Buyers pulling out and sending me a Whatsapp to tell me!

[Stillnotslept]

So AIBU day before exchange buyers whatsapp me to tell me they are not buying as they dont want to join the management company (its a 8 year old house on an unadopted road of 15 houses) apparently they didn’t think to read the documents until today and googled the national management agency and read horror stories - all docs signed not dated. I get that people change their minds but they have found my number through school mums and whatsapped me rather than talk to the estate agent. They are avoiding the estate agent. We have asked them if they can contribute to our costs not least as we are devastated and will loose the house of our dreams, miss the SD deadline and now cant really afford to move all the conveyancing is done hence the fees applying we paid for the management sales pack for them as a goodwill gesture (£400 as our purchase is time sensitive for personal reasons to the owners of the house we want, we offered them all our white goods as she cried about not being able to afford any and we wanted to be nice people and i felt generous as they didnt seem huge things to be getting upset about at the moment) So we have now asked them to talk to our solicitor and EA rather than send me whatspp messages and apparently we are being nasty. Am i being unreasonable asking them to offer us something...even if its £50 towards the pack which they should have purchased and is irrelevant to us unless we can sell this weekend and by asking them to stop messaging me as i feel its unprofessional. Thank you

@Stillnotslept ah I see- how much would that have cost though? £30

[quote Mylovelyhorsee]@Stillnotslept ah I see- how much would that have cost though? £30[/quote]
An extra £300

[quote Mylovelyhorsee]@Stillnotslept ah I see- how much would that have cost though? £30[/quote]
It seemed cheaper than stamp duty extra! Its not really about the money its more the upset by telling me this huge news by whatsapp and loosing the house we had our heart set on - the forever house we had been looking for for years and years. If it was me changing my mind i would have offered something to soften the blow. Accept people change their minds just dont expect arsehole behaviour. I just need to cry some more then move on xx

I’m heart sorry for you but don’t give up hope. With any luck re-marketing your property quickly will find you a new buyer.

I bought my house in under 6 weeks. Even with the Covid.

Sometimes things work out for a reason. I had looked at two beautiful little houses. Lost them both to sealed bids. Gutted.

About 8 months later, both were about 3ft deep in water after dreadful flooding. Despite the area never ever having a record of it.

Have your cry. I know.

But something happy may be waiting round the corner for you. It was for me.

And yes, the WhatsApping was shameful. I don’t have it and don’t know how that works but I’d be wanting to make that more accessible to those I knew.

But I’m a cow. 😉

@Stillnotslept you may not loose your dream house, put the house back on the market and look for a new buyer. Don’t say anything to the people your buying from yet, give yourself time to find a new buyer.

The house we’ve had an offer accepted from was under offer and the sale fell through.

It went back on the market, first viewings were the following Saturday. They had 3 offers, it went to best and final. We offered 5k more than asking price and got it. Sellers have now sold for 10k over the original offer.

Try not to despair; it can happen very quickly!

Is your house subject to an estate rent charge? Have you paid £100 for a deed of variation re the rent charge?

The management pack should be paid for by the seller.

@stillnotslept I am so sorry this is happening. You honestly haven't done anything evil at all. From reading your posts you have done everything you can, your buyers are just dicks.

Can you afford a bridging loan so you don't lose your dream home? I know it's not the normal thing in England but if you accept an offer this weekend then it might be a good option for you?

We are in a very similar situation. Buyer one pulled out after having problems with their finances, buyer two pulled out 24 hours before exchange because they were getting divorced and the husband was being a total arse. Buyer three offered full asking price, instructed solicitors, told estate agent how much she loved it.
And then Pulled out 24 hours later.

I’ve not read the whole thread so this may have been said already but the Seller always pays for the management pack.

That’s awful, gutted for you. Fingers crossed you will get another buyer quickly. Rest assured when you do get another buyer your solicitors will be able to issue a full contract pack promptly. Unfortunately they can pull out at any time with no obligation to contribute towards your fees.

