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?"

@Bellyblueboy @Meadowfinch
I guess that’s my point really. If I ever had to pull out of a sale last minute the least I would do would be to apologise and maybe offer an explanation if not too personal, or compensation if possible. Contact could be done via estate agent or solicitors if needs be. I would feel terrible about it, knowing the work and stress involved in preparing to move. I certainly wouldn’t be posting a joke on Facebook.

My DH’s company renovates old properties to sell and he does a great job at it. He now requires a 10% deposit before he will sell, particularly if the buyer wants an input on fixtures and fittings. We need an escrow system to protect both vendors and buyers.

Isn't this what they called gazumping in old money? I thought laws had been brought out to protect people from this?

This isn't gazumping.

Obviously very poor behaviour but no, you absolutely can’t go round. Have you given notice yet, presumably? If so, I’d speak to the landlord, he hasn’t yet marketed the flat? I understand your frustration, we had a wild ride with our buyer recently, unreasonable demands/endless repetitive questions (literally asking the same thing via solicitors 3 times). The whole process in England is shit.

Sorry OP. Hope you can negotiate with your landlord. And can everyone who wants a law change please email their MP to ask for it. Law won’t change otherwise.

No, gazumping is the seller either increasing the price just before exchange or accepting another higher offer ditto and expecting the first buyer to go with it. Gazundering is the buyer reducing what they are offering just before exchange.

Before exchange you have absolutely no comeback, even though you are out of pocket.

Wait till they relist it and then post a RM link to the local FB page warning people off it ( be v factual-ie seller pulled out week before exchange with no reason given). Only do this if you’ve already moved though in case the EA blacklists you.

It’s really shitty of them. The English system is stupid for allowing this kind of behaviour, though. I prefer the Scottish and US systems (well, California, anyway).

I would fantasise about all kinds of petty retributions like slashed tires and a turd on their doorstep but then move on.

Absolutely do not approach them. They have acted entirely legally (although also shittily). You can't reasonably approach people for acting within the law.

For the love of God, don't go round there. You have my sympathies, it's such a shit situation, but you'll make things worse by marching there for an explanation. I'd be on to my solicitor first thing this morning to see if they can tactically ask about the circumstances about this "change of mind". There might be a legitimate reason. Probably not as they sound prickish, but you never know. You can also ask about the wasted surveyor costs etc and see if they're willing to pay anything as a goodwill gesture, but expect that to be a fat no.
Don't post about your experience on the local Facebook page by a means of revenge. You'll only paint yourself in a bad light and, you never know, your future potential seller might see it and put them off dealing with you.

OP that's shit. I've actually had similar happen to me 3 times. People talk about nightmare buyers but SELLERS have decided not to sell their house at the last minute to me 3 times in the last 15 years. It is absolutely shit behaviour and very unfair. 1 time actually left me homeless as well so ended up staying with family for 5 months.
What I would do is speak to your solicitor. Even at the point of exchange (which we were) we were given a 25% discount off the fees which saved us about £700 I think and the surveyor. He VERY kindly agreed to do our next survey for free if it was within the next 3 months.
So even though you've lost the property hopefully you won't lose quite as much money as you think.

I agree with @SugarIsHardtoAvoid this is the best option moving forward. If you’re willing to have your home photographed and viewed in good order for your landlord’s sale, it’s unlikely to complete for a few months. As you know, 8 weeks is fast to exchange, the completion can take a few weeks more.

Your landlord may still want to serve you notice, so they can proceed to court if it looks like you won’t budge. But you can keep negotiating with them on your actual move out date, which can be after the notice has expired.

No you can’t do that, it actually sounds quite threatening.

Going forward be very wary of anyone who gives red flags and causes problems early in the process.

No, you can’t, that would be an insane thing to do.

Curse them as the absolute arseholes they are, and send a daily wish into the universe that every day of their lives they tread in water while wearing socks and open the bread packet to find only the heels left. May their toilet seats always be up or down, depending on what is more inconvenient, and may they only realise there is no toilet roll when they’ve just finished their business. May they always be slightly too hot or too cold, and never able to get a seat on the train. May every apple they bite be mushy and flavourless.

I hope your next selling experience is better ♥️

Love the sentiment, but don't be bonkers - the heels are the best part. 👀

This is not exactly true but sort of. You can pull out if you can’t get finance- that’s a legitimate reason to pull out and is accepted as so. We’ve never paid 10% upfront though. When we were cash buyers we had to show proof of funds to the EA on the day of the visit! I think most people see a mortgage broker or their bank beforehand so they know whether they will or won’t be able to get a mortgage on the whole. It does seem less risky here and I really don’t understand in the UK why buyers have the right to pull out at the end stages?? What’s the point or advantage of it really. Sorry op x

This happened to us twice, on the days we were supposed to exchange. It's beyond horrible. Unfortunately you have no recourse, the best thing you can do is walk away with head held high and put it down to experience. We did eventually move to a much better new home, and have since moved again without major problems. I'm so sorry for what you're going through. Perhaps your current landlord can renew your tenancy on a month by month basis until he sells?

Sounds like you might have dodged a bullet. If they are as bad as they seem they cover ups in the house might have been awful and cost you alot of money. Convince yourself they have a burst pipe they have hidden under a floor board etc.

Not being legally bound by an offer is not terrible concept as it encourages competition, which is necessary thing in a healthy economy. It just doesn’t work well for buying/selling houses.

(a) legally they’ve done nothing wrong- surely you were warned that this is (rightly or wrongly) how the system works in England and Wales- nothing is binding until exchange on either side;
(b) there could be thousands of reasons behind the scenes which you don’t know about and which they are not obliged to tell you, like illness, job loss, family problems. Putting one joke on Facebook means nothing.

Obviously it’s frustrating and disappointing but you’d be much better off focussing on your own situation. If the landlord hasn’t sold yet, would they let you stay there on a rolling contract? Can you get something better on a short term let? It’s a buyers market at the moment so I’d throw myself into finding another house- probably more will come into the market in Jan. Leave karma to deal with your sellers.

Not a good idea. They've done nothing legally. It's a risk you take when buying.

Ah, this happened to me, lost money on the solicitor and surveys etc, couple who had separated, got to about a week before we were due to complete and then he decided to buy her out. Nothing you can do i'm afraid but I feel your pain, I was gutted and this was 20 years ago - I still think about that house - it was perfect

You can’t confront but sympathise. We had similar but with a rental when we were between houses. Sold ours removal van booked moving cities pregnant with a toddler. Landlord rings on the Friday before we moved in on the Tuesday to say he decided not to let it after all. Fun times.

Actually we did get revenge as we were moving near my parents who know “everyone” and made sure “everyone” knew about the landlords shit behaviour. The landlord even hid when he saw my dad a few months later !

I’ve been there, it’s horrendous, it’s heartbreaking, and there’s absolutely bugger all you can do about it.
They are legally, well within their rights unfortunately.
Best thing you can do for yourselves is to move on. Don’t confront them, absolutely no good will come of it, they could even report you for harassment

And if you make an offer and then a survey or area searches find something offputting that means the property isn't suitable?
Or if you accept an offer and then get outbid on the property you were intending to buy and there's nothing else suitable for sale?

Life happens and sometimes plans don't work out. I would thoroughly support a rule that requires the party who triggers the collapse of a planned sale to contribute to the wasted costs of the other party but I am absolutely opposed to the idea of creating a legal obligation to force the sale to happen.