To want to send an angry email to our house buyer after he pulled out days before exchange

So you went out of town, during the sale of your house which was extremely crucial to you, but then feel done by when it didn't suit the buyer? Talk about hypocrisy in this world. Did you apologize, did you offer to compensate for unnecessary delay due to your leisure, my guess would be not.

@surreygirl1987 No. And I hope one day the law changes to prevent shitty behaviour like that.

Not sure what your point is?

Then you’re fucked.

Thank Christ when I was in a shit situation, it happened before exchange so we could pull out.

The job thing can also happen a month after completion . Then what?

House sales don't happen until completion. Until then, you've just accepted an offer, then maybe exchanged.

Last year, we sold in the first week of August and moved in the second week of November.

I am trying to remember... I think I managed to complete in something like 10 or 12 days (including two weekends) once - cash buyer, happy to take a chance on condition because the price was good, etc.

If people are serious about selling (and buying) then a damn good start is to ensure that the property is in good order, all paperwork in places as you say, maybe get your own survey done and point out the problems to buyers before they offer (or get ready to have them chip the price down post-survey). And get your own mortgage in principle, solicitor lined up etc etc.

Is this a standard agreement or a custom one?

Surely one can always find a reason on the survey to pull out?

You can do it quicker. People just don't though because they pay the bare minimum for solicitor/conveyancing and then are shocked when it turns out to be slow as.

Most of the period between offer and exchange is taken up with buyer checks to protect the buyer. If you are buying with a mortgage these checks are compulsary to ensure the house is worth what the bank is paying for it.

If you are buying cash you can forgo all the checks at your own risk, and make things go a lot faster. Or you can pay money for rapid conveyancing to move things along (although sellers can confound that by being slow to respond to buyers questions, often through their own useless bargain basement solicitors).

There is also a lot of additional regulation being added in all the time, which slows down the purchase process as often sellers do not have the proper documentation in place for things like building regs, planning permission etc. In addition to sensible recommendations there are also some solicitors who ask frankly ludicrous questions which doesn't help speed the process up either (maybe some of these are from the buyers, some asked to protect the solicitor from prior experience).

There is no "system" but one way that the process could be improved would be to have a national database for searches that has to be updated with any information so that buyers can get hold of this information quickly. Another alternative would be for sellers to have all building regs documents ready in a buyers pack before sale which would speed up the process rather than having a 6 week back and forth in the hope it will be neglected and that ends with "we can't find that".

It is actually possible to "screen" properties before purchase with a variety of online tools that can basically give you advance warning if a property is going to throw up various issues, but few people seem to do this.

This. The system is rubbish, but blame the system not the people using it!

We pulled out of a purchase once - the sellers were dragging their heels and we were desperate to move as was starting a new job. I couldn't believe they were shocked when we pulled out, as we'd made it very clear when we needed to move by. They were moving at a snail's pace and we got the impression they didn't really want to sell. So we cut ties.

Nothing is official until exchange (and even then completion may not happen - but at least there are consequences then). So weird when people act as if they own the house just because they have had their offer accepted... or like they've 'sold' their house just because they've accepted someone's offer... that's just not how it works.

Really? And you don't think you were at fault in any way for taking your kids to see a house you didn't own and had no legal claim over?

We waited until exchange.

We had a seller pull out at the last minute. We had taken the kids to see the house. She was in during a second visit and said to the kids that they should go and choose their rooms. What an utter ***.

Searches, generally. They've been taking a very long time since Covid.

I can understand it from the ops side. But you should also look at it from the buyers side. Mortgage approval doesnt last forever. People's circumstances cam change. Someone might lose a job and have to take a job in a different location

People should figure those things out before they make an offer. I never understood why it takes such a long time from offer to exchange in the UK. I’ve bought properties in other countries and it takes 3 months max, including all surveys, due diligence etc.

Deposits are made that's called exchanging contracts.

I pulled out of a house at short notice as my fiance walked out when I was 36 weeks notice. An angry email from the owners of the house that I was devastated not to be bringing my child up in would have finished me off. You never know what people are going through op

Where I live you sign an agreement subject to various conditions, such as mortgage, survey, etc. and have a date for those conditions to be met. If they are not met in the timeframe the sellers can agree to extend the time, or they can sell to someone else. Once the finance is secured, the survey done etc. then the sale becomes unconditional and the deposit paid with no backing out.

I think your unwillingness to exchange has scared them off. You understand you could have exchanged last week and set the completion date in stone for next week? You would have still had your buyer and not needed to move whilst on holiday.

You're locked in when the contract is exchanged in the UK too!

I like our system, exchange is the point when both seller and buyer are committed. I don’t think a seller should assume it’s sold just because they have accepted an offer, especially as a survey hasn’t even happened.

That may be a fair point about the cost, ditto with the crazy long chains people take on in order to avoid a rental in between or a bridging loan.

Listen to the Let Them theory. No way to control other people and angers just a waste of energy.

it is annoying though. Sorry to hear about it

The system is broken. Buying a house in Australia is so much easier, once you put in an offer if it is accepted you are locked in! Puts the onus on buyers to be sure they have mortgage pre-approval and are really sure they want a house before even making an offer.