fuck and bollox been gazundered

[plim]

need some advice please, been gazundered two days before exchange by ftbuyers. They dropped their offer by 17k this morning stating the reason that it's going to cost them more than they thought to convert the office, outhouse and to do some remedial work like damp course, electrics and repointing.

The house is an absolute bargain already as we dropped the price by 40k to get a quick sale so we can get the house we want in time for my two children to start schools in september. We previously had tenants in there and they have now left, we have given notice on our tenancy for where we are living and are due to move in two weeks (completion date).

I immediately told the ea to stick it straight on the market and there has already been 3 viewings tonight, meanwhile, ea are trying to salvage the buyers offer by pointing out that there is electrical and damp certificates and a new damp course that was installed three months ago.

I am so, so devastated, don't know where we are going to live and god knows what to do about the kids school!!

fuckity fuck fuck

rant over! :(

Bloody hell I feel for you. I am probably being naive (only bought and sold a house at the same time - a year ago) But I was totally upfront. When our buyers were struggling to get their mortgage I told them the absolute lowest price we could accept (and it really was the lowest) I also told the people we were buying from the highest we could afford (again absolutely true). Yes we might have done ourselves out of some money and could possibly have been more devious and played "the game" a bit better. But I wanted to sell our house, and I wanted to buy our new house. The only thing that would have changed that was the survey, if anything major had been flagged up on it (either on my old house or my new house) then obviously that would change things.
I realise people will think I was naive, but we got the house we wanted.
In your situation it is almost like your buyers are holding you to ransom. Awful. They are counting on the fact that you have found somewhere and don't want to lose it.
Good luck, hope it works out.

Buying selling is so stressful because of this exact behaviour. We need law changed to stop it

Their grounds for dropping the price are rubbish anyway.
They do not need to do remedial work like electrics and damp proofing, you have certificates to prove these have already been done.
The house value will have been worked out prior to any upgrading the outhouse etc. so their renovation budget has no bearing on the sale price.
Stand your ground, keep it on the market, I'm hoping you get a cash buyer and keep the chain, and the grabby couple end up with no house at all for their new baby, having learned a lesson about gazundering not paying.
I mean, they wouldn't do it with any other transaction would they? You don't buy a car and get them to drop the price because you want to buy a car seat for the DCs, and put in a fancy hands free kit.
That is effectively what they are trying.

Stand your ground!

That's awful - I agree with ToothbrushThief that a law change is needed. In Belgium where I live, you make an offer which is accepted and then the seller cannot reject the offer to accept a higher price from someone else. Then a week later you sign a first stage agreement. This locks in the price. If any party pulls out they need to pay the other an indemnity of 10% of agreed price. A few months later when all paperwork is sorted, the final sale is signed. Much safer.

Elephants, when we are buying and selling we do the same. When we sold our last house we were upfront with the agents and told them to tell prospective buyers that there was no point putting in low offers and we would only go a couple of thousand below asking price. When we bought this house, we decided how much we would pay, told the sellers it was the most we could afford and would be our only offer (true) and everyone knew where they stood.

Melindaaa So glad not it's not just me I prefer to be straight with people too. I guess the problem occurs when everyone else isn't as honest as you. We were lucky with our buyers and the people we were buying off, they were upfront too. I can imagine that if one person starts playing the mind game, then it may feel that you have no option but to join in.

If (as is quite possible) this delays the move, could you put your stuff in storage, and "camp out" in the house you're selling, with a minimum of clothes, food and basic bedding and toiletries (little enough you could pack it into a car on move day, or pack it away for viewings)?
Could you "compromise" by giving them furniture in the house as it was rented before (that would also save you disposing of it), instead of lowering the price?
We had a buyer try gazundering just before exchange, when their own "expert" found damp, oddly everywhere except where ours had. It was due to the fact we kept the house cold, but they were insistent, so we "gave" them a potting shed (that wouldn't have survived a move, and didn't fit our new garden anyway) to keep the deal on track.
When we popped back to collect some post, no sign of damp work (big surprise), but they tried to argue that the gas was dodgy. I reminded them about the recent gas safety certificate, urged them to take it up with corgi, and cheerfully walked away.

so unfair, immoral behaviour IMO.

I woudl not accept it out of principle.

Keep us posted!

They are trying it on. If the price drops, they will have to get approval again from the lender as the loan-to-value ration will have changed so there's no guarantee that they will exchange in two days if you do agree to their demand.

Well done for putting it back on the market immediately as that gives a clear message to the buyers. Good luck.

I hope it works out for you, I'm also worried the same will happen to us, our buyers want more money off for damp and wall ties, despite a 40 grand drop from original asking price, and a valuation of their accepted offer.The house we want to buy needs far more doing to it and has been valued 15 under what we've offered he will possibly drop by 5

What utter bastards . I hope they change their minds. So immoral. It makes you wonder about the rest of their lives.

pmsl at the man headed baby.

