes on and on

 

[quovadis]

Its now law, you need much more than only a COC. Drain certificates aswell. Plans must be current and valid. If you see cracks, you need an engineer. Ag, the list goes on and on

It varies depending on location but generally yes and most conveyancers will enforce it.

 

[Toxxyc]

Lot's of "this is what you should have done". I know. It's simply "I didn't know". You don't know these things until you know these things. Every one is a learning experience though, and this latest OTP has been a teacher of note. So far I've learned:

1. Don't sign an OTP without seller's info on there.
2. Don't sign an OTP without the list of what's included and excluded on there (like stove, etc.).
3. Don't sign an OTP without the property's full details (size, borehole, etc.) on there.
4. Ensure property will be empty on registration on the OTP, or it'll invalidate the OTP.
5. Work an interest rate for yourself on the OTP.
6. Don't sign an OTP with almost 3 weeks' time to let the seller decide. Cut that time short.

Its now law, you need much more than only a COC. Drain certificates aswell. Plans must be current and valid. If you see cracks, you need an engineer. Ag, the list goes on and on

Doubt that place has anything. In fact, it has an almost R200k outstanding electricity bill (apparently), has moerse cracks, etc.