To confront sellers who pulled out last minute

Legally they've done nothing wrong. There is nothing preventing you from confronting them, they might apologise and pay you something, or they might sue you for harassment and quite rightly win.

Im not trying to be clever, what does that mean?

With something like car insurance for example, the other person is hopefully insured so if something goes wrong and you claim, they then claim from the other party, simples

In this case, there is no other party even though another party caused the issue, its not like a tree falling on your house

What is the insurance and where do you get it, I havent heard of it, I was agreeing with another poster that this isnt something Ive heard of, no need to be snarky.

Don’t be silly. One visit wouldn’t be considered harassment 😂

A lot of stick for the people who pulled out, without any knowledge of why (which is key). I agree it’s horrible conduct if they have just changed their mind but there might be a very good reason. You’re the victim of a bullshit system where this can happen without any consequences.

There is insurance for this very eventuality. Hurt feelings are of course not covered, but conveyancing costs, mortgage fees, surveys etc can be.

I realize you are trying to be clever, but who do you think insurance companies claim off when someone dies?

Yes what sort of insurance would that be, and pay out what? Lost money, hurt feelings? Who do the insurance company claim off?

Never heard of home buying Insurance! How does that work?

Why are they horrible?
You don't know the reason.

I have never bought in the UK, but someone who was familiar with the two systems explained to me that "exchanging" in the UK is, legally, roughly equivalent to the French "compromis de vente". So after that you are committed.

The difference is that the "compromis de vente" comes at the moment when your offer is accepted, at which point both parties are committed. After that completion can take two months or more, but up to the point where you sign the "compromis" (which can be done at your kitchen table on a sheet of A4) nobody considers that anything is settled. The weakness in the UK system is that an oral "We'll offer £450k / OK, we accept your offer" is not worth anything until you exchange, yet you have to plan the entire move around that "OK", including handling the chain.

Surveys are not a thing in France. You can get a full structural survey, but the kind of "lite" survey that you get in the UK doesn't exist.

I know how the system currently works, the problem is it doesn’t as is unfair on people buying and selling when one pulls out

I am suggesting an alternative that works very well in the auction world. I am not suggesting all properties go to auction, if you read my posts, just that we adopt the legally binding system it adheres to.

It’s rubbish, but unfortunately, just how it is.

I’ll tell you a great story about karma though. We had an offer accepted on a house just before the first lockdown, early March 2020. We rumbled on through conveyancing when it was all chaos and were finally about to exchange and the sellers pulled out (actually due to illness, I would have done the same).

They came back to us a year later saying they were putting it back on the market, but had raised the OIRO price by £200k from £625k to £825k (!!). This was in the COVID rural property buying madness. We laughed and said no thanks, though it did piss me off.

We finally managed to buy our house a year and a half after the purchase fell through. We love it. It’s so much nicer than the original house. That house is STILL for sale. It’s been 4.5 years. It’s being marketed at £300k more than our offer. When it didn’t sell 4 years ago, they raised the price by £100k+ (£950k!!) and re-marketed it with a new agent. They are absolutely mad. But it’s coming up to 5 years and they still haven’t sold. We feel very relieved that we got out of that mess before we realised how bonkers it was!

You will feel grateful one day too. Your home is still out there. It’s just going to be a bit of a bumpy road before you get there.

I'm not suggesting that the OP goes round all guns blazing or seeking a row.
And they need to be prepared for a shitty , possible aggressive, response.
But of they can keep icily calm and deliver something in writing , then I think they should go .

For me the point would be taking some action .
And personally seeing the people in the hope ( albeit vain) of making them see me as a person who they've inflicted damage on .
It would make me feel the tiniest bit better that I'd tried to shame them and made them think about what they've done.
I have a friend who has form for 180 degree reversals when buying and selling property and she just dissociates from the consequences.

What is the point? Clearly they're not going to get anywhere with these people!

Everyone is saying no but I'm in favour of you going round .
Provided you can remain deadly calm and can present your huge disappointment .
I think I'd take a letter to deliver with a list of costs and the consequences.
They should be confronted by you as a real person .
Obviously if something dreadful has impacted them it's different .
But of they are joking on Facebook it doesn't sound like that's the case.

The person who pays for the survey and the searches is the customer, and if there was a flaw in the professional diligence of the person carrying out the survery and searches, the customer has the right to sue that person for professional negligence.

It's not at all unusual for a significant issue to be noticed and flagged up by one practitioner and not noticed or flagged by another.

If the person doing the searches is the conveyancing solicitor handling the transaction they have a large motivation to be very careful to do all searches dilligently. If the searches are being done on behalf of the seller, what motivation is there for the person commissioned for the work to be working at maximimum diligence? This work isn't trivial and often requires close reading of archaic documents and cross refencing. It would be in the seller's interests to commission the service from someone who is likely to be quite slapdash and unlikely to pick up on something easy to miss.

There's a reason why most sales for the intention of owner-occupation don't happen from auctions - it's an incredibly risky thing to undertake. Properties generally only go to auction if they are expecting them to be bought by a professional developer who can afford to take those risks because of the large number of properties they churn through.

I feel for you . I have always said a deposit of 1K should be put down on each house in the chain . The deposit should be non returnable should anyone pull out . The money would help pay for any loss . I don't see why this couldn't be implemented.

A horrible thing to happen to you .

In auctions, which I suggested we have a similar system, the buyer presents a package of information
including searches and a survey. Auctioneers can arrange these for you, estate agents could do the same. You market the property with that property package so valuing it makes it easier too as the survey will be taken into account.

Once you accept the offer you are both tied in.

If life get in the way and your plans change then the 10% deposit goes to the other party.

I think that’s fare and gives people some security

Was the joke about the house or completely unrelated?

If about the house, then that's shitty but if about something unrelated it isn't necessarily and indication of how they are feeling about it.

You don't know their situation, why they pulled out or if they feel bad. I get that seeing a joke on fb must have felt like a gut punch but equally they may be going through something themselves and just be trying to lighten their own mood; people rarely post anything real on social media.

No, unfortunately you cannot.
They have the right to do it here, which as you said, seems pretty wild.
Sorry.

Commiserations. We had a buyer pull out on exchange date. Infuriating but there is nothing you can do.

Oh yes... definitely the confetti cannon option...

This. The system has been like this for years and as much as everyone agrees it should change, nothing does, unfortunately.

However, I don't see there's any harm in dropping them a note to explain the issues that this is causing you. You never know, they might change their minds, but don't expect them to. I would want them to know the impact their decision has made, so they don't do it to someone else in the future.

Or... you can buy confetti cannons that can be sent anonymously... I may or may not have done similar when an inconsiderate arsehole neighbour had the loudest party ever until 4am one morning...

@snowmichael small claims court, depending on the amount lost. Knocking on their door or ringing them to ask. Not harassing them in person but if they didn't pay up then I would make sure they would have every piece of junk mail going through their letter box. cant prove it was me. Flame away !