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 can't do that, as frustrating as it may be that's the pain of buying and selling houses unfortunately. Assuming your in UK not Scotland, unfortunately there is nothing in place to stop anyone pulling out any time before exchange and why is their business and theirs alone, maybe they had a better offer or change in circumstances. But you can't go battering on the door to demand why, if someone done that to me I'd probably look into having them done for harassment to keep them from coming back again.

If they've not given a word of explanation upfront then they're unlikely to offer one if issued with a demand for information. You don't gain people's cooperation by getting their backs up, OP.

You can 'forcibly' ask as much as you wish, but you can't force this vendor to do a thing. It would be a pure waste of negative energy.

Choose your battles.

I think that's a really considered update and whilst I stand by my opinion that you shouldn't be knocking on doors, I have a great deal of sympathy for you as you've been horribly let down and anyone would feel the same. I hope you find a new home soon 🏘💐

Wow, this is nuts. You can’t rock up to their house and demand an explanation! Perhaps someone had passed away or one of them has developed a serious health issue - it’s none of your business. And what do you hope to achieve? You think you can bully them into changing their mind? Only an awful person would behave like this.

If no explanation is given it was probably a personal reason they do not want to share with a stranger. Things change.

WOWEEEE YOU MUST BE REALLY RICH?????

you must be so poor !!!

Op it could be for many reasons maybe they have decided to rent it to a family member.
Maybe they're divorcing ?

I am curious did you meet them last week when you went for get measured up for a kitchen ? did you offend them in any way ?(state of this will be glad to remove, Mention you hate dogs and they know their neighbour has 12 )

is it a name thing ? could it be a race/religion/ethnicity thing ?!?

I think you should speak to the EA but you can't go and ask them harassment.

you are massively unreasonable. Yes I see that it is incredibly frustrating for you. You are assuming that their reason is not good enough. What if they’ve had a sudden bereavement, what if they hate the new house they have and want to keep the house they still own, what if they have recently found out they have a significant illness. Things happen, circumstances change. Going and ‘facing them’ isn’t going to change things. Accept it and move on.

They have changed their minds. There's the explanation you need. No need to ask more.

I feel for you…. We are in a middle of buoying a house and hoping it goes through. To whomever told you to wait and not go and measure up - WRONG! we had our buyers come in to measure and we went to measure too. It is super common and not the reason your seller pulled out. I hope you find a better one!

Is your proposed purchase a houseboat, Justanothermum? ;-(

The sellers pulling out is a bit rubbish, whatever the reason but they are entitled to do so. I’d be annoyed but ultimately it’s their choice.

The EA not telling you when you’d contacted them to ask something and they acted like it was all going forward etc is infuriating.

I mean your estate agent should’ve told you immediately! You should be livid with them! That’s where a confrontation should be.

We’re probably in different countries, so I don’t understand why cash makes any significant difference. The seller gets all the funds from the bank regardless, just one less thing to go wrong on the buyer end?

As others have said, and you now accept, it would be crazy to confront the sellers.

Your beef is with the E.A. they should have told you immediately they were informed, with whatever reason they were given. It is most likely an improved offer.
Don't forget agent is paid by the seller not buyer. When it comes down to it they'd rather lose a buyer than seller.

You could have reminded E.A. that you are cash buyer, able to proceed rapidly.
Quite conceivably, new mortgage buyer might at last minute drop their price to, or lower than yours. That's the risk seller faces.
So if you still want the house, best not annoy seller and E.A. if theres any chance they could come back to your offer 'on the table'.

Being a cash buyer means they aren’t dependent on a house sale which may fall through, or at risk of the mortgage company down-valuing the house and refusing to lend the full amount.

The amount of value a seller puts on this will obviously vary - if the seller has changed their mind about selling, obviously they don’t care if OP is a cash buyer or not as they don’t want to proceed either way.

If it is purely about asking price, it can be a false economy to go for a higher offer which is part of a long chain over a lower chain-free offer, as the sale may collapse. Obviously depends on how much lower - couple of percentage points fine, 5-10% difference and it may be worth taking the higher but riskier offer.

Or sold their house already. Definitely one of the two.

Genuinely thought this was a thread about a couple trying to conceive 🤣🤣🤣

Well of course YABU. The fact you are a cash buyer with a large budget doesn’t negate the fact they are entitled to pull out, or that they are entitled to their privacy.

You hadn't exchanged, so they can pull out. All if fine and why is NONE of your business.