delays in buying land

[PGD1]

Hi,

I am interested in a piece of land. There are no dwellings or planning permission. I saw it advertised about 8 months ago and registered my interest. I visited the land and got a map of some kind outlining the border and it matched what I saw.

I then made an offer and there was "another bidder" and after I went up a few k the agent told me he was not 100% sure of the exact layout of the land, or whether it was finalised.

From that I can gather (and I'm not in a major hurry to puchase so haven't pushed too far) the landowner died and the new owner (son/daughter whatever) is sorting out all the paperwork as there was never any done through the ages.

So my question is... in general terms..... how long can this type of thing drag on for? I know this could be a "how long is a piece of string" type question but any kind of indication of the norm would be useful. If the average is 5 years I will move on!

Thanks!

 

[Vanilla]

What stage are you at? Have contracts even issued? If you really want the land then give the vendors a deadline firstly for contracts to issue. They may be subject to probate but your own solicitor can insert conditions to protect you and timelimits at that stage. If a probate is reasonably straightforward it can be dealt with within 6 months to a year. However if there is any kind of dispute it can drag on for years.

 

[PGD1]

Thanks.

I'm not at any stage. I ping the agent every month or so looking for an update but there is never any. I have been prepared to just let it drag on as I'm in no rush. I expect that some day he will ring me and say it's ready and there is another bidder. I'm prepared to go 5% above the asking price and see what happens.

I guess I was thinking I should approach him and say that if the final land configuration is the same as what I saw on the map I would offer the asking price and pay a refundable deposit (in case probate resulted in something else) in order to secure the land. But I guess a refundable deposit means it's not secure.

I'm just looking for some way to get closure on it I suppose as we would really like it but we could put the money to some other use if it was going to take 5 years!

There is actually a ruin on the land according to the map, but I couldn't see it when I was there and I searched the undergrowth. I'm wondering if the delay is associated with that, or if they are trying to redraw the boundaries so that the ruin is part of the adjacant field.

Anyway, I think this pretty much equates to what you have just posted!

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Vanilla]

Then you haven't even made a bid which has been accepted? Either the property is on the market or not. In which case you can either bid or not. If you bid and that bid is accepted contracts should then issue, subject to probate, which will give you security- even if there is a time limit for your protection whereby YOU can pull out. If the property is not even on the market and there's talk of nothing having been done 'through the ages' it sounds like lengthy delays to me.