@PomPomSugar

I’ve not read the whole thread so this may have been said already but the Seller always pays for the management pack.

You’re right. You haven’t read it. OP paid an additional £300 (on top of the pack) to have it done quickly for the buyers because they wanted to complete ASAP.

Hi @Stillnotslept I’m so sorry this has happened to you. Similar happened to me just after New Year, seller of the house I was buying pulled out a couple of days before exchange and cost me nearly 3k in lost fees. I also had to scramble to find somewhere else to buy as we were going to lose our buyers. I did find somewhere and in the end it will be a better house (complete project for now though, which I didn’t want!). Hold your nerve, communicate with the people of the house you are hoping to buy. I hope it works out for you and you find another buyer quickly. We have a shit system, it’s wrong that someone can pull out at this kind of late stage with no penalty.

I wish there could be a list of people who engage in such behaviour so that anyone selling a house in future could be aware of the possibility of it happening with these nasty people. Alternatively Scottish law on house buying applied to England and Wales.

I hope you find a buyer who is a decent human being soon.

OP just block her number. There is a special place in hell for people who pull out of house sales day before exchange/demand a price drop. She’s just worried you will tell people what’s happened at school and they will think badly of her (which they would).

I’m sorry you’ve been through so many house sales falling through. Could you sell and go into rented? After our last horrendous house move I vowed I would never be in a chain again.

The market is really hot right now, you should market ASAP and get the purchasers to instruct the solicitor which the previous purchasers were using. Only allow viewings from people who are proceedable.

@Froggie456 I hope the nasty people are worried about what would be said at school or the school gates. Perhaps the school ought to be made aware in case there is any nastiness, as I am sure they would not wish the children to suffer in any way because they have parents who have engaged in such behaviour.

Talk to your children OP to make sure they do not refer to this at school themselves.

Also op you’re not alone 40% of house purchases fall through. We lost a buyer and got another one quite quickly only for the people we were buying from to pull out. All works out for the best in the end, there are other houses.

Have you spoken to the sellers of the house you want to buy and told them what’s happened? It’s possibly worth doing and I don’t see you’ve got anything to lose, they may be happy to wait for your new sale or may not be reliant on their house sale going through. At least you can keep the lines of communication open between you two.

[quote CuthbertDibbleandGrubb]@Froggie456 I hope the nasty people are worried about what would be said at school or the school gates. Perhaps the school ought to be made aware in case there is any nastiness, as I am sure they would not wish the children to suffer in any way because they have parents who have engaged in such behaviour.

Talk to your children OP to make sure they do not refer to this at school themselves.[/quote]
@CuthbertDibbleandGrubb we have done and they wont we have kept it all very much low key from them other than me bursting into tears whilst watching tv with them. The ex buyers already tried to talk to a friend at the school gate who had no time for it at all.

@Whattodo121

We are in a very similar situation. Buyer one pulled out after having problems with their finances, buyer two pulled out 24 hours before exchange because they were getting divorced and the husband was being a total arse. Buyer three offered full asking price, instructed solicitors, told estate agent how much she loved it. And then Pulled out 24 hours later.

@Whattodo121 i am so sorry this happened to you too multiple times. Hope it works out for you soon too x

House back on the market and keeping everything crossed.

@Blankscreen

Is your house subject to an estate rent charge? Have you paid £100 for a deed of variation re the rent charge?

The management pack should be paid for by the seller.

@Blankscreen we offered to do this and she refused to believe this was a thing 🤷‍♀️

I suspect if your buyer had posted here, saying they he were having last minute panics about management fees, they’d have been told to drop out. There have been lots of articles about these, all basically saying avoid.

Yes, they shouldn’t have left it so late. But unlike most PP, I think they were right to contact you directly. If they’d gone to their solicitors, or the EA, you probably wouldn’t have heard for another day... which could have meant more problems for you.

I understood the issue was with leasehold houses rather than freehold? All new houses, in the past few years, on unadopted rds have management companies it is not necessarily a negative thing.

Sorry @Stillnotslept just want to wish you all the luck.