Vendor putting price up 10%

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

I'm a FTB no chain, living with family so can move any time.

In December last year, found a place I loved, offered asking price, accepted. The vendor said her partner had sold his property and they just needed to find a place to buy. I was happy to wait. We did all the survey, paperwork, my mortgage was ready to go. We were ready to exchange since about April.

The vendor's partner had not sold his place, just accepted an offer. He only sold it 2 weeks ago. (End of May.)

They found a place in March and got jerked around by the seller, for months. I waited and waited good-naturedly. Then it all went quiet a couple of weeks ago. My mortgage offer was about to expire but I found out I could get a new one (despite new mortgage rules) and left a message saying that but didn't hear back.

Finally I went round with my bf to find out what was going on.

They now want £25k more! Their EA told them prices have gone up 10% in the past 6 months - the months we've been waiting to buy it, even offering to buy it and let them rent it back from us until they completed -- and it's now worth more. Their purchase fell through so they're back looking again. They wanted to give us "first refusal" on the chance to buy it for £25k more.

We said we'd let them know. What would you do?

[Excitedforxmas]

I'd tell them to shove their offer where the sun don't shine!

[HygieneFreak]

Tell them to shove it up their arse

I hate people like that

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

Why shove it? When you say "people like that", what do you mean?

[AndIFeedEmGunpowder]

This would really piss me off and I would be tempted to say you are good buyers with your finances in place and sticking to your offer and if they won't exchange within a certain period you will withdraw.

Depends on how much you love the house though and what else is on the market? Could you afford offer them a smaller amount, say 5K extra? If you do that I would make it clear you won't tolerate any more ghost gazumping.

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

The house was originally just under the stamp duty threshold so any extra money will cost instantly thousands more.

[arewethereyetmum78]

I would walk away. It will always annoy you if you pay more. What's to say they don't mess about again and do the same thing to you in another 6 months. There will be other houses. If it was 5 or 10k I'd probably go for it but not when you're going to get hit with extra stamp duty

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

I'm horrified and really, REALLY upset. It was a perfect house for us.

I think she's read about the rising prices and has ideas that she's living in Buckingham Palace. In reality it's an ex-council box with "no ball games" signs outside and terrible parking. It was perfect for US because it's round the corner from my family and the kids' schools.

She's acting like she's doing me a favour letting me wait around while they find a place they like and start the whole long-ass process again, and paying 10% more for the privilege. ?!

Despite keeping us waiting for S I X. M O N T H S and not letting us know what was going on until we rang and asked to come round on Sunday, last night she rang twice to demand to know what we were going to do.

[nipersvest]

"Why shove it? When you say "people like that", what do you mean?"

op, you are being messed about by them, and even after making you wait, they are being cheeky and asking you to pay more. you need to make your decision with your head, not your heart, and as andifeed says, base it on what else is on the market at a similar price.

[HygieneFreak]

Because they are taking advantage of you. They know you want the house, so they are trying to get more money out of you.

When i say people like that, i mean..

You have spent money on a survey (they are not cheap)

You have spent money on solicitor fees (they are not cheap)

You have waited around, spent time chasing it up etc

And now they want more money!

So they have allowed you to fork out this money and then put the price up knowing if you dont accept then you have wasted your money that you have already spent

[WillieWaggledagger]

tbh if the additional 10% pushes it just above the SD threshold they are daft, because if you withdraw and they put it back on the market i suspect people will be very reluctant to pay just over the threshold and will put in similar offers to the one you did

i would give a deadline for exchange otherwise you will withdraw, and stick to it

[specialsubject]

Can't remember if this is gazump or gazunder, but either way it is the sign of a tricky vendor. Perfectly legal but no guarantee they won't do it again and again.

Call their bluff. Tell them you aren't playing, set a deadline, and if no deal by then, walk. I know this means losing fees but that is unfortunately how it is.

a house is worth what people will pay - if someone else comes along with the extra 25k, good luck to them.

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

I told her to shove it. I said I felt she was messing us around and she launched into a non-stop monologue about how "hurt" she felt that I thought that, and how she's been nothing but fair and honest throughout this whole transaction, and that she's "disappointed" I'd ever imply she wasn't doing the right thing... Etc. I had to actually ask if I could get a word in.

[Ithinkwerealonenow]

You have been far too accommodating so far, you need to start setting your own conditions or you will get walked all over again.

Whereabouts in the country is it? How much do you love the property? What else is out there?

If its London/SE, you might need to decide just how much more you are prepared to spend, and come to an agreement based on that. Otherwise the vendors will likely be able to re-sell immediately. Bear in mind that you are strong buyers who are ready to proceed, so they should be accommodating on price for that - i.e. you shouldn't need to match the full amount they are asking for. Offer a small increment and be prepared to walk away if it gets too expensive. Start looking at other properties!

If outside the SE, the vendors are not likely to be able to sell the property again as quickly. And they need to sell it in order to have an offer accepted on anything else. In which case, you have a position you can negotiate hard from. You are ready to go, you are a FTB, so when they find a property they will be in a strong position to be ready to go also. If this is the case, I would tell them that your offer stands as it is, and only for exchange before (X date - eg 2 months from now to allow for conveyancing on their new property).

[nipersvest]

crossed posts!, yay! that's the way to be op!! not surprised you feel cross about it all.

"she rang twice to demand to know what we were going to do." - she's anxious, knows she's trying to pull a fast one asking for more. make her wait for your response

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

This is "ghost gazumping". When the vendor raises the price despite not being offered more by anyone else.

[AndIFeedEmGunpowder]

Tricky. What's your relationship like with the EA? Could you speak to them about it outlining that you are in an excellent position?

Would have thought a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush given the new mortgage rules and for them, 2% of nothing is nothing. If the extra 10% takes them over the stamp duty threshold they may struggle to sell at the higher price anyway.

What does your solicitor think?

[Ithinkwerealonenow]

Why were you talking directly to her? Always keep discussions going via the estate agent. The agents job is to try to 'neutralise' the personalities involved.

If you still want a chance of buying the house at the original price, go back to the agent with a factual statement. "I'll still buy the house at the original agreed price, offer only stands until X date". No emotions involved.

And in the meantime start looking around at other places.

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

It's in SE England. Yes it will sell quickly again but it's not looking its best - full of packing boxes and all her partner's furniture. But buyers will be able to see past that. I guess her EA will send a thousand people round to see it. :-(

[AndIFeedEmGunpowder]

Massive x post! Well done OP

[nipersvest]

ghost gazumping is when estate agents/vendors decide to up the asking price usually just before exchange on the basis of rising house prices, its a dirty trick.

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

Agree that we should have done this via EA.

[Ithinkwerealonenow]

Well, decide what your max., and what the sensible max., is and stick to it if you really want the house. Yes, it sucks, but it gets you the house if its perfect for you. But you need deadlines. Or you could take the risk of them putting it back on the market and hoping they don't get any higher offers.

[JassyRadlett]

Where are you, geographically, OP? They may be slightly out of date on the state of the market particularly considering yesterday's developments.

Definitely only go through the agent.

[JassyRadlett]

Sorry, x-post!

[WhatsGoingOnEh]

What were yesterday's developments??