To forcibly ask why you pulled out?

[MyPeachLion]

I am (was!) a cash buyer of a 900k property. We were due to exchange next week. And complete after 2 weeks. We went 30k above asking and 20k above another bidder. No other bidder was a cash buyer. We are about 10 weeks into the sale.

My solicitor informs me this afternoon that the seller pulled out with NO reason given.

Can I turn up to the seller's house and ask the seller face to face why they pulled out? AIBU?

The estage agent did not even bother to inform me, despite the seller telling them last weekend that he was cancelling.

No chain on the seller's end - they have a new build they have already moved into! Seller moved out of their property early last week. We know because we visited the house for kitchen measurements last week!

I rang the EA this morning to get dates so I can get carpet quotes for next week and the EA was on board! Not once did he mention that the seller pulled out.

I am pissed off for not knowing why he pulled out, and for the EA to not inform me of it, and then proceed to play me like a fool by humouring my requests for carpet tradesmen to enter next week.
Were they meant to enter through the cat flap?

Again, is it unreasonable to just face this time-wasting seller and ask them why?

you gonna stomp your widdle foot too?

You can definitely sue them for legal costs. But I’d just leave it at that

You going to use your widdle eyes to read the OP's posts?

No, OP can't. They hadn't exchanged contracts.

You don’t know what has happened behind closed doors. People don’t usually pull out for no reason so last minute, they could be dealing with a number of stressful things and you think it’s ok to turn up at their door asking for an explanation?! This is part of the risk you take buying a house so just swallow it and move on.

forcibly 🙄

If you want to look batshit cray cray then yeah turn up.

Maybe they've had a traumatic life event? How silly would you look then?

I'd get back on to the Estate Agent, they want cash buyers to lure in genuine sellers. If they've pulled out it could be they had multiple agents OR they've taken it off the market. Worth someone digging. But why do that yourself.

You should do this OP😂

Sadly, the seller doesn’t owe you an explanation as frustrating as this may be for you. However, I think turning up on their doorstep and demanding one may be considered harrassment.

Don't be so bitter

Ouch. That is so odd, considering they have already moved. I hope they are on here and see this and can let us know the goss. Why did they do it?????

Although, I would recommend next time holding off the kitchen and carpet measuring. It's really useful to live in a house for a bit before you make any big decisions about decor and moving stuff around. You need to see how you use the rooms, where the light is, etc.

I think the EA has received a generous tip from someone to secure the sale. EAs are only concerned about money they don’t even have the decency to let you know anything in my experience.

Unique and really badly put together and open to abuse. Worst system ever.

YANU to be upset. But I'd be more upset at the EA stringing you along when they knew the sellers had dropped out.

When I bought my house last year my conveyancing solicitor ( who was amazing) said that the English system was not fit for purpose.
When I moved in, the house was dirty, there was dog shit left in the garden, the carpets so badly pissed on by the dogs that I had to pull them all up( the small had been disguised on viewing) and the vendor had removed things- like curtain poles that she said she would leave in the fixtures and fitting contract.

When i asked my solicitor what I could do she said basically nothing unless I wished to pay a different solicitor to take the vendor to court- which would cost me alot more than cleaning up and replacing the things taken.
I asked her what on earth the point of the contract was and the said it was mainly to do big structural issues like a hole being made in a wall etc. She agreed that the contract was a joke. She said she had similar issues when she last moved house.
Other countries , I believe, hold the vendor responsible for the state of the house that they sell if it is different to expected.

They are supposed to, but don’t necessarily. Know this from experience, they CAN & DO all kinds of stuff they aren’t supposed to.

We put in a bid on a flat (needed work) and we’re told buyer didn’t accept & won’t negotiate. We were told Seller lived in Hong Kong. We knew his name from pile of post in flat that we picked up off of the floor at viewing because it was getting stuck under the door. We googled him, sent an email. He told us he hadn’t been told of our offer - said there hadn’t been ANY interest in his flat (odd). We agreed price w him & then he contacted the agent who was pretty shitty w us after.
We wondered if EA was going to do some dirty low deal w someone else.

I'd be furious at the estate agent.

I nearly withdrew from a sale once when my solicitor (who was a colleague - I didn't do conveyancing) reported that the buyer's solicitor had asked for the fourth time to see the planning permission "for the conversion". He had been told, in writing, the previous three times that no such document existed, as it was a purpose-built maisonette. Everything else was ready to go!

I composed the reply, copied to the estate agent, enclosing copies of the three previous letters (highlighted in yellow) and saying that "my client" had said that unless contracts were exchanged by the end of the week, I would be withdrawing from the sale. And lo, as if by magic ...

Mind you, with hindsight I wish I'd kept it!

With £900k cash I'd be asking my solicitor not mumsnet. Just saying.

I know it’s disappointing, but you really have no right to go there and question them.

Things like this have a funny way of working out for the best in the end.

This time last year we had to pull out of a sale and purchase. Our estate agent sat on it for a few days just incase anything changed and he could salvage it. The buyers were devastated and kept asking our agent for a better explanation.

I've been in a similar situation twice. There is simply no point in you getting angry at them, you can't change things and you will just hurt yourself. Take a bit of time, lick your wounds and get going with a new purchase. The situation is shit, and conveyancing laws are rubbish, you are suffering because of it. The best you can do is move on.

I would ask. You have nothing to loose. Many years ago my estate agent stopped communicating after my offer was accepted. I went to the house, rang the doorbell and asked if they changed their mind selling. The lady seemed surprised and said: no we accepted another offer as I was told you are in no position to move quickly! Turned out 2 agents in the same agency were competing with each other and my agent was junior so was told to back off I think. I got invited in for a coffee, the owner listened to me and was horrified that we already spend money on solicitors and thank god she told the agent to proceed with me. I wasn’t in a chain and they were keen to go as quick as possible

It's absolutely none of your business why the buyer pulled out.

For legal transactions just stick to solicitors to do the communications.