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.

So we think they still want the house. Just trying last attempt to get some money off

It is a negotiating tactic I've heard of in the past. Not common, but a few friends, and friends of friends.

The idea is that everyone in chain has done their bit, paid solicitors' fees and for surveys, have their mortgages agreed. All the paperwork, ready to go.

So you ask for a discount at the last minute, after everything is done and it should all be plain sailing. In the hope that the people you're buying from will agree, in order that the chain doesn't collapse and they have to start again.

CF-ery of the worst sort. In your position, I would either swallow the hit, but with cast-iron deadline commitments from the buyers. Or issue a polite "no thanks" and instruct the estate agent to put the house back on the market forthwith.

It's called 'gazundering' and it's as old as time in a buyers' market

Tell them to get lost or they'll do it again just before exchange

Say no - that you cannot afford to buy your next house in that case as you are at the top of your budget.

If they do pull out then the rest of the chain may wait a few weeks as well if youve got a sensible.estate agent who can speak with them...you've already sold your house so they know it is sellable, you've gone through much of the conveyancing process and will be in a position to move very quickly once your house is resold.

very confusing OP, suggesting that you don’t know what “selling” actually means

The sealed-bid buying process in Scotland could do with improving, but I like the fact that you're in a binding contract from early on in the process, so this sort of gazundering can't happen.

I also like the fact that ( last time I looked into it, anyway) the sellers arrange a survey that is acceptable to all buyers and their lenders, unlike English law, where each potential buyer has to arrange a new one. That nice Mr Blair was going to fix this when he came to power, but he ended up banning beef on the bone instead.

I'm not sure I understand the "talking to the chain" thing, so rather than say this is outrageous you actually offered to "talk to the chain"? And you wanted them to actually reply "yes please do that and get us our discount".

They probably haven't replied because they assume you are talking to the chain and will come back to them with what they want.

So you haven't sold your house months ago, you're still in the process of selling it.

Ok so you have not sold the house? It is sold once completed. And you can also claim it after exchange, are you pre exchange ?

This is incredibly satisfying!

Thank you for your services to Reducing Cheeky Fuckery!

They've probably realised they might have overpaid for the house and are trying to get it reduced. Up to you what you do.

I think so. I think it’s confusing a lot of the answers, I think the op is offer accepted but she’s not sold it yet. And they are trying ti negotiate the price prior to exchange,

Not sold. We’ve accepted an offer

I'd not only say absolutely no but give them a hard deadline to exchange or you'll put the house back on the market and not sell to them for any price. Especially as from one of your subsequent comments your you don't sound as though you'd be devastated if the chain did collapse and you had to find somewhere else.

If everything is ready to go apart from them pissing about I'd give them until 5pm Monday. If there are other things outstanding I'd give the tightest deadline possible.

The haven’t even there bank surveyor said “they’ve got a good deal and no down valuation”

My hunch is they want to move so just trying it on. Just say no and instruct the EA to put back on the market.

We given them a week and half and they’ve played the quiet game, they did the same when they initially negotiated on the house.

they can buy the house at the agreed, we’ve set a deadline timer for buyers

When you say ‘sold’ presumably you mean that you’d accepted an offer? Which does not equal ‘sold’.

It’s a common enough ploy - if you don’t give in, TBH you do just need nerves of steel to tell them (relatively politely) to sod off.

Happened to me - shortly before exchange of contracts my buyer demanded a discount, and what pissed me off even more was that the EA was apparently on her side, urging me to give in! And this after I’d actually turned down a higher offer from someone else, because I’d given my word to the buyer!

I basically told the EA absolutely no way, and in the end she went ahead at the first agreed price.
Good luck! It’s a nerve racking scenario.

On what planet do you describe a house as being sold, when you have in fact not sold it yet?!

I can only assume you are deliberately trying to make the thread misleading

Refuse to give a discount. It’ll be a pita for all involved but if they do pull out your solicitors have all the searches, report on title etc so should be able to pass to another buyer. People like this really piss everyone off (I’ve worked as a conveyancing sec).

We have moved house very many times, this is the lowest of the low chancers. do not budge.
Good luck.

Which has now been changed. What stage of the conveyancing process are you in? You’re FTB but you’re selling this property so you must have bought it or been left it.

We’ve told them pay price agreed or don’t buy it.

we know they’ve got fees for solicitor and paid surveyors

The estate agents might be pressurising them to get a discount so they get their sale even though I think they get less commission.