How much should we, as vendors, put up with from our buyers???

[Becaroooo]

Am pretty atm.

Our buyer (no chain cash buyer) has made our life miserable from day 1.

We accepted his (low) offer as we are desperate to move.

He insisted he be here with the surveyor whilst the HB survery was being done - 2 hours!! He has spent the last 2 weeks demanding all the paperwork for the ext we had done 4 years ago (even though he will get all of it on completion) and even though it was all signed off and we have a completion certificate for it!

He has now decided to book a holiday and wont complete til 12th august (should have been moving on friday!) and therefore we have lost out on our purchase.

We have found a rental property and were hoping to exchange today.

Just had a call from my solicitor and he is now demanding we leave all curtain poles and bathroom accessories.

I know it doesnt seem much but I am seething with rage.....he has messed us (and worse, my dc) around since day 1 and we have just tried to see the big picture and not get too agitated but I am absolutely at the end of my tether with this arsehole.

If the solicitor rings me back once more with another stupid demand we are pulling out. Enoughs enough.

[MrsCampbellBlack]

Must say its standard to start your insurance on the day of exchange not completion. And our house was empty for the first couple of weeks as we had a slight overlap and was no issue with insurance at all.

Well done on exchange becarooo!

[whichhouse]

If you buy a repossession then don't you have to complete within a certain timeframe or you lose it? Maybe that's what Bec was buying.

[Fayrazzled]

IME, it is a condition of the mortgage that you have insurance for the property you are buying from exchange, not completion, for the reasons another poster has stated above.

If you are a cash buyer in the true sense of the term- i.e. no mortgage- then it's up to you what you do but you'd be well advised to have insurance from exchange. Which means, yes, you are paying insurance for a house you are not yet living in.

[RollingInTheAisles]

'start your insurance on day of completion' and 'insure! Terrible spelling, sorry!

[RollingInTheAisles]

I agree with single man, it's standard to startbyour insurance on daynof completion as that's when you own the property, and many insurers will not want to ensure a vacant property (vacant meaning nobody lives there yet which is different to going on holiday when you have already been living there).

It's odd you lost your purchase just for a couple of weeks delay - had there been other difficulties?

[Becaroooo]

NL

[Northernlurker]

Take the lightbulbs with you Also window keys - I expect quite a few have got 'lost' haven't they?

[ChristinedePizan]

Well if you're buying a house that is rented out, then it's going to be empty from exchange until completion.

Insurance companies do sell entirely needless insurance sometimes, they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts :o

[SingleMan25b]

halfbabyhalfbiscuit empty building insurance wouldn't exist if there wasn't a need for it. Moreover, if a buyer is not moving in straight away because they want building work undertaken, or perhaps there looking for tenants to let the building to - then many general insurance policies won't provide adequate cover. Empty properties are considered higher risk. But really, why would you buy a house and leave it empty and at greater risk, if you can delay until you are ready to move in or start work on renovations?

Could it also be that the buyer is looking for dates of purchase and warranties so he/she has some possibility of redress if a fault may occur under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act - which when the damp cause fails would be down to a test of reasonableness - even if any warranty period has expired?

[Becaroooo]

We are arranging contents insurance as I speak for our rental property!!...common sense, surely??

I guess thats part of why I am so pissed off....the stuff he is demanding to have (warranty wise) is pointless as they are either out of date (DPC) no longer valid (fitted appliances, windows etc) or cannot be transferred. And then when things are covered i.e. velux window he is demanding indemnity insurance!!!! Most odd.

[halfbabyhalfbiscuit]

Singleman - with all due respect, you are totally wrong on the insurance point!

It's ALWAYS recommended to the buyer of a house (not a flat, as that's usually insured by the Man Co) that they put in place buildings insurance on exchange (before completion) as even if the place burnt down between exchange and completion, the buyer would still have to proceed, even if there was no house left to buy.

[SingleMan25b]

ragged In my house the double glazed doors and windows have a 10 year guarantee - the guarantee can be passed on to any new owner.

[SingleMan25b]

ChristinedePizan It may be that your experience of building insurance is different from what I've stated. However, not all insurance is the same - especially some of the cheaper insurance products.

ragged It depends on the product and contract of sale but many warranties can be past between owners.

[ChristinedePizan]

Depends what they're for, ragged - the warranties on the appliances in my fitted kitchen were valid for two years because they were fitted. I did have to pay to transfer the ownership of the guarantee on the DPC to the new buyer though.

[ragged]

Are manufacturer/seller warranties valid for 2nd purchaser/owner?

[ChristinedePizan]

Umm singleman - that isn't true. I had to take out buildings insurance once I'd exchanged even though the house was empty. My insurers knew I wasn't able to move in until completion and that was not an issue

[SingleMan25b]

Becaroooo I'm please to hear you've completed. Well done.

However, consider when you buy your next property - house insurance isn't generally valid unless you have lived in a property .. . and if your in London most squatters target houses when they have just been sold and are empty.

