House sold months ago, buyers now want a

Buyer tried to do this when I was helping my mum sell her bungalow, they asked for 6k off. We told them to do one. They caved.

Your EA is a lying fucker. You are not liable to pay your buyers fees if you pull out, as long as you have NOT exchanged, you owe them nothing.

You did the right thing saying no. Utter cheeky fuckers, I do not pander to game players. As for the 6 viewings, you have the patience of a saint. I wouldn't have enabled any of that nonsense. They can measure up after they've moved in FFS.

We had a cash buyer do similar to us on the day of exchange, we told him to fuck off. Ended up keeping the property and letting it out, and found a better house to buy in the end.

Glad you’re holding firm.

I’m sure they’ll go through with it because of the expenditure they’ve already incurred.

Not the same situation at all, but years ago, we were buying a house, all agreed at the very early stages, and then out of the blue the vendors wanted £15k more. We pulled out, no discussions. It took them ages to sell it after that for what we had agreed in the first place.

It’s not illegal in Scotland

@Thelittleweasel sadly that's not entirely correct. As I said above we had someone try to gazunder us and I was gobsmacked. Gazundering is technically illegal in Scotland but until missives are signed either party can pull out for any reason. I think shitty behaviours are just on the increase as everyone is just out for themselves and has no concept of anyone else.

EA wants to be able to put STC as quickly as possibly on the website as that looks good: but they then want the highest possible price: they don’t want reductions this far down the line as it might lose them the sale completely. I have worked in EA and housing finance for 15 years

Nope EA’s want the house sold as quick as possible, 1.5% of 11k is £165. EA’s will push a price reduction if it gets the property sold.

Well, I think it depends on how much you need the £11K and what the market is actually doing. My in laws had this happen to them. Their house was a high value house at a time when that market was starting to wobble, it had taken a while to get a buyer who wasn't offering a stupid price and they really needed to sell to move to the house they'd identified. The reduction was 5% of the asking price and they would have taken that if offered at the start.

I thought they should go for it on condition that exchange was brought forward to the next day (which was doable). Much to my surprise, the estate agent (who was a bit temperamental and also convinced he had a cash buyer in the bag) told them to tell the purchasers to bugger off. He was annoyed because they'd had a surveyor assess the house and recommend a 5% discount and had sat on it until a week before exchange, which was admittedly very bad behaviour. My in laws understandably trusted the estate agent over me and followed his advice.

The purchasers then pulled out saying they could now not get a sufficient mortgage without the reduction. The cash buyer turned out not to be a cash buyer and also to be claiming that she could only pay 2/3 of the asking price. So the estate agent (somewhat embarrassed) then went back the original buyers, who didn't try to play silly buggers and get a bigger discount, and agreed to the 5% on condition exchange took place the next day, and then it all went through.

So I think you're right to call their bluff, OP, but it's a funny market at the moment so it's worth getting your estate agent to be very straight with you about how quickly they anticipate finding another buyer and whether the same thing is likely to happen again. If you can't manage without the £11K then that's the end of it and if you don't mind the current chain and purchase falling through then that's a really good position to be in but don't lead with pride and a sense of offence if the reality is that you need or really want this to happen now.

The Scottish system isn’t necessarily better. Although neither party can back out without penalty once missives of sale are concluded, it is increasingly common for missives not to be concluded until just before the completion date so a seller could still find the buyer wanting to renegotiate or walk away at the 11th hour.

Never exchange and complete on the same day. Always give time between exchange and completion to pack up the house and book the removal van. Otherwise you put yourself under too much pressure and leave yourself vulnerable to these kind of tactics.

No they don’t care about a percentage of £11k. They just care about the sale going through.

Say to your estate agents that you think they are flaky and you’re considering putting it back on the market if they don’t exchange in a week. Don’t sound reasonable sound annoyed. We had this and ended up dropping it £1k which was a small amount against the agreed sale price but maybe made them feel they’d got something? If the estate agents think their chain will collapse they’ll push the buyers. They usually put the pressure on the sellers as that’s their clients. Certainly don’t drop any more than a token amount and even then at the last minute.

This is not the position in Scotland

EA normally on a % of sale so they will want the higher asking price. Solicitors don’t make more/less money on the based of the house sale

House sold months ago
No it didn’t. Exchange of contracts is House sold
even on the day of exchange never take it as a given. It happened to a friend of mine.

@Rhaidimiddim it's not legal in Scotland but it happened to us! Day before we closed the buyer came back and demanded a £13k reduction based on the home report (which they had had for months). We said no, they came back in the afternoon and offered to buy it if we reduced by £5k we refused and cancelled the sale. Back on the market and we did sell eventually but it was a very stressful process.

Our lawyer was of the opinion the buyers lawyer had been watching too many episodes of Suits.......

My thoughts exactly!

I had buyers who asked for £40K off on the day of exchange with no reason and then said they were out of the country an unable to discuss it. I honestly think they thought I would agree to it as I was in a chain and they were first time buyers. Obviously I told them to get fucked and the whole sale fell through. Some people are just idiots.

its very common, it’s “a tale as old as time “… they’re just trying to get so far down the line that you’ll be scared not to take the reduction and the chain will collapse if you don’t. But don’t do it, stick to your price. I’m old , luckily it’s never happened to me but they’ve obviously read it or been told about it and thought they’d chance it!

That was very stupid of him, to not realise the change in circumstances meant the pressure on your side to sell quickly had gone and his bargaining position had disappeared! I’m sorry for your loss.

When you say the house was “sold” do you mean the sale was completed and the full
purchase price paid? If not, what stage is this sale at? Have you exchanged contracts or just accepted their offer?

I'd call their bluff and tell them it's OK as you had a second buyer willing to pay the full asking price. Then sit back and wait...

Fees were an agreed percentage of sale price

Someone who doesnt need to buy and can wait, has far more of the control than you are trying to pretend you have over them. Always, including then.

You are the one with a house to purchase, something you don't want to lose, and a chain to have to stay in and deal with otherwise.

Even in late 2021 FIL was buying, he also didn’t' care - opposite of what you decided nobody could possible be doing at that time.

My warning was don't be so sure you might get a surprise (was my only point, you are free to sell and do as you please regardless of course like me and everyone). Your comment doesnt counter this.

Do wonder if EA & solicitors are encouraging this, they are making lots of money on one sale. where my mom is buying this is the 3rd time it has collapsed for her.