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

There is no system in England. Your house is not sold until you exchange contracts and you should prepare yourself for the eventuality that the sale can fall through up to that point at any time.

The law doesn't impose any constraints on either side up to that point, so sellers benefit from it as well as buyers for a whole range of reasons.

You are absolutely free as a seller to try to impose reservation fees and prepare homebuyers packs on your buyers. There is nothing to stop you. Whether the buyer will accept that or not is another issue.

If you don't want to sell your house in the conventional way, there is the process of auction, which allows you to sell your house very quickly to an agreed schedule if being able to move on a specific date is important to you.

I've seen threads on here from buyers asking should we pull out at a late stage when we've found something better ? The answer is always do what's right for you. House purchases are big and expensive and people often stretch themselves to the maximum to afford mortgages. It's not a burden people are going to take on without serious consideration.

If people want house buying to be smoother, let's lower house prices to 2x wages. This will make the financial decision of buyers a lot less ruinous if they get it wrong and therefore the decision will be easier.

I agree. The whole process takes far too long and this means more chance of situations changing, people's minds wandering.
Any one sale is never the priority of an agent or solicitor - who ime seem too delight in dragging out simple exchanges of and requests for information for months.

I dread the day we ever go through this again!

Happened to us, no reason given, we had to sell the house at a loss of 6 figures because of them (had to sell quick as we had to move and get a new place)

Agree it is mad, Scottish system much better and was also much more straightforward when I bought and sold when living abroad

Completely agree, should become binding after an initial 'cooling off' for the buyer and chance to find out more about the property. The system we have really allows unserious people to run amok and it has such horrible consequences for others in the process.

Really sorry, hope you have better luck next time you try

and the shortfall if house ends up selling for a lower amount

what if it sells for more? Does the buyer who pulled out benefit?

I think OP is probably in England

In Scotland, we conclude missives (equivalent to exchanging contracts) at a far earlier stage. After that, the person who pulls out is liable for the other person's losses eg if buyer pulls out, they're liable to pay additional costs of re-marketing the property, and the shortfall if house ends up selling for a lower amount

Hmm I guess that is the downside of what i suggested above. You're happy enough to sell your house IF you have something to buy yourself, but if there is a problem with the house you want to buy you are a bit stuffed if you then have to compensate your buyer for pulling out of your sale.

I do also know that in recent years the system of concluding the missives very soon after offer accepted has slipped a bit, so it could be that concluding the missives and completion is close together, and there is still room for people to pull out.

And the other thing with the Scottish system is the sealed bids/offers over system.

I don't like the idea that eg a house is on the market at offers over £400K but actually you need to bid closer to £500K to get it. That doesn't seem very sensible either (and is something that has been creeping into the English system as well).

Can we overhaul both systems and use the best of each :)

I don't think I'd buy without paying for Home buyers protection insurance, it doesn't cost as much as all the money you lose if someone drops out late in the game.
We have a ridiculous buy/sell system.

It does in Scotland. The system is totally different and here the exchange of contracts is known as "completing the missives". Every sale/purchase is different but the last time we bought here (and sold in England at the same time), we offered at the start of November, the offer was accepted and the missives were concluded at the end of November. Our moving date was set as 31st January.

After the missives were concluded for our purchase problems came to light with the property the sellers were buying - I'm not sure exactly what it was but something around planning permission or building control. They chose not to go ahead with their purchase. But because they had already concluded the missives with us on their sale, they had to go ahead with that or pay us a huge sum in compensation and fees. They ended up moving into rented.

I think that has been suggested before but people said that buyers would not trust a seller's survey. I am not sure why, if it is done by an independent surveyor.

I think we found the immature child.

Yes I think that there should be a stage in the process where you sign a "letter of intent" which says "I will buy this house for x price" and the only reasons for pulling out after that are poor survey (where the parties can't agree a lower price to reflect the results of the survey) or the buyer (or seller) losing their job or receiving a serious illness diagnosis/dying suddenly. If you pull out at that stage for any other reason you have to pay a 5% fee to cover legal costs etc. I wouldn't have thought that it would be that hard to implement.

I've had the same. Exchange was also 2 days before completion so the house was packed up up, removals booked. We had given up our jobs as we were moving area. It cost us £7000 in all. Not even a sorry, they just pulled our as they 'changed their minds'. Arseholes.

I remember the feeling so well, it was like I was going to collapse. The person who was buying from us had given notice on her rental and was technically homeless, she was sending us abusive messages for weeks.

Yes, I think that there should be a point (after surveys and when finance is in place) that the transaction should be legally binding. One way would be for sellers to have a full survey ready for buyers to see so they know what they are buying and a deposit paid which would be lost if anyone pulls out.

I agree with some form of deposit type scheme but it should also apply to both buyer and sellers. So that if after accepting an offer the seller backs out because they have subsequently received a higher offer then the seller pays the buyer the deposit to cover legal and survey costs etc.

No it's not ok in the slightest.

What was their exact reason?

The conveyancing is taking so long at the moment that it gives people loads of time to have second thoughts they might be waiting to see if interest rates are cut. Or it might be that one of them is about to pull out the relationship

You did the work when you were less pregnant so easier for you now a bit longer and for whoever does buy it.

Hope someone comes along soon.

Don’t be idiotic, you know the OP was referencing their lack of maturity. Given the situation, I don’t think sarcasm/light hearted is appropriate.

I absolutely agree, @BrokenCookies it should be more like the Scottish system, which appears far more sensible. We had a buyer withdraw this year, it’s cost a fortune. Had the same with our first property, multiple buyers ‘changed their mind’ last minute. It’s torturous. I hope you get a good buyer soon.

It’s shit, it happened to us last year. Fortunately we could sell some of our surveys on that we had done in the property we wanted to move to. However it’s not the end of the world and a bit of perspective is needed. If it’s the worst thing that has ever happened to you then you have been extremely blessed in life.

It only becomes legally binding at exchange of contracts so if you don't complete (completion) the buyer should be paying you a penalty. As per terms of the exchange of contracts. Prior to exchange of contracts you can pull out, people do this for guzumping or under offering.