Bored with this now...should I tell my buyer to bog off...or is this normal?

[TheCokeMachine]

So my buyer has had a full structural survey, CCTV cameras down all the drains (no problems found anywhere) and is now asking me to buy indemnity insurance for a wall which was removed in the 1970's (three owners before me).

I'm becoming more than a little tired of this now, it seems that every question I answer, every certificate I provide, every last minute survey I agree to is met with another question or reason that we can't get to exchanging contracts.

Should I just tell them to take a hike, I'm pretty fed up with them today. I don't need to sell the house to move. I'm just seeing them raise issue after issue and I could just pop this place up for rent, and do a quick exchange on the chain free house I'm buying.

Is this normal buyer behaviour or am I being messed with? With the house I'm buying I've just accepted the survey and told the solicitor to proceed. I don't bloody care about the drains or the building regs for the extension that was built in 1980 - surely after 30 years it's not enforceable anyway! Maybe I should start asking all this stuff too???

Seriously - what is normal with regards to survey/indemnity/liability these days? Did you get CCTV down the drains and insist on building regs for a wall that was torn down 30 years ago? I reckon if the house was going to fall down due to said wall - it would have happened by now!

End of rant, can someone offer any words of wisdom?

Find out how much the indemnity will cost and, if it's not too much, tell him you'll get it with the stipulation that he exchanges by such a date - he has spent a lot of money on surveys etc by this stage so probably won't want to lose the house. He just sounds a bit of an old woman rather than deliberately playing you.

Are they first time buyers and nervous? Or maybe in the property business so know all the ins and outs of what can go wrong so are covering all basis? Or they have super-cautious solicitors. Maybe they do mega-big poos and want make sure the drains are big enough

Would be tempted to say cut them some slack as if nervy etc then that is just how they are playing it (my OH is very risk adverse - drives me nuts but he balances out some of my carelessness).

Also work out really if you are prepared to walk away.

So words of wisdom, no - but you may find some if you talk to the estate agents, find out how much the buyers want the house. Say you are thinking of just jacking it in - that will concentrate the mind of the estate agents to the risk that the may lose their commission and they may do a bit more to manage the process. Chat to your solicitor - find out how much cost the insurance will be - and you could just say no to paying. Or offer to pay half - but say no more and give a date by which you wish to exchange by.

The whole process is hell and hoping for your sake it all exchanges soon.

My drains are clear, their poos will fit my lovely 5 inch drains - I am so sure - I have seem the pictures of my drains. Maybe they are having mega big nervous poos due to house buying?

Good suggestions/advice though, I will offer to pay half on indemnity if they complete within the month, and I will also tell the estate agent that I really don't need the sale so they need to talk this along smoothly or I'll pull out.

We had buyers like this once. Finally we told them to take it or leave it and we'd put the house back on the market. Funnily enough they got o with it after that. but we buy houses that are falling down in the misguided idea that it will be fun to renovate

I think it sounds like you have got to the take it or leave it stage too. they might be nervous first timers but are now in up to their necks in survey fees so are unlikely to pull out. if they don't crack on after that they never will. good luck.

From the buyer's POV... we are currently looking at a house that has had various extensions/knocking through/conversions done on it, and it does make you nervous, you have no idea in how cowboy a style it was done. I'll probably be being a similar PITA about this one if we go for it.

FWIW, if you knock out the wrong wall without compensating for it, it can make the outer walls of the house gradually bow away from each other and isn't cheap to fix, so they are right to check.

We had to get indemnity insurance (solicitor insisted). Cost £20.

I Imagine most of these issues are being brought up by legal people on either side. It is very time-consuming.

I'm betting they're nervous first time buyers. All 3 surveys I have ever got recommended getting a CCTV drain survey. I haven't. But I have, at their recommendation, had an IER report on the electrics so count yourself lucky they haven't done that!

When you're young and skint (or old and skint) the thought of buying a house that turns out to be a money pit when you're already completely overstretching yourself on the mortgage payments is a bit terrifying. It's a hell of a lot of money to spend and get it wrong. They're just being careful, cut them some slack!

