That f***ing f***er pulled out at last minute :(

[AngryFeet]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1708427-Help-Do-we-exchange-tomorrow-or-not

He has an issue with the place he is buying and estate agent says it is very unlikely he will be able to talk him around.

Very upset. That's £2000 down the drain on searches and solicitors.

Bugger. I guess it wasn't meant to be but I am very tearful right now. Fuckity fuck fuck.

And yes I know he isn't a bad person or anything. Just letting out some frustration.

Oh angry feet...

Scant consolation I know but you will find somewhere better! I too have a survey for a house I never bought on my bookshelf... Probably the most expensive book I will ever own... But where I live now is far better for our needs. Chin up and get on rightmove!

Aarrgghhh! What a nightmare! He sounded like a bit of a nightmare though - who knows how he would have left the house for you. Hope something better comes up soon ... at a great price.

Saw the thread title and thought this should've been in the conception section... LOL

lol gilly I thought the same! haha

no, he wasn't a bad person. He just treated you like little people who didn't need to see the house they were buying and could wait forever at his convenience. Been there.

a happy escape despite the cost. There is ALWAYS another house.

BTW the solicitor doesn't need to do everything again, e.g ID checks.

I had my fingers crossed for you... I'd been reading all your previous threads. Really sorry it didn't work out. I'm not going to say there's a better house round the corner. Every time I heard that phrase after 2 houses fell through, I felt like punching someone! Have this and get back on Rightmove.

Estate agent finally got some contact from him - text message, cowardly bastard. He has decided he doesn't want to move after all. Fucking knew it.

Angry Could you try and recover your costs from him?

Not sure. DH is talking to solicitor this morning when he gets to work so will see what she says.

I've always thought there needs to be better legistlation to protect both parties in situations like this. It's a huge cost to write off, it would make vendors/buyers think twice if they were liable for the costs.

The house buying process in England & Wales is just rubbish. I can't understand why we can't just have the Scottish system. A deal is a deal is a deal in my book.

Sounds like your seller just didnt really want to really move and was finding all sorts of reasons not to. It can happen where relatives or spouse are pressuring an old person who puts it on the market reluctantly and then holds up the sale with ever more spurious reasons.W e have looked at a few houses like that where the old person didnt really want to name a date when they wanted to move even though we were cash buyers.

We are buying a house right now though. I am 49 and never bought a house before but it is our forever house and it is just annoying and boring and I have only done it once. It should be contracting next Friday but I know the buyer is buying another house and in a contract race so am getting myself ready for it all falling apart on the day.

We managed to recover all costs after house 1 fell through. It did take a couple of letters from our solicitor threatening legal action. So it can be done in some circumstances. However on house 2, we were unable to despite solicitors letters, it wasn't worth the fight.

This happened to us. It was our first house and we were gutted at the time. Like you we were out of pocket for the survey etc. Our solicitors waived their fees on the proviso we used them when we did make a purchase which was helpful.

Eventually we bought a lovely house. When we sold it 4 years later we made 25% profit. The original house had hardly increased in value due to location. We put down a decent deposit on our next house as a result. If we'd have bought the first property we wouldn't have the house we have now, which we love! He did us a real favour in the end.

Thanks everyone. Yes I am sure there is a better house for us somewhere out there. But prices have apparently gone up since the end of last year which makes it difficult now. I wish I had followed my instinct all along but DH kept saying it would be fine and not to worry. So many houses have come on the market and gone since we made our offer at the start of Jan. Very frustrating. I have called some estate agents and got ourselves on their books. Nothing out there at the moment sadly. We may need to find some extra money if we want this area (which is the only one with a couple of good secondary schools - everything else where we live - Croydon - is either really bad, religious or private). God knows where we will find it though :(

Angryfeet - "But prices have apparently gone up since the end of last year which makes it difficult now."

Well it depends where you are buying. That is probably only true in London.

Central London even.

Well that's what estate agents are saying to me and seems to be reflected in the prices houses in the area are up at now. Something that would have been £300000 last year is now around £319950. Not that they will necessarily get that it is just what I am seeing.

ugh. Yes he sounded horrible. I think you'll be better off in the long run, despite how you feel at the moment. It's happened to us. It's maddening that you can't get any money back at this point. It's a big flaw in the system in this country.