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.

Agree with post above. EA tells them you are relisting property at a higher price as their survey went well and taking new viewings but they can still exchange at the agreed price if they do so now.

People are vile and any agent will tell you that they see it all the time. When we were selling our house two buyers were in a bidding war and the second buyers offered £2k more in the end, but the estate agent told us they’d go with the first buyers as they seem like a nice family and the second guy was very rude and pushy with them and that this is the kind of person who will ask to reduce the selling price for no reason a couple of weeks before completion. Of course we went with the first buyers and had no issues. My SIL had a similar problem, their buyer asked out of the blue that they knock off £10k „due to covid” (it was September 2020). In the end they reduced the price and got the missing money from my MIL because they were worried they’d lose the new house they were buying.

If they already paid solicitor fees they have nothing to gain if they withdraw now, so I’d call the bluff and stick to the original price. This is not because the survey found an issue, they’re just cheeky buggers who are trying their luck at your expense

These are buyers trying it on but in what circumstances do people think it's legit for a seller to pull out of a sale? (Sorry for slight potential derail OP).

it can happen in Scotland too. The day missives were due to be completed my buyer wanted to drop £25K off his £150K offer. Christmas Eve 9am email - reply by 12pm. We said no. They went elsewhere (to the house we wanted to buy being sold by a lovely elderly lady. small village - heard they did same to her)
Horrible, as definately planned all along.

Think it was on here that I read that you can have a clause put in your agreement with the estate agent to say that the price will go unchanged once first agreed. Something like that. No doubt someone will be along to correct that if not quite right.

My friend went through a similar situation at the last minute, was told with a few expletives where to go.

I had exactly the same. Buyers became a nightmare and started trying to knock thousands off for issues they already knew about and was reflected in the sale price. He had to take the hit but it certainly soured relations

When can a seller pull out - redundancy or similar financial problem, death or serious illness (although then you could offer to delay first), being messed around by your purchaser.

Similar happened to me. Buyer asked for £10k off while citing incredibly minor things in the survey. This was several weeks after she'd received the survey too. I said no, put it back on the market and sold it for the same price offered a couple months later.

You need to tell them to grow up and fuck off. How damned rude making presumptions about your personal wealth.

Im confused here. Op says that they sold their house "a few months ago" and mention the buyers "getting their new address". So I am assuming the sale is now complete and OPs family are in their new home.. In which case I would not even bother responding on a done deal.

I once bought an item on Ebay and weeks later had the seller contact me to say the item was worth a lot more and I got it for a knock down price. Well sorry chummy. The price is the price. You should have checked at the time. The cheek of some people knows no bounds and its usually better not to respond.

You really need to read the thread, at least the ops posts, means you don’t respond with something she’s already clarified.

Both parties can pull out at any time for any reason up to exchange,

Yes sure - I meant what are 'decent' reasons. Because a seller pulling out causes as much upset as a buyer pulling out.

That’s fairly pointless, you can jist say to the agent I am not accepting any reductions, so just reject, but you’d be then surprised if a sale fell through, many people would want to know and think about it, especially if a good reason and potentially negotiate, but putting a clause in agreement with estate agent is utterly pointless unless the agent is buying it. They can’t force the buyer to complete in agreed price.

I would cut off my nose to spite my face in this instance and would rather stay put than give them £10 off.

It’s really not great to get emotional in a business transaction. The op has declined, they are willing to relist. The buyer now has a decision to make. It’s not personal.

This has happened twice to a work colleague. First buyer wanted 20k off the day before exchange (300k flat), then next buyer realised they could not afford the flat without a big discount on the day of exchange. His flat is back on the market. He has lost 2 houses and a lot of sleep/money for surveys/conveyancing. In hindsight he wishes he had just got rid... as much as it would have annoyed him. His life continues to be in limbo.

They sounds like arseholes. I’d just give them one final confirmation that the price is the price and tell them it will be re-listed in 7 days time due to their uncertainty. If it all goes ahead, make sure to unscrew the bath panel, put a few open tins of tuna under, and seal it shut 🤣

How embarrassing for people to behave like this. They have no decency obviously.

This does not surprise me

Our neighbour sold her property and the buyers turned round shortly before exchange demanding £15k off based on…nothing really

She went ahead with the sale & the reduction they demanded as she was desperate to sell (was an inherited property)

The new owners now have their top of the range car parked on the driveway, don’t think they were strapped for cash really!

To put it into context this was around 5% reduction (plus they’d already accepted an reduction when the offer was originally made)

I think some people just don’t have any shame whatsoever when it comes to this kind of thing!

Personally, I’d call their bluff. Let them know that you need confirmation they’ll be proceeding in line with the previously agreed price or you’re relisting the property on Wednesday.

Already have called there bluff

I think when those contracts are agreed the buyer pays the EA a non-refundable deposit which binds them in with cash. It’s a fairly new thing I believe.

Over 40 years ago we pulled out the day before exchange. We had viewed a house with lovely curtains, carpets and fixtures such as light fittings, posh door handles etc. We offered asking price but every time we spoke to them they announced they were taking curtains then carpets then the fixtures . In the end I asked our solicitor to write and ask the just what where they leaving. I can still remember sitting on the stairs reading the letter from our solicitor with a long list of everything they were taking. We were being left with an empty shell and no reduction of price. We didn't actually ask them for a reduction. It broke my heart so I phoned the solicitor and said we wanted to pull out. He informed me he considered it the correct decision. The sellers spent days trying to get us to change our minds but by then the damage was done.