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?

Have you passed your money laundering checks?

No seriously it is the frustrating manner of the conveyancing process in England that until exchange nothing is binding and no explanation needs to be given.

Potentially their child or another relative has said they may want to buy it. Potentially they have decided to keep it and rent it out to supplement their income/pension with a view to selling later to realise capital. We don't know and they don't have to tell you as frustrating as it must be.

You have a good budget and hopefully will find another suitable property soon.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

(me too)

Is it just me or did anyone else’s mind go in the gutter when reading this title.

We were 3 months and a lot of money into buying a house.
Surveys cost money, Mortgage application was £999. We were at the point where we were waiting on a date to exchange and the seller pulled out.

We passed that house at least twice per week for the next 30 years as it fell into more and more disrepair

It only got sold after the owner died.

There are some strange buyers but equally there are some even stranger sellers when it comes to property sales and purchasing

Frankly, I think that conveyancing is mad in England! You can make someone incur a lot of expenses and then change your mind at your pleasure without even contributing! Unreasonable, costly, opaque and stupid.

Gazumping it used to be called. I bet that's what has happened here.

So sorry this happened to you, how horrid! Whilst it'd be nice to have an explanation, ultimately when it comes to house moves it's every man for himself, the decision is theirs to make and they've made it and confronting them will just make you look a bit mad/stalkerish. Im not sure knowing the reason will make any difference to you anyway, it won't change anything. Also take into account it could be something horribly personal they don't want to tell their local estate agent (losing all their money, redundancy, bereavement, life changing diagnosis)

Take a deep breath and begin looking again....

Well most people don't have that much cash around.
Also, when you buy and sell a house your contract needs to have anti-money laundering clause. Any sellers solicitor would question 900k cash. Maybe her source was not credible enough so they pulled off.

OP, if there is a local pub - I would be tempted to sit in there and overhear news or gossip from the locals - it might give you some answers (i.e. if there’s word of something underhand, a higher cash offer etc).

It won’t change the outcome but….

In normal sellings you get deposit that covers expenses in case someone fucks it.
And if seller pulls of they need to return double the price of deposit you put with solicitors.
That is how I was always buying in England.

I think when the government said that sellers had to have a sellers pack they missed a trick to make the process so much easier

All it would have taken is a form at the ready to sign to say both parties agree to sell and buy at the agreed price unless there was found to be a fundamental problem with the survey.

Problem was the legislation added to the time line to sell /buy a place and didn’t do anything to reduce the time.

We have now mortgage companies/banks adding time to the process with their ridiculously long winded systems

My first property with a mortgage took 2 months from 1st viewing to completion.

The last place I sold, took the best part of 8 months

The whole thing has got out of control.

Never heard of this way and have bought and sold many times.

Where is this deposit you talk about.

There is a deposit given when you have got to exchange of contracts but that is many months after someone would have incurred mortgage application fees, surveys, solicitors expenses. Up to exchange both orators are free to walk away despite the other party having spent money on the purchase

All you have to show us where the money came from. I am presuming a previous house sale or inheritance or a bit of both.

It wouldn’t be a reason for the sellers to pull out. That would be dealt with by the solicitors

Why the need for this response?

Sadly there’s a hell of a lot that goes on like this
I feel for you .. please try and see that this house was not meant to be as I told my son and daughter and they now realise this
it’s stressful though
let it go … some people just have their own reasons … there are a lot of messers out their who put their homes on sale sadly and it caused so much upset

Probably got a better offer

It’s quite common to measure up before you own the house so you can start getting everything ready

Meaning that it's completely normal to be upset when a house sale falls through, so you can stop the self-aggrandising Poundshop platitudes. And right now you're losing your mind and getting abusive and crass because someone pulled you up on the Internet, so you're in no position to lecture people for getting upset about Things That Don't Matter.

If you are sensible you take out an insurance with the solicitor, when our seller pulled out at the 11th hour it just cost us the £70 (at the time) premium, that was that, all fees covered.

@LondonFox the rate house prices have gone up over the last 20 years its very likely that selling your current property maybe bought 10 years ago with a small mortgage that you can easily pay off (especially 2 professionals) then 900k is not a huge amount.
It's only now that young people struggle to get onto the housing ladder.

Excuse me? So real life experience is a 'Poundshop Platitude'? You are very rude. Ykw I really can't be bothered with this childish behaviour. Suggest the naughty step for you. Bye bye

I'd be majorly pissed off too. It's hard to find a decent property and then you plan everything for it all to fall through is shit. When you pay cash you expect it to sail through.

I think you are talking about the exchange of contracts when the deposit is paid. The OP did not get to that stage.

You could have shot yourself in the foot getting various trades etc in to the property to measure etc. this can have the effect of giving the owners ideas of "well we could do it up" then they decide to stay put.

I've been buying, doing up, and flipping homes for 15 years, I only ever view a property once or twice, never measure and never give away my ideas.

Yep, but you can insure against the other legal costs ahead of exchange, when you engage the solicitor.