And the indemnity policies are about £50. It's standard for the vendor to provide AFAIK. I had to buy one when I sold mine. And on a different house the vendor had to buy me one. I agree - buy the policy on the condition they complete by xx date.

In my experience (bitter) if they dick you around like that they are more than likely to pull out at the last minute. If you want the house you buy it. Simple.

To be fair, if someone is paying (potentially) hundreds of thousands of pounds on something, then being thorough is a pretty excusable thing. Far better that than buying something and then posting on forums like this later with stories of misery.

But if it doesn't suit you, fair enough. Find another buyer.

our last buyer asked for lots of paperwork...

and they backed out. they'd done the same to three other vendors..

i don't see a better option than finding it all as after all you could just end up with the same palaver from a different buyer..

You sound like the vendors of a house my mum tried to buy

she was very serious about buying and all the checks/surveys etc cost a fortune so noone would do it if they didn't intent to complete

they were such a PITA about passing on doccuments and clearing up rights of way issues that she felt she had to pull out as in her (and my) opinion, if they were serious about selling they would do everything they could to help clear up all the hurdles

She was gutted, she really wanted to buy that house and was all set to move in.

"and I will also tell the estate agent that I really don't need the sale so they need to talk this along smoothly or I'll pull out"

grr why are there so many sellers like this about at the mo, if you are not committed to selling and all that involves (like the reasonable requests made by the buyers - who are obv committed or they wouldn't have paid so much for the checks) then what are you doing accepting offers and costing serious buyers so much wasted money on checks and surveys?

We had to supply various indemnitites when selling our last place. Costs varied from £20-50. Total was £110 as there were lots. (Got bored of being asked to provide them.) In overall scheme of things is nothing compared to other costs / hassle.

We moved 2 years ago and accepted an offer from a couple who were allegedly ready to proceed with nothing to sell. It dragged on and on and on and we were asked for an indemnity on an integral garage my FIL converted into an internal room. We almost pulled out at that point and DH told the EA in no uncertain terms that he would rip out the floorboards and the stud wall to make it back into a garage rather than pay for insurance to benefit the vendors.

By this time it had transpired that Mr Vendor was still on the mortgage of his ex wife and was having to go though a legal process to be removed. Had we known that we would not have accepted their offer. This was also news to the EA at the 11th hour, but also ammo for us to say enough is enough. This was all reported back via our solicitors, no more was said about insurance and we eventually exchanged contracts.

We'd had to relocate for work and were dealing with it from 200 miles distance. If we hadn't had to move I'd have told them where to go.

cheriefroufrou it depends what you think of as a reasonable request. Presumably you've never sold a house? We got caught in the HIP process so we'd already had to pay upfront for that. To my mind, the person who will benefit from any insurance should be the one to pay for it.

mega-big poos

lol

If there is a conversion it is the vendors responsibitlity to make sure everything is in place if it is questioned and they want to sell! not all buyers request it, but most are TOLD to by their solicitors, so why would you not?

as others have said, its not expensive in the scheme of things when selling a house, not compaired to the huge expense of the surveys/checks in the first place. Your solicitor could have told you that it is normal for the vendors to cover this.

Your OH sounds like a stubburn type who would cut his nose off despite his face!

"cheriefroufrou it depends what you think of as a reasonable request"

not really, I don't think it comes down to personal opinion, I think if 99% of solicitors would say its the vendors expense then it is!

Friends of mine were like this when they bought their house. Every tiny thing had to be checked, and when it came to completing (i.e. sending money) they insisted on sending £1 first to see if it worked. Needless to say it did, so what do they do? Send £5 next time. Just to see if it worked. The owners of the house they were buying then threatened to put the house back on the market, so finally my friends paid up. It does get a bit embarrassing TBH.
By all means, get the insurance, but tell them that it's the last thing like this you'll do, then the house goes back on the market.

why is being thorough about the biggest purchase you'll ever make a bad thing?

They sound a bit annoyingly fussy if it is request after request. But I suppose it must mean they are serious. Have a word with the estate agent and say your are fed up with them. After all the estate agents are acting for you and not them. Not sure about this insurance. The solicitor should be able to advise if it is a reasonable request or not.

are you sure that it's not the mortgage co requiring this and that?