House sold months ago, buyers now want a

[Roseyliv78]

Hi all, wondering if anyone can give me some perspective…

We sold our house a few months ago and the buyers were fine up until last week. Out of the blue, they suddenly asked for £11k off a £300k purchase. They also apparently told our estate agent that, because we’re moving to a much bigger house, we can afford to give them a discount. We have no idea how they even got our new address, the estate agent says they definitely didn’t give it out.

The mortgage valuation guy said there were no down valuations at the end of the visit, and all the surveys came back fine, so nothing has come up to justify this. Our buyers said it was due to local area but the surveyor and bank surveyor both said it’s been extremely strong.

We obviously said no. We also offered to talk to the rest of the chain to see if the £11k could somehow be sorted that way, but they didn’t respond. Then they said they were disappointed we didn’t renegotiate, even though we had already negotiated properly at the time.

Honestly, we’re just a bit confused by the whole thing. Has anyone else had buyers suddenly try this months after the sale?

is this a classic attempt to try and give us a headache?

its strange as know they’ve paid all the legal fees, surveyor fees. Surely very risky as we could tell them to do one, and they could lose all the fees if we didn’t want to sell to them now.

allot younger then us as we both in our early 40s and our buyers early 30s don’t know if it’s a social media trend etc.

If they tried that in the current market it would probably sell for less.

Good update @Roseyliv78
Best of luck!

We had to ask for a price reduction as FTB but only because our mortgage valuation came in under, and even then we only asked for half of the amount. Tbf to the sellers and EA (and rest of chain I assume) it all went ok. It was a surprise to us, but looking back on it we really had no idea about values so not surprised we pad over the odds at the peak of the market! We were in negative equity when we remortgaged.

But as they aren’t in this situation they are just trying it on!

This is totally normal. You see "Sold STC" signs every day. We had one way before we exchanged.

I have no idea why you said you'd talk to the rest of the chain - you seem to think this is a threat but it simply comes across as you suggesting you will try to solve this problem for them one way or another.

My buyers tried something similar and wanted £30k off. I said absolutely not and refused to bring the problem to my vendor as it felt wrong in every way. They said they weren't going to proceed, I relisted the house on the market, they came crawling back. It did help that the wife was 8 months pregnant and I think it was her horrendous husband thinking he was being a master negotiator. Absolute twats the pair of them.

The mutual decision as to a fair price should be the agreed sales price, adjusted as necessary in light of the surveys.

OP’s buyers didn’t even pretend to have an excuse. If they belatedly feel they offered too much, that’s their own fault.

Loads of agents do this. I'm surprised you're surprised.

We have one local agent who uses 'Under Offer' until exchange, but every other agent sticks a 'Sold' on the board. I'm not sure if they also have STC on there. If they do, it's tiny.

Every single agent does that? Interesting.

Yes, but the poster I responded to has decided on what the market price should be and has also decided that they are accounting for any upgrades needed already in their "discount", that isn"t how markets with buyers, sellers and lenders work.

Good point, not sure if it is worth losing a buyer on a 300k house though over 11k, what happens if future offers are even lower?

We had this last October, just prior to exchange of contracts and payment of a 10% deposit. Told the agent to reply exchange within 14 days or we relist. They exchanged and apologised for the delay, cheeky feckers!

This is why ladies and gentleman guzunders exist.

Not 'every single' agent.

Your agents have a very convoluted method, hence it being interesting. I imagine it keeps somebody in a job though! (When is the swap from under offer to SSTC?)

Very cheeky of your buyers.

We are selling my ILS house and buyer has had a very good discount already. All is moving forward and now they want another £30k discount. They've been told to bugger off. If they come back again we will put the house back on the market as we're not in any rush to sell. People are chancers.

100%

Arseholes, frozen prawns under the floorboards on moving out day for me, plus take everything related to the house i.e. instruction manuals for appliances/heating etc. fuck it, take all the lightbulbs too.

Someone tried to get £10k knocked off ours. I told the estate agent to use whichever swear words they thought appropriate to tell them that the sale was off. I wasn’t prepared to deal with them anymore regardless of whether they decided to backtrack - they had no integrity.

We then resold within 2 weeks to a couple offer £10k more than the original offer.
I can’t believe how disgusting people are.

It’s called a ‘reverse gazump’. The commitment occurs when you exchange contracts. Up to then, either side can pull out or attempt to renegotiate price. Maybe it shouldn’t be legal, but it is.

Ultimately, your choice is to suck it up, or walk away. Sorry.

I’d have asked them what they were smoking. A refund after exchange of contracts or a sale completes? Er, no.

If Exchange has happened then that is the price and the date of Completion has to be fixed or you will be looking for compensation, about £10,000 would be fair as they have messed you about. If not you could say unless they Exchange and Complete on certain dates you are going to pull the house off the market and the next price will be £20,000 more! Might concentrate their minds.

What a dirty trick they're trying, OP. Sounds as if you're doing the right thing, giving the buyers a deadline, staying calm and being prepared to put the house back on the market if the buyers don't meet your deadline. People like that are disgusting.

Best of luck, and stay cool if you can xx