As far as the guy wanting receipts for the appliances - well that seems perfectly reasonable, he is after all buying them from you. Some may have warranty.

You seem to forget that the the person buying is making a transaction probably worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Of course the buyer will want all the paperwork and will demanding of exactly what he wants.

Your EA, as valid and frustrated as he may have sounded, was only interested in his monthly target and commission. The buyers timetable for moving is perfectly reasonable, he after is buying.

Anyway, good luck with your house hunting, where I presume you will implement the boot on your other foot.

[Becaroooo]

Thanks christine sigh. Does no one actually read the posts???



Not only did we drop our price by £20k but we also agreed to an end july completion at his insistence

Then he books a holiday.

He is an arrogant, selfish, rude man.

And the sooner I dont have to deal with him the happier I will be!

We will be in a good position when we find a property to offer on (no chain, deposit, mortgage agreed)...but I would never treat vendors how we have been treated!

I guess some people think if they have money they can treat people however they want?????

[ChristinedePizan]

ahem - the OP has said twice now that she's already exchanged :o

[pictish]

Well considering that buying a house is the biggest and by far the most expensive purchase a person will ever make in their LIFE, I think you are being a little unreasonable.

When we were househunting and put in an offer, it struck me as how mad it was that we should agree to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a place we had wandered round a couple of times.

The more informed you are, the better spent your money.

[ragged]

We moved into rented when we had 2 small children -- quite deliberately, and partly so that we could become chain free. I found it lowered my stress re the whole house-selling process, tbh.

If you've exchanged then he isn't in a position to start imposing any other conditions, is he? And if he delays completion then you could hammer him very nastily with legal penalties (expensive). I'd say he has nothing more on you, now. Unless you fail to move out on date required, that is!

[MamaChocoholic]

we had one of those (cash, no chain) buyers. he argues over the lease (he thought it should be 900 years!), every bit of everything. we accepted an offer 15% below asking price. he then dropped the price by a further 10% on day of exchange (which had already been extended because of him). we had to move (new job starting in new area), so had to find somewhere else to buy (couldn't afford what we'd originally offered on) and accept. left a nasty taste in my mouth but in the end we are happier here than we would have been in the first place, and by the end of the negotiating I couldn't have stayed in our old flat, it was all tied up with the nasty buyer in my emotions.

I sympathise, but do think carefully before you tell him to take a hike.

[Becaroooo]

We have exchanged singleman

He pushed for completion end July (i.e. today) and I have run round like an idiot over the past month sorting that out, inc 1 property purchase falling through and offering on another.

Our last offer was accepted on the condition we move today....he decided to book a holiday and therefore we lost the house and are having to go into rented accom which with 2 young dc is no joke (he is a single man)

His reason is "he doesnt want to leave the property empty whilst he is away" Even my EA thinks he is being difficult for teh sake of it and told me to give him an ultimatum (which we didnt) Surely he will go on holiday again at some point and therefore leave the property empty??????? Surely he has insurance?????

He also made me redo the F&F list 3 times as he kept changing his mind what he wanted left.....not my problem...its was his!

Obvisouly he needs all the paperwork and has it, even down to the invoices for any work/appliances/f&f that are here. As for the velus window the completion cert for the building work covers it but we are still offering indemnity insurance.

He has made life very stressful for no good reason other than he could and I think he is a total knob.

OK?

[SingleMan25b]

Honestly it sounds like you don't want to move!

2 hours of your time is nothing if it gets you the sale?

Of course the buyer needs all the paperwork for your extension before he proceeds - the buyer needs to know its legally constructed before he/she pays. Otherwise at some point council could ask them to remove it or make alterations to it.

Unless you've specified otherwise curtain poles and bathroom accessories would need to be left - the buyer is just checking this is the case.

The buyer has gone on holiday - the buyers timetable is his/her timetable and not your timetable.

I can see your miffed but there are so few buyers who are able to proceed now, I wouldn't pull out of the sale - unless the buyer offers a much lower price just before the sale. A small drop you should still consider.

Good luck, it will all seem worthwhile when your in your new home.

[Becaroooo]

The vendor when we bought this house did much the same!

Bear in mind we were FTB with mortgage agreed and deposit and were willing to give them a few months to sort out a house and they tried to charge us £1k for oldest, mankiest carpets you have ever seen!!!! They were put in by the previous owners and were fitted in circa 1989.

Told them no thanks, take them with you. They stayed. Also tried to charge us for curtains that were mildewed (eww)

They also damaged the bath panel and staircase spindles as they moved out but we were just so glad to get into our first house only 6 weeks prior to our wedding so at the time, we didnt care.

Oh, and also didnt tell us the oven was broken...it was left swimming in grease so she just covered it with foil to hide it, the bitch.

(They lost out on their purchase and had to go into rented because they were such aresholes that the vendor of the house they wanted refused to consider any more offers from them!!!)

We wont be so accomodating this time!!!!