We've exchanged and complete in 2 weeks - buyers want YET ANOTHER viewing

[MoominFeatures]

We've exchanged contracts on the sale of our house - completion is in two weeks (we're in England).

Pre-exchange we accommodated multiple viewings - of course. We felt it was just part of the process and seemed fair enough.

We exchanged at the end of July. Since then, the buy has asked for (and we've accommodated) two more viewings, one really last minute while they knew we were on holiday and away (but we figured it out so they could come) and the second time one afternoon on a day they knew was a working day for us but was the only day/time that worked for them. We accommodated. They were here for four hours (the house is a pretty regular 4-bed detached house in a village - not some pile somewhere with a million rooms and corridors).

They're coming again today - for the third time. They've even asked me to push out a work call I have in case they need longer than 90 minutes here (I told them about that to try to get a sense of how long they'll be here for).

AIBU for feeling really quite put out??! The house is utter chaos - boxes everywhere, dust all over because we're actively packing. It doesn't look good at all and it's really stressing me out. I have been up until god knows what our the past two nights and up with the sparrows the following mornings trying to make things look a bit neater (not sure it's made a difference) but the more i do the angrier I get about it all. To top it off, the buyer sent us an email last night essentially saying "see you tomorrow" but jibed that "I guess you're more relaxed than we are". Well that's set me right off. I'm absolutely raging - they have no idea of all the shit going on in our lives at the moment (the house move is only one element and probably the least stressful one).

Please someone tell me I'm not being over-sensitive and they're truly CFs. Being tired and cranky isn't helping me no doubt, but we wouldn't dream of heading to our sellers' house now, when we'd been twice post-exchange already and when completion is in two weeks, so this is really pissing me off. I really need to not lose my shit at them when they rock up later this morning. Eeeeek.

Tell them you/member of family has caught covid/dreaded lurgy or something else contagious?

Sorry haven't read everything so apologies if you've answered this. Honestly I wouldn't be bothered by them wanting to come and measure, but I can't understand why your estate agent isn't doing the viewings?
I was very irritated when our seller wouldn't let me measure up, I'd only seen the house twice before exchange.

Quite a few threads on MN lately where exactly the same thing is happening. Price agreed, contracts exchanged then buyer comes back with a reason to drop the price. They wait until close to completion so that the seller panics at the possibility of losing the sale so late in the transaction, and agrees. It’s getting more and more common.

Once contracts are exchanged it’s pointless unless the buyer genuinely isn’t bothered about losing 10% of the price of the house. The practice of doing it just before exchange does seem to be having a revival though.

I’m just here because I’m fascinated by the process!! The “exchange” and “completion”! I’ve often wondered how people do home sales in other countries.

you we’re kind to allow so many visits. I’ve sold a home once and after the contract was signed there were no more viewing visits. However in the US, everyone has a home inspection after the offer has been accepted. This is your chance to negotiate reductions or back out if you don’t like something. Then on the day before (or morning of) final sale, you inspect the property one last time to make sure there has been no damage or removal of stuff that were in the contract, and the house has to be “broom” clean and empty.

70 minutes? Wow OP you sure are a pushover huh , very sad

@Lizzieregina I like the idea of a check in the morning on moving day plus that it must be clean.

There was once a poster on here who found the bathroom had been removed. Sadly we never got to hear the outcome.

Send a polite text now just saying you hope they’re all set to move in 10 days and that unfortunately you can’t accommodate any further visits prior to moving day as you are now packed and trying to juggle the last minute stresses of moving, work and general life… wish them all the best with their move, hope they’re as happy in your house as you’ve been and that’s that. Any future responses keep short and sweet. If the request to come again and say we’ll be quick.. just simply say.. sorry no, we are incredibly busy and work simply won’t let me move anything else about other than moving day!

If you have exchanged contracts, cancel. They are being unreasonable.

That has to be the worst bit of advice I have read on here 🤣

Says nobody who’s ever bought a house! 😂

Do you mean cancel the viewing or the sale ? Because if it’s the latter, in so doing, the OP would then be liable for the buyers costs and would leave herself open to being sued by them for breach of contract. Not to mention racking up her own solicitors fees for the failed sale, as well as the ripple effect up and down whatever chain she is in, because by that time they will all have exchanged as well

Pfft no chance! 4 hours in a house they haven't bought yet?! And then asking to come again?! No. Our buyer for our last house asked before missives were signed (Scotland) and we just said unless it was something really important it was totally inconvenient for us as we had started packing. They said that's no bother and didn't ask again. Your buyers are being extremely unreasonable.

Agreed! It went weird! Good luck with the house move! oh and maybe change your phone number as I get the feeling they will be harassing you after completion with every little query!! 🙈

Thank you so much @Billybea ! Fingers crossed 😎

And to everyone who reported the oddly aggressive poster (and this also goes to MN for intervening), it's appreciated! 💐 Not sure what I did to them to make them quite so angry (if indeed I did - it did cross my mind that we might have a troll among us, which is why I disengaged...)! 🧌

Hope you all enjoy your Monday! 😃

But why are they caving in? Both their lawyers and the estate agents should be telling them the buyers are being CFs and tell them to bog off.

The only time this may actually happen is if you have simultaneous exchange and completion. But otherwise, tough. You've signed a contract to buy the house at a certain price. Done and dusted. People need to stop panicking and just say "if you don't want the house anymore we'll keep your deposit and put the house back on the market". It's that straightforward.

As I said above, the only exception might be if someone dies or loses their job post exchange, at which point they/their executors may decide that losing the deposit is the best of bad outcomes.

But why? Why do you need to measure up before you've moved in? It would never occur to me to ask unless I had a specific piece of furniture that I wasn't sure would fit (and as I said above, you could ask the seller to do that for you).

I needed to pick up a couple of cheap roller blinds or curtains for the bedrooms as they were taking all their curtains and blinds. Not unreasonable.

I wouldn't want to ask them to measure for me.
I was willing to go at any time to suit her and was travelling a long distance, not something I would do on a whim.

I've always been happy to let buyers in to measure after completion, often my estate agent was free to take them in if necessary.
People have written about buyers possibly planning to pull out after exchange? Sounds unlikely if they lose their deposit - possible liability for costs too. I suppose it depends on the size of their deposit though.