To forcibly ask why you pulled out?

Sorry, @astarsheis but I am completely baffled by this comment. Could you please explain it

No you can't do that and you probably know you can't.

You are right to be annoyed of course but there's nothing you can do.

Maybe they won the lottery and will keep both houses, maybe they've had someone offer to rent it, maybe someone in their family died - there's so many reasons and none of them change your situation. Start looking for something else.

I am so sorry and can understand your disappointment. All I can say is it will pass and something else will turn up, possibly even better. However, that is no comfort to you at the moment.

Unfortunately, you have no rights in this situation and nobody owes you an explanation. There must have been a very good reason for the vendor to pull out so late in the day.

Good luck with your next bid.

YABU. While it is frustrating the owner is not obliged to give you the reason for not continuing.

Disappointing, time wasting and expensive as this is, how will knowing the reason move you forwards in this situation? Better to spend the time looking for something else.

How much has the OP already wasted spent?

Wow!

What was the need for that?

You have no idea why the OP is a cash buyer. Or is it the fact that she's in the market for such a property that's a problem to you?

Fairly sure Estate Agents are obliged to put any offer received to the seller.

You can’t sue for costs unless contracts have been exchanged. At that point anyone who pulls out of the sale is liable for the other party’s costs and possibly compensation. But as mentioned upthread, the seller would probably still be liable for the EA fees because they introduced a buyer willing and able to proceed - at the 2% charged by the average EA that’s £18000 + VAT.

Seller moved out of their property early last week. We know because we visited the house for kitchen measurements last week!

I rang the EA this morning to get dates so I can get carpet quotes for next week and the EA was on board! Not once did he mention that the seller pulled out.

A wild guess.

You annoyed the seller with your requests for access to the house before you owned it. They found you to be quite pushy, but they needed your £900k wad of cash and didn't say no.

A better offer has been made directly to the seller. The seller is now delighted to pull out of the deal and take the other offer.

If you'd pulled out of the purchase before exchange of contracts, would you be happy for the seller to come round to your house and "forcibly" demand to know why you'd pulled out?

Incorrect - good try though!

As much as you or OP would want to you cannot possibly go round to someone’s house demanding answers on things that are not illegal. I’d be as furious as the OP but this would be ridiculous.

And what really pisses me off with your question about going round to give an earful is that if you knew with certainty that it was a house full of police officers or big blokes you wouldnt dare.

You want to feel like the big alpha and intimidate someone and its pure nasty.

There's many reasons why this can occur, sudden change of circumstances, job falling through and the place they were buying falling through (people say no chain when there is )

Hmm some people giving you a hard time here or being sanctimonious have clearly never been in your situation OP! I felt exactly the same as you when it happened to us on exchange day. I’m the least confrontational person ever but I wanted to bang on the door demanding answers / compensation from all the money we lost in surveys, lost stamp duty break etc.

The very minimum a seller pulling out should do is provide an explanation - but let’s be honest if it was a valid reason (like family illness) then they’d have probably offered one already. It’s a really shitty to do to someone and deep down they will know that. Selfish cowards.

OP - I only really moved on from it when we found somewhere else to buy which actually suited us even more than the house we lost. I also took great satisfaction in watching the people who pulled out relist their house for £100k more (far above what it was worth) a few months later. And then it sit on the market for months & months while they kept reducing it until they eventually took it off & they’re still there now. There’s also been building works non stop by that house for the past couple of years which I know from a friend who lives in the area has been super disruptive. So I like to think Karma has been served 😈

This happened to us just before exchange, and eight years later, I still feel rage ! Even though we actually ended up somewhere better.

It is part of the process of buying a house in this country - people can just mess around with no commitment. It doesn’t help that EAs are universally spineless liars.

I bet they’ve either accepted a higher offer, or have sold it to a friend/family member instead and were just testing the market at the price point.

Good luck with your next house purchase.

We had a situation where we (cash buyers) put in a higher offer on a house. They already had a lower offer which they had not accepted.
Our offer was 30k higher but the EA came back and told us they were going with the lower offer. No reason given, but OK...
About three weeks later the EA contacted us again to say the house was "unexpectedly" available again and were we still interested.
No chance, pal.
By then we had made an offer on another property. But even if we hadn't I doubt we would have gone back to the first house, we'd be wary of the owners.

I understand completely but it's unreasonable of you to confront them and almost certainly won't do anything to change the outcome.
I reckon they have indeed had a higher offer but in that case I would expect the EA to tell you, in case you could match or better it. Bit of a puzzle.

The same happened to me and it is just awful. We were 3 days away from completion and had packed up the house and given up our jobs. They just 'changed their minds'.

The chain collapsed. My buyer then sent me abusive texts demanding I sell to her anyway. We had no jobs and nowhere to go, no chance of finding a rental property in the area we were moving to, we were devastated about losing our dream house. Her abuse of me made it all so much worse.

I can only tell you that those sellers pulling out was the very best thing that ever happened to us, and I would miss them if ever I saw them again. Not only did we find a much better house, but the house we were buying had invisible structural issues that would have bankrupted us.

I absolutely understand you are pissed off. Anyone would be, but you can't demand an answer unfortunately

But I still wouldn't recommend turning up on their doorstep 🙈

You realise being a “cash buyer” means literally nothing to a seller? They get their money whether it’s from an entitled snob or from a mortgage!

It’s their property and they don’t have to sell it to you, or to anyone. Until a contract is exchanged either party is free to change their mind.

Sounds like only the estate agent is the one that deserves any frustrations here. Not the the seller.

This happened to us twice before we ended up buying our home a few years ago. The first time was a few days before exchange and the sellers told their agents they had changed their minds.

The second time (we were v pissed off with the agents at this one) the sellers pulled out after 7 months saying they had decided against moving but it turned out that they hadn't even instructed a solicitor which the agents must surely have known.

Both times we had paid for expensive £2k surveys as the houses were old. Plus solicitors fees. Naturally that money was simply lost.

You have my sympathy OP. It feels such an unfair system ☹️

Estate agents not going to tell you the truth. EA may have put thru another client. Do not with them again.