To confront sellers who pulled out last minute

No, of course you can't. Unless you want them to take legal action against you, which they potentially could.

Speak to your landlord, ask if they'll let you rent on a month by month basis if you'll let potential buyers view x days a month.It is a faff for sure, but its less of one than finding a new short term rental.

As frustrating at it is, I really don’t think you are owed anything more than they changed their mind. Sure it would be nice to know the exact reasons, but you are now owed that. Hopefully your landlord will allow you to extend the tenancy, offer to show prospective buyers around if you can stay until the sale. Hopefully you’ll have something else before too long. Really frustrating when this happens.

I wouldnt do this. You won’t change their mind and they don’t need to tell you their personal business.

It happened to me many years ago - found out later it was a divorcing couple and the wife’s parents were able to help her stay in the house at the last minute. Kids then didn’t have to move schools. I only found out through a friend of a friend. Took the sting out of it a little.

No good can come of this.

It’s an awful, awful system. Emotionally draining and financially punishing.

but while morally what they have done is shit, they haven’t breached any contract.

These people are strangers, best to move on. They won’t give you any compensation.

No, of course you can’t confront them or demand compensation for costs.

Nothing is guaranteed until exchange in England, regardless of how aggressive / serious the sellers were, they could always change their minds. You should have a backup plan for someone where to live if you can’t stay in current place after end of December. I’d never end a tenancy until after completion unless I had a backup.

8 weeks isn’t even that long to be in process, lots of people end up having purchases / sales collapse after months of solicitors and paperwork fees cos someone changes their mind / circumstances change.

Chalk it up to experience and be prepared for it to go we wrong next time.

America as well. There are specific conditions that can be attached to the offer, such as conditional on passing inspection as well as the usual conditional on mortgage & appraisal (this is why some people want cash offers). You can waive the inspection if you want to live dangerously. It took 45 days between offer and closing (completion) on our last house. No chain. You sell before your house is sold? Your job to get a bridge loan. You sell before you find a new house? Go find a short term rental or ask if you can rent it back from the new owners. It can take longer if there are legal issues, or if you're buying a foreclosure from the bank. My current state requires an attorney for all real estate transactions, but my previous one didn't (it was optional depending on the complexity of the transaction).

I will never for the life of me understand the English system despite having done it, and who is profiting from doing it this way. I'm told it's partly the Land Registry.

Nothing you can do about it except lobby your MP to fix the system.

This^ We've done that in the past. Agreed with the tenants that they facilitate viewings and in exchange we've reduced their monthly rent.

Just might give you a bit extra time to find a new home to purchase.

Given its out of season, perhaps consider the renting a mobile home/holiday caravan for a couple of months to give you breathing space.

Might be substantially cheaper and allow you to recoup some of the outlay you've had.

And some peole's circumstances can change overnight- a new job, an inheritance, a reconciliation etc. Not monsters.

They are just adhering to the system in England and Wales.

We once had this situation happen to us the week before exchanging /completing and we did write a polite letter to try and understand the situation when there had been no apparent issues , we'd even moved our DC's school and to be fair to them the seller did then cover our survey costs.
I agree it's a ridiculous system

This is why I always use a conveyancing solicitor that has a no move, no fee policy. That way, you're losing the cost of the surveys and searches only, which is still crappy, but it limits the losses.

I would not confront them, but you could ask the estate agent to ask them why, as a previous commentator worded well above.

What's the house you're renting like? Is it something you'd want to buy? If so, you could buy privately straight from your LL so they would save estate agency fees, so you could get it a little cheaper. Then no hassle of moving either.

Could you reach out to them (via Facebook if the only means) and ask them why? Tell them it is causing you enormous stress and financial hardship? Maybe they’ll change their minds, maybe an explanation, maybe they’ll even offer compensation, but you do need to prepare yourselves that they won’t give a damn. Some people are just self absorbed monsters.

Your landlord might be willing to extend your tenancy if you facilitate viewings, so they don't lose income. This could give you a few months to find somewhere else.

Many countries have similar. England is terrible. But no one changes it.

No go!

You certainly shouldn’t confront them.

Possibly, you could (preferably in writing) ask why they’ve done such a huge 180, explain the very difficult/worrying situation it’s left you in and ask whether they might be able to cover at least some of your costs as a gesture of goodwill, given they were pushing so hard for your goodwill in helping them secure a quick sale.

There can be all sorts of tragic and unforeseen reasons people have to pull out of a sale (bereavement, serious illness, relationship breakdown etc). Perhaps if they were willing to explain, it might soften the blow. And if they know your situation, they may be prepared to offer something.

It is a ridiculous system for people to not have to pay a deposit (on both sides) at the point an offer’s accepted. Buyers can pull out too. Sometimes it results in hugely complex chains collapsing and a lot of stress and cost for everyone involved.

No you can’t go round to theirs and ask for money to contribute to the expense.
The system is terrible. Either side can pull out last minute after months.
We really need a system where both sides are legally bound to buy once the offer is accepted, like in an auction.

English/Welsh (Scotland has a different system) property buying laws are completely bonkers.

In France, to make an offer you put down a 10% deposit (often in the form of a cheque that is not immediately cashed, but the money is still at risk). If you pull out, you lose that 10%. The only legitimate reason to pull out is if you can't get finance, but if you try that, the seller is entitled to call their own bank and say "Will you lend Mr and Mrs X €250,000", and if the bank says yes, you have to take that loan.

There's no shenanigans with gazumping or gazundering either, as the seller is also on the hook for 10% of the agreed price.

What are you wanting or expecting them to do when you confront them?

Of course you can't confront them. The whole process of buying a house is shit, but it is what it is.

I'd want to put them through a meat grinder! Bastards.

However, I don't understand what you're saying in this post. Why did it prevent you from taking out insurance??

Definitely don't go around you could get yourself hurt or in a lot of trouble.

i don't know if you'd get anywhere going through solicitors to claim some compensation for surveys etc, but I doubt it, as with our stupid buying/selling system here it's not against the law to just change your mind??

I wonder why as they were desperate to sell?

maybe they've lost a job or gained an inheritance, or something like that & now need to completely rethink their finances. Lots going on in everyone's lives.

im sorry for the position it has put you in though. Im sure you'll work it all out, & maybe even find a house you love more. Maybe you can find an Air B&B for Jan/Feb etc as it'll be low demand and maybe you do a deal for a couple of months?!

In which case they’re pricks, still, better luck next time and I know how disappointing/pita this is.

Dust yourself off and Chalk this down to experience. Next time buy home buying insurance. Hoping you find a new buyer soon.