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.

I'd be telling the estate agent to drop their commission % to enable a drop in price that doesnt affect your equity in the house, for not vetting buyers properly and weeding out chancers. The agent is supposed to be working for you.
Ask if they have done it before.

I think I'd want to put it on the market again because these buyers sound like trouble to me. They might back out last minute.

Yes it’s a common ploy to pressurise people into giving a discount. Years ago, someone tried this on us. We said no and told the estate agent to put the house back on the market. Within hours the original buyers came back saying they would pay what we had agreed. I would suggest you do the same.

This is exactly the attitude the buyers are relying on. It is sharp practice and to be deplored. Wonder why people are blaming the estate agent though.

We do all surveys and pest checks and any council issues with easements before putting in an offer. We don't have a register of neighbourhood complaints ( sorry don't know the right term). You just take pot luck or drive by at different times of day, walk around the block etc.
If someone gets sick that is sad but I would assume you would still lose your deposit, though there may be some law I'm unaware of.
Regarding deposits there are a range of things ( borrowing from family is popular; or you can do a 5% deposit and get mortgage insurance ( added to your mortgage ) for the other 5%, a lot of people have recently sold a home so have the deposit that way. There are other things like bonds.

Sound like a pair off jealous, bullying low life Entitled Chancers it you ask me

Don't offer them any favours whatsoever.

No more contact

Ignore them and move on.

Gazundering is standard house buying practice and has been for several decades.

Tell them the price just went up 5k, and you want flowers and a spa day thrown in too, or else they can fuck off.

First post is very misleading. It literally says "We sold our house a few months ago." I clicked and read because I wanted to see what the outcome was of attempting to get money back long after a sale was completed. 😒

Short and sweet.

If buyer asks you to drop price, tell agent:

1. We need the agreed amount;
2. Please put house back on market/contact second in line and start the process again;
3. I have told lawyer to stop work with this buyer.

If seller asks you to increase at the last moment (unlikely currently but happened to a friend years ago, the day before exchange), tell the agent:

1. We do not have the money;
2. We do have somewhere we can stay (so aren’t desperate);
3. Please arrange viewings of xyz similar houses this weekend

Use the agent as a message box to the other party and make sure your actions (eg moving forward with others or more viewings) reinforce what you say on the phone.

What, the sealed bid system?? That’s problematic too.

You don't need to explain or justify yourself. Just say no, the matter is now closed.

Totally agree. @LlynTegid my friend wasted several thousands doing surveys on potential houses in Scotland and her offer not being even accepted.

That changed a good while back and now the seller pays for a survey and valuation (the Home Report) which is freely available to anyone who’s interested in the property.

Classic trick…..say no!

They are literally trying to mug you out of the £11K. It would actually put me off selling the property to them at all.

Would/did your house sell easily?

You may/may not want to take on this £11 cut. But you are not powerless in this.

Put your house up for sale again, get a new sign up, accept viewings etc. This may concentrate their minds.

When we've bought/sold houses it quite usual to agree to take the house off the market whilst the paperwork goes through.

Stick to your guns say a flat NO don't negotiate certainly don't ask the rest of the chain it's not their problem. The same happened to my daughter regarding a trivial thing that came up on the survey ( they fixed it for £20 ). Guess what they still bought the house.

Sometimes people try their luck but it makes them look untrustworthy. I was dealing with a probate sale and the buyers dropped it last minute and had been a pain in the arse. We told them to sod off given they weren’t negotiating in good faith and had another buyer lined up within a week. They had a proper moan to the estate agent as they really wanted the property. They totally overplayed their hand as we weren’t in an onward chain and just wanted to minimise hassle. Sometimes this stuff works against the buyers that try it on.

Absolutely seems like something first time, younger buyers try on. My in-laws had, similarly, agreed sale. Even reducing it below a threshold so the buyers didn't have to pay additional fees.

Out of the blue, with 2 days to sign over came a request. Basically, trying to corner the in-laws (held to ransom comes to mind) and make them feel responsible for the collapse of the chain. My in-laws didn't budge. The chain collapsed. They sold a few months later....

Do not engage or negotiate when you're in the stronger position...

Unless you're desperate....

Are there only three of us on MN who actually catch up on the discussion before we start battering away at the keyboard to reply to the title?

I don’t get the part about consulting the chain?.
these so called buyers are chancers , ignore them , the price is the price. They agreed to it . They can take it or leave it . If they leave it they are liable for costs , then you put it back on the market.
they r just idiots and chancers , wouldn’t give them an inch , a penny or a second chance.

🤯

I had this. Put my house on the market in the April but took me until July to find a solid purchase property (found another one in April but the vendors ghosted me). The day we were due to exchange contracts the EA phoned me and said the buyers were wanting a £5k discount (on a £180k property) due to the delays. I couldn't afford it and it was a time when the market was booming and I think the price would have actually gone up if I'd put it on the market again, so I told them no. If they didn't exchange by 5pm that day I'd be pulling out of the sale myself and putting it up for a higher price.

I received a call from my solicitor about an hour later saying the exchange had gone through. I said "what about the price reduction they wanted?". She said "what price reduction?".

Basically, they were trying to pull a fast one, but hadn't even told their own solicitors, who carried on based on previous instructions and exchanged anyway!

I'd already bought the new buyers a bottle of champagne and was planning on cleaning the place from top to bottom when I left. I took that champagne with me and drank it in the first night in my new home while they were left with any dirt or dust that was left behind, because there was no way I was cleaning that. They were lucky I didn't leave prawns in the curtain poles!

The reason you consult the chain is that you split the 11k between people in the chain so OP drops 11k on the basis that the person above them drops the price by 5 or 6k, the person above them drops by similar or half. This way the ‘loss’ is shared. This has often been negotiated (by the EA’s) when there is an issue, say, first time buyer unable to secure the full amount on the mortgage offer after survey etc. it means the chain works together to preserve the chain, so everyone has something to gain.

But in those cases there is a valid/unforeseen/unpremeditated reason for one the person asing for the discount has asked. It doesn’t work if you just have a CF FTB who’s watched too many episodes of location location or a A Place in the Sun.