AIBU to tell our buyer to fuck off?

[AppleWin]

We put our house on the market in March. On the first day of viewings we had multiple offers. We went with a particular couple (even though their offer wasn’t the highest) because the agent stressed that they were very proceedable and had a high deposit so wouldn’t have any hiccoughs with their mortgage - and also because they weren’t a landlord.

In July, they still hadn’t booked their survey or had their mortgage approved. It’s a character property and you’d be bloody stupid not to have a survey (even though we know the property is fine). This was very concerning because, when we had the survey on the house we’re buying, there was a six week lead time. After a few weeks of the agent chasing them and them dicking about, they said that they didn’t want a survey and their mortgage was approved. We thought they were stupid as hell not to have a survey but it’s their choice.

They’ve been pushing for a very quick move and this has mostly been held up by searches and the solicitors. We were due to exchange tomorrow and complete on Friday. As such, we spent the bank holiday moving all our possessions into a storage unit (we have a toddler and a newborn and are now living off a few items we can fit into just our car). We’ve got DS booked into a new nursery from Monday and DH has a new job near the new house (this is two hours from our current house). Obviously our risk but it’s not physically possible for us to have moved out on time with a short turnaround between exchange and completion - especially with DH and I both working full time.

Our agent phoned this morning to say that they’ve changed their mind and want a survey. We’ve told the agent that they had their chance and there’s no way. Even if it’s quicker to let them have their survey than find a new buyer, I no longer trust them not to fuck us around at every stage. We’re not reducing the price so the survey won’t help them anyway.

AIBU to say no to the survey (and curse them to hell for good measure)?

Bare in mind that mortgage rates have rocketed since March so people who could afford your home back then, may not be able to now (plus cost of living etc etc). There’s signs that the market is slowing or evening dropping in some areas.

There are 3 types of ‘survey’

Valuation. Sometimes called a survey, but not really. Always done by banks when lending. Instructed by bank as they’re purpose is to ensure the banks investment is sound. Often done from a desk or kerbside visit without a visit inside the house being required, so sellers don’t know they’re done.

Homebuyers. Basic surveyor report. Instructed by buyer. Nothing to do with lending/bank Necessitates home visit. More common for relatively new houses.

Structural. In depth survey. Instructed by buyer. Nothing to do with lending/bank. More common for older houses/where there’s a potential issue. .

The OPs bank will have done the first when issuing the mortgage offer. The buyers opted out of a homebuyers or structural until the day before exchange, then decided they wanted one.

their purpose
bank’s investment

@AppleWin
Glad you have made the decision to re list.
We are further south so out of our area.
Up thread someone mentioned rising mortgage rates, tis true.
We have a new offer at 3.8% and it was 2.2 % in March. Still low in the scheme of things but not great if people are stretching themselves.
We agreed a sale two weeks ago. Seller asked for £50k more this week as they changed their mind on the agreed price (bereavement sale, two squabbling heirs). I am probably going to pay it because the house suits my ongoing disability but after that they can f*ck off gready gits. I don't want to play 'more tea vicar'. We are the only offer. Property in this location is like hen's teeth. Hopefully I won't move for twenty years.
Good luck op.

Why do you think paying £50K over the agreed price with no other offers on the table makes sense? Was it undervalued that much? I don’t think I’d be willing to give the entire amount even if it was undervalued.

@Charlieiscool
I don't want to pay the extra £50k but there is nothing else suitable as I need potential wheelchair access. I hate bungalows. This house is period with a downstairs annex. The agent sold us a very expensive house many years ago and believes we keep the cash under the bed! Sav and family are able to pay it blah blah.
The house needs extensive works but is in a location where 72% of buyers are from London. If we don't buy this we may wait another 18 months for something to come up.

That’s a tricky dilemma but it would hurt me to part with that £50K

After the experience i had with selling my house i would always put the property back on the market if the buyers appear to be slow getting all paperwork etc done. Our buyer fucked us around for about 7 months. We were completely ready to move into our new house. Everything was packed ready to go we were just waiting for our buyers to send over some paperwork so we could do exchanges. We gave the go ahead for exchange on our new property and then our buyers pulled out and said they couldn't get a mortgage? When our EA assured us they had a mortgage etc ready. I genuinely don't think they had any intentions on actually buying the property. The estate agent was a useless twat and strung us along the whole time because he told us to go with them buyers (we'd had loads of offers) we put it straight back on the market and sold it to a couple who were very quick getting all paperwork back!
Your buyers sound like time wasters i would just re market the property, if they were serious they would have had everything back as quickly as they could. Not deciding later on to get a survey.

You're the only offer? I'd say you hold the cards.

You're mad to give them more money. They have no other offers, it needs extensive works, does it even fully suit your needs right now? You might need that 50k for renovations to help you move around.

At least try and negotiate.
Say to the estate agent how am I supposed to find an extra 50 grand ? Use those exact words, push it back on them.
Then wait for a response.
honestly even if you save one grand in the process it’s worth it.

Eh - no you don't - if you end up with 2 houses then the solicitors will deduct stamp duty at the higher rate from the purchase price (from completion funds). You then claim back once you've gone back down to 1 house.

You do to a certain extent
Stamp Duty has to be paid within 30 days of completion, not on the actual day.

This is just awful. Made worse by the fact that there are sellers out there struggling to find buyers like you, who will follow through without playing games.

I get that you love the house but have to go with the majority on here and wish you had another option of a house. Just seems like rewarding their greed!!

I'm sure if you say no they will still proceed they would be crazy not to as they would have had to pay for searches ect. Completely unreasonable to ask at this stage

Unfortunately, some people can afford to lose the money in paid searches, solicitors, etc. they don’t really care that the other side is incurring costs as well, that they can not afford.

@AppleWin
Is there an update?

Any news OP?

I would ask your agent how on earth he/ she allowed this to happen on the wire? it is outrageous behaviour and the agents should let the would be buyers know they will be last to hear of any properties which might be suitable if they dont now do the right thing and proceed.

Ditch them. Less heartache in the long run because there’s clearly something wrong with them as buyers.

I clicked unreasonable by accident! I wish it let you change your fat fingered responses 🙈

It does 🤣

They can’t have a mortgage without a survey?? They’ve been lying from the get go
Cut your losses and don’t let them waste any more of your time.
Talk to your vendors and relist tomorrow
they sound awful.
This happened to us with seller went awol of day of exchange and when eventually tracked down turns out they decided not to sell, just hadn’t told us. I could have killed them. Was heavily pregnant at the time with my 3rd too. People are so selfish and they def need to change the stupid system in England. It’s ludicrous

Where are you based OP? We had something very similar. And it turns out they had done it to at least one other property before trying to buy ours, then immediately tried to do it again to another family in our village. Luckily I knew them and they were able to secure another buyer but it meant our ideal house fell through. I hope you're ok, it's a shitty situation