To think there should be a fine for vendors pulling out of a property buy/sell process last minute?

@ResultsMayVary

I find it bizarre that the sale doesn't become unconditional after a certain point

• it does that was today?

I would assume that their two week holiday was actually them looking elsewhere. They will be fawning all over another house without a second thought to what they’ve done to you. With a bit of luck they will lose their dream house last minute too 😆

Thought this for years. Just pulling should mean that they are liable for all expenses up and down the chain.

Some personal reasons could affect things though - a cancer diagnosis might affect your income, so moving house wouldn’t be viable.

It’s unconditional after exchange of contracts.

The Homebuyers Information Pack, which would have required the vendor to get the survey and searches done before marketing the house, failed because the mortgage companies said they wouldn’t accept the vendor’s survey and searches and would require borrowers to get another one done anyway, making the whole thing pointless. The government should have forced them, but didn’t. It would have been a massive improvement.

I feel for you, OP. We’re selling a property at the moment and the whole thing has ground to a halt because the buyer’s solicitor went underground and then quit, so now we have to wait for a new one to get up to speed. The estate agent says they have dozens of sales being held up because of this one firm.

Unfortunately the Scottish system is now going down the road of the English system. It is much easier now to back out. Personal experience of 2 lots of friends who were in a chain which collapsed after approximately 5 months and the other after 6 months. They had to start the whole process of selling again.

What… if you discover during the lengthy conveyancing process that an abattoir is due to be built over the road, or that there is death watch beetle in the loft, or the interest rates change drastically?

Can you imagine the legal costs of arguing whether pulling out was reasonable or not?

A house isn’t sold until the contracts is … a contract.

This happened the other way round.
We were due to exchange on a bungalow.
4 hours before the appointment to sign
the seller changed her mind.
It then came to light she had done that
once before.
We did go on to get a better positioned
bungalow and she is still in the one she
was trying to sell. This was 15 years ago.

Please try to understand things better before you post.
Some of us have had very stressful selling experiences in Scotland and it grinds our gears (might just be mine) to see this bs posted all the fricking time!

YABU to say children and you know it.

But yes shit situation.

But why would anyone commit before having all the information?
The only way for the commitment to come earlier is if all the information is made available up front to the buyer. A full through structural survey should be the seller’s responsibility really.
Why would you legally commit hundreds of thousands on a property only for the information to come back and state that the “seller” has no legal right to sell it?
Or that there are restrictive covenants on the property giving access you aren’t happy with?
Or that the roof is falling apart?
Or there is significant subsidence?
Or the work has no planning permission?
Or illegal electrics?
It makes absolutely no sense for a buyer to be legally committed before having all this information.

I think there should be a buffer time to allow them to get a survey (but it should be a set time, rather than just "until a survey is done" and it's on the buyer if they don't get one done in time).

They do - that point is exchange of contract.

In Scotland btw the offer is binding as I understand it.

Yes they should be fined! This is awful. I'd speak or message them directly, how dare they.

Isn’t that just because it’s a different system and database? Sellers in Scotland have to provide a lot of the info they buyers in England need to pay for and take it upon themselves to look into.

It sounds like OP is the vendor in this situation anyway so it's not the vendor pulling out as per the thread title.

I’m so sorry OP. Your frustration is totally warranted

Ah - I see the insurance exists: https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/homebuyer-protection-insurance/

I know that! My point is the point of (almost) no return is far too close to the endgame

This. About the missives at least. Home report surveys are imo so basic that they are a bit of a waste of time and money.
I do with people such as @Fisharenotfoods would stop peddling this bs about the Scottish system. The missives were concluded (exchange of contract in England and Wales) on the day I moved on the agreed date. The buyers could have pulled out without penalty up until that point.

I'm sorry what happened to you @BrokenCookies I guess the only upside is that you might get a bit more for it now thanks to your hard work and property prices might have gone up a bit by the spring which might be the best time to put it back on the market (circumstances dependent of course).

There should be a cut off point. The day of exchange is past the point of taking the piss. I think they should be made to cover everyone’s fees if they pull out that late.

Maybe forget calling it a fine then, but a fee of the process that at least falls on the party causing the issue?

Or a listed set of fees that are held by the conveyancing solicitor that is held and retained in the event of a collapsed chain.

It wouldn't cover everything, but could mitigate the issue.

Perhaps even a form of insurance would be helpful.