Help A strange house sale

[caLLous]

I'm on the brink of selling a property in France. The potential buyer is currently renovating their house in England and will retire in 2017 but wouldn't be ready to move out until the year after that probably.

They are in a position where they can get about 60% of the monies together without borrowing so what they want is to stake their claim on this house right now because they like it so much, and have me continuing to live here and caretake for the foreseeable until they're ready to up sticks in England and move out here. I'm thinking of buying a plot of land and building something and this came up in the discussion. They then went away and returned today with an idea that they would first of all pay a deposit to get me to take it off the market, then buy the plot of land, pay for the building costs, and at the end pay the difference owed (which would still be significant - there's no way that their outlay would be higher than the value of this place so there's no risk there for me or them). Then we would essentially swap the properties.

This sounds like a bizarre way of doing things to me but is it a sound proposal? I need to speak to the notaire about it in the week and see what's what. The potential buyer paints it as a very low-risk way of achieving what we both want. At the end of the day, if it all went tits up I would still have this house and they would have the new build. Something just seems fishy about the whole thing but I can't pick any holes in it.

 

[soze]

I do not see a problem as long as you get to pick the builders ect so you know it is being done properly. One thing I would want in writing is that the deposit 10 or 20% in non refundable and only gets you to take you house of the market for say 2 years. If at the end of that your new house has not been completed you can list your property for sale again with no penalty. You do not want to get caught up for years and years.

 

[caLLous]

The deadline as it stands at the moment is when they sell their house in England but it's not going on the market for at least another year. They've said they will fund the build, they don't want to know about details. I mean, they will owe me a fixed amount of money regardless of how much the buying of the land and the building of the house costs so there's no incentive for them to be cheap with the building because they would then owe more afterwards. I think. The way it will be arranged is that they won't have anything to do with this property until they have paid in full, which is when the "swap" will happen. I like your last bit, they know full well the deposit is non-refundable but a limit on the time it stays off the market would be wise.

I've just never heard of this sort of arrangement before and it's taking me a while to get my head around it. They seemed very keen to not pay the full amount up front (understandably because they'd have to borrow and then pay what they calculated as £30k in interest), which set alarm bells off at the time but I guess as long as the document we both sign covers all the bases then there's no potential for naughtiness.

 

[soze]

If it all goes wrong with the new house or they are time wasters you will be getting £x to take your house of the market for two years. If it works out your get to build the house you want while living int he house you own without having to fund it yourself. It seems like a good deal as long as you can get the cash up front and the timescale signed into a contract why not.

 

[Gumbo]

An awful lot can happen in a couple of years. Not least a Brexit which could make all kinds of things happen. My gut reaction with a quick read is a simple, "If you want this house, then pay me for it."

 

[caLLous]

Aye I'd much prefer 100% of the monies now but it's been on the market for a couple of years and these are the first people to offer even remotely near the asking price. Plus at least this way I can live here while building something else, rather than having to rent something in between. And I can whack some secure storage up on site (a couple of shipping containers maybe) and move stuff across in a relaxed fashion.

 

[Moriath]

Aye I'd much prefer 100% of the monies now but it's been on the market for a couple of years and these are the first people to offer even remotely near the asking price. Plus at least this way I can live here while building something else, rather than having to rent something in between. And I can whack some secure storage up on site (a couple of shipping containers maybe) and move stuff across in a relaxed fashion.

Get legal advice to make sure the contract is water tight in your favour.