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.

Yes - and obviously we shopped around but since Grenfeld and the issues over cladding/fire safety and the leaseholder/landlords increased obligations, it is a more complicated process.

Good for you for keeping your cool, OP, and I hope you get every penny. My ex and I had a buyer gazunder by £23K on a £500K house. The buyer even had the fucking nerve to post a thread on here asking whether they wbu to do it, on the basis that at our age we were "probably mortgage-free and could afford it". We weren't - not by a long chalk - and we were selling because we were splitting up. By the time we'd paid off the mortgage and apportioned the remainder between us, that £23K was over 20% of what I had to put down on my onward purchase, so I'm still not mortgage-free and probably never will be. I know the English system makes such shenanigans quite legal, but when people pull this kind of stunt at the last minute just because they can, it's hard not to hope there's a special place in hell for them.

£11k is huge!

tell them no. Say you’re stretching yourself hugely and can no longer afford the mortgage and stamp duty so will have to re-list

Nope - I am NW Kent and both my purchase and my sale went straight to sold signposts!

It's not fool proof here though, my buyers delayed and delayed completion and then it was due just before Christmas and they said they couldn't get contractors in over the holiday period so they'd complete after Christmas - and then Scottish Govt increased Additional Dwelling Supplement by 2% to 8% and I expected a new negotiation. But they just pulled out, and I put it up for rent again. Worked out ok as price has gone up considerably since then and I've got good tenants.

Tell them to fuck off and sell it to someone else. They are chances.
when we were selling my daughters house a guy said to me about discount for cash and kept pushing it . We said no , don’t care if it’s cash or mortgage we get the sale price either way. Turns out it was a mortgage, he thought getting a mortgage gave him cash money in his pocket.
we met serious amount of idiots while trying to sell houses

I’ve had this twice. Just pull out and they’ll soon come running back.

They have been well advised....arseholes.
Because when my friends arsehole buyer instructed his solicitor to formally withdraw he made a big mistake.
He was liable for all his costs.

My friend duly instructed her EA to contact the underbidder, who was just thrilled.
They were free to move fast and did.
The arsehole was caught for his costs, begged my friend to pay full price, had a tantrum, made a show of himself, majorly upset his wife, all to be the big man.
He lost such a great house too.

Wishing you the best.
Continue to proceed with extreme caution though.

I wonder if they have introduced themselves to neighbours and it’s them who have disclosed your moving plans?

not UK, but we had purchasers complain at the last minute we had taken down a very large cherry tree which dominated the garden. There had been storm damage so we thought we would just deal to it.

The purchasers (who actually only lived down the road) would have seen this but it was a ploy to try and get a reduction in price. We the agent it didn’t matter to us if they wanted to back out of the sale. It went through.

^ told the agent

So what if they had near zero mortgage? Whether it’s their equity or the banks it’s still not the buyers. I’ve never noticed that section on a form but even if I had it wouldn’t persuade me to behave like that. The price is agreed, haggling at the 11th hour is a joke. And it looks like it was in this case because the buyers are proceeding anyway.

I don't think the seller's mortgage statement being disclosed to the seller can possibly be correct. I suspect it happened by mistake if it did happen to a pp. Only the solicitor responsible for settling the outstanding balance needs to know. Anything else smacks of data protection fuck up to me. And yes, completely irrelevant to the morality of gazundering.

Chancers.... tell them a straight no.

I did think the work they had done would be used towards the new buyers that we had already accepted. To be fair, the way it was worded in the email by the solicitor was not very clear. As I’ve not moved house for 45 years I was possibly a bit out of date with current procedures. 😏

Yes but if you went in at the lowest end of three valuations and took the first offer which was below that asking price, another say 10k off a 280k house is a piss take. It's already priced to sell and did so on the first day of viewings. Selling below any other completed sale values at the last minute would really p me off. Like people putting in offers saying they are cash buyers but then get mortgages refused. Some real chancers out there

I don't mean to be pedantic either, but half the fucking posts on this thread are making that point. Might be worth reading past post one before making your oh so original point.

If you are pretty confident that your house will sell easily for the same price they offered originally, I wouldn't hesitate to pull out. If they are prepared to cause this trouble and anxiety now then and I wouldn't be surprised if they tried again for a reduction just before exchange when you would be losing a lot of money yourself on the surveys and mortgage fees on the house you intend to buy. Yes it will be a hassle for you - but can you imagine the hassle if they tried this again near to exchange when the stakes are higher.

Happened to us. We called their bluff. Sale wrnt through. Cant think why consullting chain wpuld help.
Just sax no.

Well done OP, but I'm sorry you had some worrying few hours. How are you feeling about it now? Do you have any indication of when the sale should complete? I'm afraid it would make me feel quite petty about little details on moving day.

(What were all of skinpert's posts about that are now deleted?).

How did the thread go for the cf?

Well done op. Bloody chancers!

Whereabouts are you at in the conveyancing process?

I first thought it was settled months ago (We sold our house a few months ago) but later it reads like it is not settled yet (they could lose all the fees if we didn’t want to sell to them now.).
You need to clarify this first.

I will never understand the English real estate system. Why don't you have legal documents signed and done the day you agree on a price, thats the echange and then its legally binding for both parties. A 10% ( usually) deposit is paid to the vendors immediately and held in trust by the REA. Then 6 weeks before completion ( but there is no changing the price then, worst that can happen is the buyers finances fall through and the seller gets the 10% deposit). Then its final exchange of title, full payment and done.. You can agree longer than 6 weeks if both parties are happy with that.

@Paddington1234 not everyone will have the 10% in cash to put down. We certainly didn’t when we moved house. All our money was tied up in our property.

and what happens if the survery shows something that means you don’t want to proceed? What happens if you find the neighbours are awful? What happens if one of you get sick and can’t continue?

lots of things can legitimately come up in the conveyancing process that mean when you have full info you don’t wish to proceed.