To confront sellers who pulled out last minute

[Lemonyslice]

We were meant to exchange tomorrow, completing next Friday 6th, but the sellers pulled out last minute. "Changed their minds" apparently. The full story of this purchase is long and pretty wild, the sellers have been chaos from the day we put in our offer.

We need to leave our rented flat at the end of December as our tenancy is ending and our landlord wants to sell in the New Year. So we now have nowhere to live, and have wasted a ton of money on surveys and a solicitor.

Can I go round to theirs and ask for some contribution towards the costs of their "changed minds?"

Did you buy insurance? If not, I'm afraid you have no recourse. I sympathise, fucking awful behaviour on their part.

Legally, they’ve done nothing wrong so best to just try to put it behind you and move on. I understand how devastating and infuriating it is though.

Sadly not. You have no contract with them until you exchange.

Of course you can’t and you risk an accusation of harassment if you go near them. The English system of buying and selling houses is truly shit and you have my utmost sympathy but please don’t do it.

That's really shit but no I really wouldn't do that, much as you'd like to. Sadly you have no legal rights in this situation AFAIK and it will likely just end up in a door in your face or a row.

You have my sympathies.

Tempting as it is, the answer is "no". And it may get very nasty if you try to turn up on their doorstep. I mean realistically, what do you think they would say if you asked them for a contribution?

You would be crazy! What do you think that would achieve?

As you know there’s no comeback, and there could be 100 valid/genuine reasons why they’ve had to pull out. Likelyhood is they are feeling as bad as you for various reasons. Hope the next deal works out for you x

No. We were chosen as buyers from a number of offers on the basis that we were able and willing to progress quickly, they were actually aggressive about this and said they were DESPERATE to move. Their solicitor was emailing our solicitor for practically daily updates from day 1. Constant pressure. We were ready to exchange in 8 weeks. And now this. It's blown my mind.

They don't feel bad - one of the sellers posted a joke on the local Facebook page this evening, just after we got the news. Which is really the icing on the cake!

Dust yourself off and Chalk this down to experience. Next time buy home buying insurance. Hoping you find a new buyer soon.

In which case they’re pricks, still, better luck next time and I know how disappointing/pita this is.

I'd want to put them through a meat grinder! Bastards.

However, I don't understand what you're saying in this post. Why did it prevent you from taking out insurance??

Definitely don't go around you could get yourself hurt or in a lot of trouble.

i don't know if you'd get anywhere going through solicitors to claim some compensation for surveys etc, but I doubt it, as with our stupid buying/selling system here it's not against the law to just change your mind??

I wonder why as they were desperate to sell?

maybe they've lost a job or gained an inheritance, or something like that & now need to completely rethink their finances. Lots going on in everyone's lives.

im sorry for the position it has put you in though. Im sure you'll work it all out, & maybe even find a house you love more. Maybe you can find an Air B&B for Jan/Feb etc as it'll be low demand and maybe you do a deal for a couple of months?!

Of course you can't confront them. The whole process of buying a house is shit, but it is what it is.

What are you wanting or expecting them to do when you confront them?

English/Welsh (Scotland has a different system) property buying laws are completely bonkers.

In France, to make an offer you put down a 10% deposit (often in the form of a cheque that is not immediately cashed, but the money is still at risk). If you pull out, you lose that 10%. The only legitimate reason to pull out is if you can't get finance, but if you try that, the seller is entitled to call their own bank and say "Will you lend Mr and Mrs X €250,000", and if the bank says yes, you have to take that loan.

There's no shenanigans with gazumping or gazundering either, as the seller is also on the hook for 10% of the agreed price.

No you can’t go round to theirs and ask for money to contribute to the expense.
The system is terrible. Either side can pull out last minute after months.
We really need a system where both sides are legally bound to buy once the offer is accepted, like in an auction.

You certainly shouldn’t confront them.

Possibly, you could (preferably in writing) ask why they’ve done such a huge 180, explain the very difficult/worrying situation it’s left you in and ask whether they might be able to cover at least some of your costs as a gesture of goodwill, given they were pushing so hard for your goodwill in helping them secure a quick sale.

There can be all sorts of tragic and unforeseen reasons people have to pull out of a sale (bereavement, serious illness, relationship breakdown etc). Perhaps if they were willing to explain, it might soften the blow. And if they know your situation, they may be prepared to offer something.

It is a ridiculous system for people to not have to pay a deposit (on both sides) at the point an offer’s accepted. Buyers can pull out too. Sometimes it results in hugely complex chains collapsing and a lot of stress and cost for everyone involved.

No go!

Many countries have similar. England is terrible. But no one changes it.

Your landlord might be willing to extend your tenancy if you facilitate viewings, so they don't lose income. This could give you a few months to find somewhere else.

Could you reach out to them (via Facebook if the only means) and ask them why? Tell them it is causing you enormous stress and financial hardship? Maybe they’ll change their minds, maybe an explanation, maybe they’ll even offer compensation, but you do need to prepare yourselves that they won’t give a damn. Some people are just self absorbed monsters.

This is why I always use a conveyancing solicitor that has a no move, no fee policy. That way, you're losing the cost of the surveys and searches only, which is still crappy, but it limits the losses.

I would not confront them, but you could ask the estate agent to ask them why, as a previous commentator worded well above.

What's the house you're renting like? Is it something you'd want to buy? If so, you could buy privately straight from your LL so they would save estate agency fees, so you could get it a little cheaper. Then no hassle of moving either.

We once had this situation happen to us the week before exchanging /completing and we did write a polite letter to try and understand the situation when there had been no apparent issues , we'd even moved our DC's school and to be fair to them the seller did then cover our survey costs.
I agree it's a ridiculous system

And some peole's circumstances can change overnight- a new job, an inheritance, a reconciliation etc. Not monsters.

They are just adhering to the system in England and Wales.