How much should we, as vendors, put up with from our buyers???

[Becaroooo]

Am pretty atm.

Our buyer (no chain cash buyer) has made our life miserable from day 1.

We accepted his (low) offer as we are desperate to move.

He insisted he be here with the surveyor whilst the HB survery was being done - 2 hours!! He has spent the last 2 weeks demanding all the paperwork for the ext we had done 4 years ago (even though he will get all of it on completion) and even though it was all signed off and we have a completion certificate for it!

He has now decided to book a holiday and wont complete til 12th august (should have been moving on friday!) and therefore we have lost out on our purchase.

We have found a rental property and were hoping to exchange today.

Just had a call from my solicitor and he is now demanding we leave all curtain poles and bathroom accessories.

I know it doesnt seem much but I am seething with rage.....he has messed us (and worse, my dc) around since day 1 and we have just tried to see the big picture and not get too agitated but I am absolutely at the end of my tether with this arsehole.

If the solicitor rings me back once more with another stupid demand we are pulling out. Enoughs enough.

[ChristinedePizan]

I don't blame you being furious, particularly as your house purchase has fallen through because he was going on holiday. If you have already completed a fixtures and fittings form then I would tell him to bog off given you've already lost your house and he's clearly pushing and pushing because he knows he's got the upper hand

My buyer's solicitors insisted on seeing all the paperwork for everything I had ever had done in the house and was a total pain about some work that was being carried out which I had said I would pay for. And he also pushed me really hard on the price of things that I said I would leave for him and only paid half of what I wanted for them (which was half of what I'd paid for them and they were less than a year old)

I did get my revenge though - there was a big damp patch on the wall behind the chest of drawers in my bedroom which I didn't know about and neither did he. I do hope it cost him an arm and a leg to fix :o

I hope karma comes to bite your buyer on the bum too

[Becaroooo]

Me too!!

[activate]

It's a game

who has the upper hand?

Do you want to sell more than he wants to buy?

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face if all you want is to get out of there.

Say no to latest demand and see what happens, if he walks for a few curtain poles he will lose more money than you

[activate]

"only paid half of what I wanted for them (which was half of what I'd paid for them and they were less than a year old)"

sounds fair to me 50% of price when a year old

[Becaroooo]

My dh has already agreed - cue me having silent tantrum in the background - but this really is the last straw.

I have told my solicitor that I am not prepared to put up with any more crap and I mean it.

[activate]

well the poles probably won't fit your new place and you'll only have to store them

just think in a few weeks you'll have washed your hands off and be the cash buyer for someone else

[Becaroooo]

[ChristinedePizan]

activate - I mean I wanted 50% of what I'd paid for them (flat packed) - he would only give me 25%. £600 for an enormous double wardrobe, two bookshelves and a hall cupboard

[activate]

and you told him where to go of course

[Becaroooo]

God.

They want blood dont they???

[Fizzylemonade]

Totally feel for you but if you want to move then just bite the bullet and leave stuff unless you absolutely need to take it with you.

We left loads of stuff in our last house, bathroom cabinets, curtain poles etc as we had the experience before of taking lots with us that just didn't fit the new house and after a while I wanted a new look anyway.

As I said on PinkJenny's thread it is all about remembering why you are putting yourself through this. You want to move. If you pull out you are right back at square one with the possibility of getting another buyer and then them messing you around.

You do have my sympathy, I was selling when my Mum was dying, I was travelling 50 miles to the hospital she was in, and I had the buyers from hell with a crap solicitor and them asking could we possibly show them how everything worked. This was the day of my Mother's funeral (Tuesday) we were meant to be completing that Friday and we still hadn't exchanged. The removal company were booked for the Thursday to start moving us, and we were moving into a hotel for a few weeks as our vendors asked for 3 weeks between exchange and completion.

How I didn't have a nervous breakdown I don't know. Happily it is all a blur and I am in an amazing house

See the rental as an opportunity to be flexible and in a better position to negotiate price wise. good luck.

[ChristinedePizan]

We met in the middle. I was annoyed though because I'd charged him a fair price (I looked at how much similar items had sold for on ebay).

I've just paid what I've been asked when there have been additional items at a cost of X. It never occurred to me to haggle

[EvenLessNarkyPuffin]

People can take the piss when they're in the stronger position. My friend (P)had a buyer who had specifically requested that he leave pricey fixtures and fittings, agreeing to pay £X extra above and beyond the price of the house. On the day of completion the buyer decided he wasn't going to pay any extra, two hours before P was due to handover the keys. I think he thought P would just leave them as his stuff was all out of the house and the removal van had already gone. P rang up a mate who came round with his van and some ladders and they stripped every single thing that was not specified as staying in the original house only deal.

[Becaroooo]

even Good for him!

