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

I believe what you're saying about conveyancers.

However, why does the system in this country have to be so bloody complicated? The list of disbursements I had to pay was ridiculous. I couldn't opt out of, say, the chancel repair liability search, even though I was 99.99% certain that occupants of that property were not liable to fund repairs to the local church. Presumably, every owner of my property (and there were at least six over the decades) would have had to pay for that search to be done (again).

I also have to pay indemnity insurance in case I or previous owners have ever fallen foul of the covenant on our street and anyone can be found who has the right to enforce it. If I want to change my garden shed, I am expected to request permission from a company which no longer exists and pay them the sum of five guineas!

Our agent tells us that the average time from acceptance to completion in England is 16 weeks. 3 weeks in, 🤞

He really won’t care about your toddlers pre school situation!

Some mortgage offers are for 3 months, which could be the reason for a May date.
Maybe due to slightly altered circumstances, that offer wasn't renewed. By sending them a nasty message, you could be rubbing salt into an already raw wound.
Next time, try and accommodate the buyers, I wouldn't be happy with a 4 month delay, especially if told, "we're out of town " when making the biggest purchase of my life.

Sorry but currently the process is more like 6 months plus after agreeing a sale and people should be very aware of that from the estate agents when offering. Cheap solicitors taking on too much has completely screwed things over. We offered on our house in August last year, we didn't move until the end of March this year. There were no real hiccups, it was down to my seller's solicitors being slow and doing nothing from October to February when I started threatening to pull out.

It's clear a lot of people on this thread haven't been through the process recently. Once you're in a slow chain you're better off staying put than pulling out and starting another 6 months process. And the OP made it clear her buyer wanted to exchange and complete on the same day which she couldn't do. It sounds like he sprung this request on her. I'm sure she understands the process!

I agree, the system is fucked. It only seems to benefit the solicitors who stack up the bill of hours as they delay things for weeks on end.
If any industry was ripe for being disrupted, it's this one.

We sold a property is Spain last year and both we and the buyer had to deposit 15% of the price into an account after the offer was made an accepted and if either of us had pulled out the other party would have kept it

My son has just exchanged, completing to tomorrow.EVERYTHING has been done by email etc, no going to solicitors nowadays

snooze you lose and all that

Why get angry because somebody’s circumstances have changed?

I'm wondering if the fact that you "were out of town", has made him think that you are not serious about selling and he has decided, based on that, to pull out.

Exactly. I'm finding it really to understand why you didn't DROP EVERYTHING when he said he wanted to exchange and complete. I would have. Cancel whatever I was doing, run back and get the house packed up.

Well it seems to work here, I haven't heard of anyone who has had issues afterwards (unless they haven't had a survey done of course).

In simplistic terms he made a request, you declined it and he’s pulled out. The system is only broken because it hasn’t suited you.

Don’t send an angry email. Ask if his conveyancer can sell the surveys to the next person that puts down an offer and you should be able to complete quicker. It happens sometimes

It’s really none of your business. As awful as it is for you, you don’t know their personal circumstances. Two sides.

Went through this last year with a buyer pulling out for reasons beyond my understanding. The estate agent nearly lost us the next sale, one showed round a prospective buyer and told him he’d need ‘special permission’ to remove a potential problem causing tree. There was no TPO and the only issue would be getting a space outside for a chipper/removal of the trunk. Another agent from the same agency basically made up crap and was totally on the buyer’s side re a really minor issue and when I called her out on it, said I was rude. I honestly wasn’t, although I was really cross at her nonsense when she didn’t know what she was talking about. Estate agents drive me nuts. The bloke on about the tree couldn’t even get into the garden because he had ‘forgotten’ that both doors used one key.

I do think the system needs adjusting in England. I’m dreading future sales!

OP, is there some confusion between exchange and completion?

Could you not have exchanged but with a completion date that suited you both?

Anyway, don’t send an e mail… and good luck with re-listing. It’s a brutal process.

Oh… maybe seek advice on a less slow solicitor?

I think in some other countries, things like bridging loans are much more common so no need to line up a chain which obviously simplifies stuff massively.

When my sister bought as first time buyers in Australia they rented the place they bought back to the owners whilst the owners looked for a property. That sort of arrangement would be very rare in England

But what issues are covered though? I’d still be so wary. Our survey read like a Stephen King novel (we were going to do it up so didn’t care), but it was nothing that would have actually affected the mortgage or the sale of the house.

Surveys often say the roof needs replacing, but when you get a builder round, they say no, it’s got at least 5 years in it don’t worry.

So that would make me run from paying a deposit, there’s probably a lot of small print that makes it hard to get out of.

Here’s a tip for anyone buying and selling:

Once you have a buyer lined up, speak with them directly, swap numbers and agree to get in touch if anything is getting “stuck”. I’ve resolved a number of issues on a house sale by simply talking or meeting the buyers then each of us telling our solicitors that we are happy and the issue is a non-issue.
Remove the drama. Solicitors do love to overcomplicate sometimes. Estate Agents just chase as they want their fee.

Timing wise, I have done offer to completion in 5 weeks (that was incredibly fast and we had to chase very hard for searches etc - almost impossible now), 3 months (straightforward sale and purchase no chain either way) and one where it took nearly 9 months due to some transferring some complex lifetime mortgage arrangements and two separate titles for house and a garage.

Well OP, you have learned a lesson - when selling a property, if the buyer wants to exchange - DO IT!! If the buyer wants to exchange and complete on the same day - DO IT!!

Don't fanny about being "out of town". Nothing should be more important that getting that property sale locked down. You could have got movers to pack up all your stuff and put it into storage temporarily.

I’m sure most people would. So you are one bad survey away from losing a 2k deposit? Absolutely no way.

Here obtaining a survey would be one of the conditions of sale, if there is an issue you can pull out without losing any money. It's once the sale becomes unconditional that it's locked in (i.e. once the conditions have all been met).

I agree. It is annoying. Especially as you will have paid out for searches etc. In France once you have signed the agreement you have to pay a percentage of the sale price if you pull out. Makes more sense.