What does Sold STC mean?

22nd October 2024

When strolling through the streets of your local area, a ‘for sale’ or a ‘sold’ sign will likely pique your interest. But, not all signs are the same, with some ‘sold’ signs coming with a small message underneath reading ‘STC’ or ‘Subject to Contract’. While it’s easy to discard this as ‘just another complex industry term’, STC is important to understand both for house buyers and landlords.

Offering a range of properties for sale on our website, we at Jon Simon are an award-winning estate and lettings agent with extensive experience in the North West property market. Explore our blog below to discover more about the meaning of STC and learn invaluable knowledge about the stages of purchasing a home in the process, and discover other write-ups on our website that explore the definition of other terms such as ‘LET agreed’.

So, what does Sold STC mean?

Put simply, STC stands for ‘subject to contract’, a phrase that refers to the fact that a verbal agreement has been made between the seller and the buyer regarding an accepted offer. Since the offer is still only verbal, however, this does not mean that the deal has been fully completed. Until money has changed hands and the sale is legally binding, it remains ‘subject to contract’.

A very common stage of any house sale, STC can also be termed ‘sale agreed’ or ‘under offer’ with all three phrases sharing similar yet different meanings. Until the deal is confirmed in writing, a sale has not been made, so although the STC stage is promising for any buyer or seller, it also comes with its risks and challenges that could still see the deal fall through.

What does Sold STC mean for potential buyers?

For buyers, the STC status is an indication to finalise your purchase. Such can be done by confirming your mortgage and working with your solicitor to survey the property and carry out the necessary conveyancing searches. It’s important during this period to ensure that you know the property you’re purchasing inside out before legally binding into a contract.

You may feel bombarded by paperwork during this lengthy stage, but all of this is necessary before the exchange of contracts can begin. Gazumping can still occur during this status of the process, so it’s important that you protect yourself from the potential of alternative offers by cooperating with the estate agent and your solicitor to get all paperwork completed on time.

What does Sold STC mean for sellers?

Changing the status of a property to STC for sellers means that their home will be essentially removed from the market. On estate agent websites like Jon Simon, as well as popular property portal websites such as Zoopla and Rightmove, the house will be marked as STC, and if there’s a sign outside the physical dwelling that will also be changed accordingly.

With that being said, the property won’t be made entirely invisible, its status will merely be changed, taking you one step closer to selling your house. At this point, buyers can begin conveyancing searches with their solicitor. Since this remains just an informal agreement, however, the seller could still receive potentially higher offers from other prospective buyers.

What is the difference between ‘Under Offer’ and ‘Sold STC’?

Although the terms ‘under offer’ and ‘sold STC’ can sometimes be confused, there is quite a bit of difference between the two. In short, the term ‘under offer’ refers to the fact that the prospective buyer has made an offer but the seller is still deciding whether to accept it. During this stage, a potential buyer can make improved offers to hasten and improve negotiations.

Effectively, ‘under offer’ is one stage below ‘sold STC’, with the latter being the next step on a buyer’s journey to contract exchange and final acceptance. Although the term may suggest that the buyer is legally bound to a deal, if any issues arise during the conveyancing stage there remains an opportunity for the buyer to back out.

The challenges of Sold STC

For both buyers and sellers, the ‘sold STC’ stage can be quite stressful, with several challenges having the potential to arise that could derail the contract signing and the entire sale process.

  • Buyer withdrawal: ‘Sold STC’ indicates that there’s merely an informal agreement between two parties, it does not mean that the buyer cannot still withdraw. Such can still happen while conveyancing work is being carried out for several reasons, for example, the buyer may fail to get approval from their mortgage lender or may simply get cold feet.
  • Gazumping: The strange word that every buyer shudders at the sound of. Gazumping is when another party from outside the sale submits a higher offer and now sits in pole position to acquire the house. While this might derail the buyer’s intentions, it will merely mean administrative changes for the seller.
  • Insufficient survey results: While the contractual negotiations are underway during the STC process, the buyer can inspect the property with their solicitor. Any major issues that arise during this stage, including disagreements regarding such elements as dampness or structural concerns, can change the boundaries of an agreement, leading to derailment for the seller.

Understand Sold STC and more with Jon Simon

The process of buying a house, especially if it’s your first home, is not always a straightforward one, so if you’re looking for a new property in BurnleyBacupRadcliffe or Ramsbottom, there is no estate agent more trustworthy than Jon Simon. Helping you to make the perfect move, we have over 15 years of experience buying and selling homes and are experts in every stage of the process, from making an offer to signing the final contract.

Contact us now to learn more about the process of purchasing your new property or request a valuation online and discover exactly how much your home could be worth.

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