Fizzy I am so sorry for your loss....what a dreadful situation

Well, update:

We have exchanged! My solicitor rang me at 4.45pm to tell me. Completion on 12th august. Just hoping buyer wont play silly buggers anymore.....

Would it be very unreasonable of me NOT to clean the oven and hob and hoover before we leave?????

[WasSparklies]

It would be very unreasonable to NOT leave prawns in the curtain rails. Just saying.

In all seriousness though, hurray for exchange! I've been lurking and following your stress as we'll be doing similar before too long and it's a guarantee we'll get a shitty buyer.

[Becaroooo]

oohhh...dont tempt me!!

Really hope you dont get an idiot like we have....best of luck with it all.

You know, I really think I am going to have to have 6 months off even looking for a house after all this!

[ChristinedePizan]

Oh well done :) Breathe a huge sigh of relief. And no, I would clean nothing and cook bbq ribs or something equally spitty and sticky every single night between now and completion :o

[WasSparklies]

Thanks! We have the mammoth declutter to do, then we'll be diving in. We're also going to rented, although intentionally from the outset as we're not brave enough to attempt to juggle buying and selling at the same time! Like you I suspect we'll need time to recover from the selling :)

[chandellina]

well, we are on the other side and think our vendor is being outrageous. wants £200 apiece for old white goods that can be bought new for £250. Also is charging us per old, stained, frayed vinyl blind. Meanwhile we are forking out 2 grand on roof repairs.

Bottom line though is you have to keep your eye on the goal and do what has to be done ...

[ragged]

What are the bathroom accessories? In the grand scheme of things, I would never plan to take curtain poles with me anyway (and cheap enough to buy where you're going).

[ChristinedePizan]

chandellina - I'd tell him to stuff it. I had a vendor once try to charge me an extra £3k for the fitted carpets (which were laid over concrete). I told her to sod off and was particularly glad I had when I moved in and discovered a massive bleach stain in one room which had been hidden by a bed!

[kenobi]

Becaroooo - I'd just sow cress seeds into the carpet spelling 'twat'. Or onto the lawn with weedkiller if you have it. The grass will take a couple of days to die and you'll be long gone!

[Becaroooo]

The vendor when we bought this house did much the same!

Bear in mind we were FTB with mortgage agreed and deposit and were willing to give them a few months to sort out a house and they tried to charge us £1k for oldest, mankiest carpets you have ever seen!!!! They were put in by the previous owners and were fitted in circa 1989.

Told them no thanks, take them with you. They stayed. Also tried to charge us for curtains that were mildewed (eww)

They also damaged the bath panel and staircase spindles as they moved out but we were just so glad to get into our first house only 6 weeks prior to our wedding so at the time, we didnt care.

Oh, and also didnt tell us the oven was broken...it was left swimming in grease so she just covered it with foil to hide it, the bitch.

(They lost out on their purchase and had to go into rented because they were such aresholes that the vendor of the house they wanted refused to consider any more offers from them!!!)

We wont be so accomodating this time!!!!

[SingleMan25b]

Honestly it sounds like you don't want to move!

2 hours of your time is nothing if it gets you the sale?

Of course the buyer needs all the paperwork for your extension before he proceeds - the buyer needs to know its legally constructed before he/she pays. Otherwise at some point council could ask them to remove it or make alterations to it.

Unless you've specified otherwise curtain poles and bathroom accessories would need to be left - the buyer is just checking this is the case.

The buyer has gone on holiday - the buyers timetable is his/her timetable and not your timetable.

I can see your miffed but there are so few buyers who are able to proceed now, I wouldn't pull out of the sale - unless the buyer offers a much lower price just before the sale. A small drop you should still consider.

Good luck, it will all seem worthwhile when your in your new home.

[Becaroooo]

We have exchanged singleman

He pushed for completion end July (i.e. today) and I have run round like an idiot over the past month sorting that out, inc 1 property purchase falling through and offering on another.

Our last offer was accepted on the condition we move today....he decided to book a holiday and therefore we lost the house and are having to go into rented accom which with 2 young dc is no joke (he is a single man)

His reason is "he doesnt want to leave the property empty whilst he is away" Even my EA thinks he is being difficult for teh sake of it and told me to give him an ultimatum (which we didnt) Surely he will go on holiday again at some point and therefore leave the property empty??????? Surely he has insurance?????

He also made me redo the F&F list 3 times as he kept changing his mind what he wanted left.....not my problem...its was his!

Obvisouly he needs all the paperwork and has it, even down to the invoices for any work/appliances/f&f that are here. As for the velus window the completion cert for the building work covers it but we are still offering indemnity insurance.

He has made life very stressful for no good reason other than he could and I think he is a total knob.

OK?