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

Out of town, too busy, slow solicitors - yes, you would be unreasonable to send him a stinky email

It would be interesting, but I don't know. In theory they intend to buy the house so it shouldn't be difficult to pay a deposit, but why would they when all the others are deposit free.
It's a dilemma for sure.
Would that affect mortgage applications etc

I feel your pain.
We finally sold our house last September. And our buyer from the start to finish was a nightmare. She pushes exchanging back a few times as needed a holiday. She stayed in the uk but couldnt get to a bank to realise the her mone. Other crap happened anyway Skip forward to the day of completion and because of a hiccup with her solicitors we finally completed at 5pm. I had ten minutes to collect the keys to my new house. Nightmare! But it happened. The system is broken and needs to change!.

The house I sold was inherited. I am due to sell my house this year I wonder if I can impose a deposit on the buyer so I only get interested people looking at the property. It could work in theory in the UK but would anyone show interest?

You can't force people to buy your house. I am sure the op will find another buyer. Him pulling out doesn't give her the right to stalk and harass him. She needs to talk to the solicitor.

We just bought a house in Spain.
A 10% deposit is taken from the buyer on agreement of price. Then a date is given as a maximum time to complete. Usually 90 days. Then if buyer pulls out they lose the deposit and seller keeps it.
If seller pulls out they return the double the deposit.
Completion can be done in days.
From viewing to completion, ours took just under 3 weeks.

I am assuming she only asked for an extra week. It does seem a bit drastic unless something went wrong his end. His mortgage offer might have been pulled?

It’s been the same for decades. Always amuses me that people are only ever angry about unfair things when it directly affects them.

Why?

Oh that is tough. On the Positive side - at least now you have all the documentation required ready for the next buyer and the process may be faster and better, best of luck

YANBU I think the system in the UK is mad and not fit for purpose! It’s so stressful it’s a wonder anyone manages to sell/complete/move!

I don't understand this concept of exchange and Complete on the same day.
How on earth can anyone make arrangements re removals etc.
When people say the English system is broken, it seems to mean that in other places they 'exchange' contracts early (ie binding).whereas here we wait until mortgage, survey, etc.

You need to be clear with your EA and solicitor from the start what you will and won't consider. Most people Exchange and then the sale is Completed along with the move a week later. I've never heard of Exchanging and Completing/Moving on the same day, but not saying you can't. Our EA tried to pressurise us into moving out of our house, so our Buyer could move in, even though we wouldn't have been able to move into our new house! They were told where to go with that idea!! Your Buyer should have stipulated what his intentions were from the start, then you could have said no, and no one's time would have been wasted. There's no point in sending an email, it won't change anything.

You were very lucky then. 12 weeks is the average and that includes auction sales which must conclude within 4 weeks, when you take those out of the equation then it rises to 16 week average, which Feb - May is in.

But back to the OP, YABU - if you had a sudden change in circumstances then I'm sure your decision to pull out wouldn't include possible implications to your sellers.

And he threw a strop and will restart the process all over including searching for a new house, spending more money on solicitors and inspection etc because he didn’t want to wait one week, how does that make sense?

And OP was only made aware of the potential completion date at short notice which means they wouldn’t be able to move out so instead a reasonable and normal person to wait a week he throws a tantrum and walks to start all over and spend more money, very smart.

As I’ve said the whole system is a mess. I’ve bought houses in other countries and when the offer is accepted and you sign the contact you’re locked in and the contact has a target completion date agreed not the English system where they can dictate a date at short notice and walk if you can’t make it. if you walk not only will you lose the initial deposit you made but the other party can pursue you for the whole amount and force the sale.

And don’t get me started with how long it takes solicitors to complete searches in England.

Obviously I knew about the stamp duty deadline and our buyer assured us he wasn’t in a chain so would be ready, but we were misled and because conveyancing is basically the Wild West there’s no recourse. All I was saying is that I think all the people acting like OP has caused some unconscionable delay are being unfair. 3-4 months is pretty normal.

It sounds like he felt he'd been messed about with you not even exchanging after 3 months. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that the buyer feels you'll spin it out indefintely and starts looking around again.

Next time you'll have your deeds and contracts ready to go for the new buyer.

We found a buyer mid January and completed on the 28th March. The buyer wasn't messing around he wanted to complete quickly.

The sad truth is everything could fall through until the moment of exchange, and you've got to be prepared for that - it's an annoying system, isn't it!

You got hit on the 1st April. I sold my house at the end of March because the buyer was insistent he wanted to complete before the 1st April. I reckon he would have pulled out if he had to pay thousands more in stamp duty fees.

Don’t send an angry email. It won’t achieve anything.

If you do want to write an email write obe to your MP asking if the laws can be changed so that when an offer is accepted, they are legally obliged to buy your house.

Its far too easy in England for either side to pull out.

Personally I wouldn't have been going abroad towards the end of a house sale process, when everyone is waiting for an exchange/completion date, but it's done now.

The buyer dropped out on 27th May. Were you still abroad then, OP?

I think people have very unrealistic ideas about how quickly house sales are going through at the moment. We sold first week of January and moved at the end of April. We were held up by incompetent conveyancers at the bottom of the chain which cost us thousands in stamp duty (everyone else was ready mid-March). We were moving a long way so had to give notice at one nursery (2 months due to funding) and secure a new one well before completion. If you’re moving any distance then you can’t leave it until the sale has gone through!
I agree with others. It’s not unreasonable to want to send an angry email but it’s for the best that you’ve decided not to! I hope you sell quickly.

Last year my seller pulled out day before exchange. Long 4.5 month process and she decided day before she didn’t really want to sell at all! She had been thinking it for at least two months but couldn’t be arsed to actually say anything. Fucking nightmare and I lost a good four figure sum.

I felt so annoyed and wanted to confront her as she lived nearby (I’m not an angry or confrontational person at all but the situation made me see red). I didn’t obviously but can remember that upset easily. I saw her not long after whilst walking the dog and she scuttled off the second she saw me.

It made me rage at the English buying system.

No advice from me but can commiserate. Hopefully you’ll get new buyers soon.