Oh yes misspells is right. We negotiated off the back of the survey and had to wait for our mortgage offer to be reapproved. I think there's not a snowballs chance in hell that they won't change their mind about this

Sorry, misspolly. Autocorrect

Some people have absolutely no scruples do they. What a horrible, horrible thing to do. I would be scared to do that if I was pregnant (karma and all that).

I really wouldn't want to do business with people like that on principle; I'd rather sell it at a cheaper price to one of your new viewers. Next time you get an offer perhaps you should get the solicitor to write a contract so that neither vendor or buyer can pull out etc. I know it can be done.

This happened to me too in the past .... days before exchange. The excuse then was that the buyer was tied into a mortgage deal with big penalties if he redeemed within 5 years and as he "didn't think he'd be staying for 5 years" the bastard thought it was our problem to, in effect, pay his bloody penalty .... assuming he was telling the truth, like, WTF didn't he realise this before applying for that deal ? I told him to fuck off and we lost that sale, but unfortunately, didn't find another buyer in time to keep the house we were buying either as understandably they also had a moving timetable etc.

This kind of greedy cynical dishonesty ... well, verging on blackmail really IMO .... makes you want to rip their heads off. No wonder moving is recognised as being so stressful. I think the law in Scotland might be different and both parties are far better protected from unscrupulous buyers and sellers.

Hope you find a new buyer soon !

£17k is a very serious amout of money. There are very few things wrong with a house - subsidence, or the need to entirely renew a roof - that would cost that much to rectify, especially if a structural survey has already been undertaken.

It's also bloody odd to gazunder if the wife is heavily pregnant. It's usually the case that pregnant buyers will gazump other interested parties to secure the property.

I think they've got cold feet and lost faith in the market following the RICS report earlier in the week. It may also be that they've lost their nerve at the very last moment. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they may have fallen victim to the economy - this has been a spectacularly bad quarter - and are worried about spending so much.

You are going to hate this, but could you be persuaded to split the difference, on the basis that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush?

I'd rather sell it at a cheaper price to one of your new viewers.

This is the tack most people would take, just out of pride. But it takes time and may well end up costing you the same (or even more) money.

This happened to us. Stand your ground. Your house is not worth 17k less than the already low price they are getting it for!

My advice:

1. Continue to get new viewers through and make sure the agent really pushes the sell.
2. Tell the agent to keep reasoning with the buyer that the agreed price is a bargain and they are fools to lose the house now, which is what will happen if they insist in this silliness. They have had finance approved at the agreed price or they would not have got to this stage. They CAN afford this.

DO NOT GIVE IN!

I am still bitter over our experience of being gazundered. They did it on the day of exchange, and had clearly planned it all along. Fools. We ended up selling for 11k more than the price we agreed with them anyway!

Actually kensingtonkat does speak a lot of sense. I am rather hot headed but what she says is true. House prices are falling and people are getting scared so perhaps this is what has happened with your buyers. Difficult isn't it.

Thanks gals for your support. Feel totally depressed today, have heard absolutely nothing from them since we sent copies of the damp work to their solicitor yesterday. Had another viewing at lunchtime but no bites yet. Have stalled our purchase by asking for another survey on the damp at the house we are buying which they are ok about as we have a retention for 2 k for them to get a damp course done (not figgin17k like some!).

Every hr that goes by feel sicker!

:(

what are your options plim, if you do need to get a new buyer? Where are you living now and how far away are you moving/where are your children's new school/do you still have options on their current school etc?

OP I suppose this means that the vendors you are buying from will now be very concerned that you are going to gazunder them (or why else would you be doing it at such late notice?) It seems to be a vicious circle.

Nooooooo, not going to gazunder them, no way. We asked them to get a damp course done which they have and we have sent our damp guy to verify it that's all, they knew about the 2 k retention weeks ago, meant we didn't drop our original offer but insisted they gor that work done. We are very straight people, I firmly believe if you screw people over it will come back and bite you.

Anyway, the viewing today likes the house, single bloke due to exchange on his next week said he's going to make an offer. Meanwhile buyers solicitor said back off and give the buyers until tomorrow to our solicitor when he chased.

Tenterhooks ahoy. I need a

Lil update as hub just home, he spoke to our solicitor today who said that the buyers solicitor has in his opinion messed up and not passed on the damp certs to the buyers. Also said - and this bit really pisses me off - that his clients would like us to give them some space. Wtf!!!! We were supposed to be exchanging tomorrow, they have dropped their offer by 17k and all we have done is call today to see if they have all the certificates we sent over. Bloody space , my little boy is starting schoolin two weeks and I don't even know which bloody school he is going to and THEY WANT. SPACE!!!!!!!!!

Omg. Cmon other buyer who is doing second viewing tomorrow - please take our house so I can tell the space cadets to piss off.