I am selling a house as an LPA on behalf of a relative who now needs 24/7 care.
It went up for sale in late February I had about 7 people view and one offer within a week. I live around an hour's drive from the house so the viewings were left in the hands of the local estate agent.
Upon the valuation the agent was very positive about the house and said there was nothing not to like about it. It is very livable, clean tidy and structurally sound, plus in a desirable location, the houses on the road don't come up for sale too often, last sale was 3 years ago. It needs a little bit of work but is very livable and this was accounted for in the asking price.
When we received feedback from the viewings the agents said they were all negative which I was a bit surprised about considering the initial feedback when the house was valued, but I was told we received one offer £20k below the asking price. Based on what the agents had said i accepted the offer thinking we probably wouldn't get better. The buyer also has nothing to sell so there is no chain.
Formal offer was received in very early March and I instructed a local conveyancing solicitor, the agents were trying to push me to use theirs but I didn't want to.
Draft contracts were sent mid April and in mid May I was informed the buyer had had an issue with their mortgage and had had to find another product, he also needed to drop the price another 10k, but was 100% committed to the purchase .I wasn't too keen on this so I asked the agent to relist which they did.
After a week they told me there was no interest and the first offer is usually the best, based on what they said I agreed to meet the buyers need at the half way point and reduced a further £5k in order to keep the sale and not start all over again.
I asked for a completion date of the 18th July, their solicitor was very silent and i never really heard from them unless my solicitor really pushed.
At the end of June the buyers mortgage offer was in, the single enquiry was answered and the search results were back. We then asked for a date to exchange if they were ready and all went silent.
When we eventually did get some correspondence they asked me to complete and send evidence of a minor DIY job which within a couple of days I did. At that point though I started to feel suspicious that they were using delay tactics.
Anyway I turned over their request and again silence, at this point I was getting fed up it was now early August and asked the solicitor if I should just relist the house. She said that was fine but she would send the buyers solicitor one final email stating my intentions. Within an hour we received an email saying our buyer had gone away and would return mid August. No one had informed us of this.
Anyway to cut an already long story slightly shorter and exchange date was finally set for yesterday. I needed to do some electronic signing and that had to be witnessed by someone who I did not live with and could not be a relative. Despite my solicitor asking for this document for over a week I only received it the afternoon before exchange. Anyway managed to get it turned around and sorted for the morning which was a slight nightmare. However by 3pm we had still not exchanged so I emailed my solicitor and copied in the EA to see what was going on, heard nothing back from the agents but I never really do. Our solicitor had been attempting all day to contact the buyers solicitor and they were uncontactable. I heard nothing all day from the buyer, the buyers solicitor or the EA
Whenever I have contacted the agents to express my concerns about the silence from the buyer, I am told the same story that the buyer is very keen and can't understand the delay. I feel like I'm being gaslit. The buyer has a very good job and the agent has told me several times how brilliant his job is and how keen he is to purchase the house
I actually feel the agent is working for the buyer and not advising me well at all. I know the buyer used their in house conveyancing and mortgage broker so I guess they want to keep him.
Can anyone advise on what I should do from here
Thanks if you have made it this far.
I should add I am not in a desperate financial need to sell this house.