House purchase fallen through at the 11th hour & 7 months pregnant -help!

[Pinkpumpkins]

Can I have a vent?

Found out this afternoon that our seller no longer wants to sell as she wants to stay in her home. We were due to exchange contracts next week, complete Sept, but only found this out from the seller today when DH contacted her to ask her something trivial. (She openly gave us her number a while ago as her online estate agent is not so great & was slow to answer our questions).

Well lo and behold, out of the blue she changed her mind about the sale. I know that I am not the first person who has had this happen, but omg, it's so annoying! We were due to view the house again on Saturday so that we could measure up for curtains - we made this appointment with her 2 weeks ago.....why did she not tell us then, or sooner that she was having doubts about the sale? This is why I prefer the Scottish system as we have now wasted £1k on surveys, solicitors and searches.

And I'm 7 months pregnant....I was so looking forward to decorating our first child's nursery, but I guess that won't be happening anymore. Absolutely gutted. I know it's only bricks and mortar, but this meant so much more than climbing up the property ladder. My mum's been diagnosed with terminal cancer and having the extra room in our new place meant that she could also stay with us for weeks at a time (she lives in Scotland and we live in a tiny 1-bed in London).

I don't think we can stay in our current flat as I don't want to collapse the sale and ruin our buyers hopes as well (they've already lost out on 2 sales). Also our place cannot accommodate me, DH, cat and baby!

If anyone else has had this misfortune please can you tell me that there is light at the end of the tunnel as I'm feeling pretty rotten.

Moan over - I'm off to find some chocolate!

Poor you Is she dead certain she's not selling now, or just having a wobble? What are her reasons?

That is awful! I don't understand how someone can just "change their mind" like that with no regard for the consequences. Poor you.

Who knows, though - maybe it will turn out for the best in the end? A few tears ago we found a rental property I loved and yet someone else managed to nab in in the time it took me to drive home and grab a chequebook to pay the deposit (less than an hour, and the estate agent even knew that I was driving home to get my chequebook when he accepted a deposit from someone else). I was really upset at the time - I even cried about it. Yet a week later we found a place that was much better and that we still fondly remember even now that we own our own place.

Thanks guys.

So her reason is that her husband is now going to buy himself out of the house & give her share. When our offer was accepted we were told by their agents that they were a married couple and chain free, and could move as fast or as slow as we wanted. Right at the beginning when the initial paperwork was done we said we wanted to complete in August, but they later came back to us and asked for a September date as she wanted her kids to be in 1place before they went to uni in Sept. So this has been a complete surprise.

Now, I suspect that the house sale was prompted by marital discord. they must be in the process of separating and bottom line is that she doesn't want to move. Of course all this information was with-held from us!

nightmare. This is always the risk when you buy from a divorcing couple as pissing you about will be the least of their concerns. No excuse though.

all I can suggest is to continue with the sale and move to a rental for six months. I know that two moves is a major pain but it will make you cash buyers which should help with the next one.

the seller does not have to compensate you, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, making it clear that she has cost you money by leaving it so late.

there is always another house!

I had the same thing - sale fell through 5 days before scheduled cs! All except essentials in storage. We has to stay in the flat rather than move to a lovely new house and, yep, start all that his hunting stuff with a tiny baby. It wasnt much fun but we did find somewhere and had moved in 7 months (sale was completed before but it needed work) after we were due to move. You know what though? I'm much happier with the house we ended up getting! These things habit of working out. It was handy having all our stuff in storage too. Made it much easier to accommodate all the stuff a baby comes with!

Sorry to hear about your mum :(

I'm not sure I can add anything too useful, but I just wanted to say this is one of those times when my best friend would remind me to look forward 5 years - ie it will be resolved, and you will have this as one of your amusing stories about how stressful moving is.

I was selling a flat and buying a family house, and was an enormous 8 months pregnant, when the cocky young lad who was buying from me contacted me day before exchange to drop his offer £5k. When challenged he freely admitted he knew I had no choice than to leave my 1 bed flat. We proceeded because the people higher in the chain all accepted lower values, as I couldn't find the extra money myself.

Finally, I would like to say I was a big person, who didn't feel a smidgeon of pleasure that he was dumped shortly after by his lovely girl-friend (who I think was horrified by his cut-throat nature). I'd like to say that, but I'd be lying!

Sorry, waffling, but basically trying to say focus on you and baby, everything else will one day be boring history.

Good luck.

It's true - there will always be another place. I guess house hunting in London is not for the faint hearted!

Freelancegirl - I can't believe that happened to you! That must have been so stressful! But I'm so pleased to hear that you had a happy ending.

I'm sorry to hear that other people had property woes, but its hugely comforting knowing that sadly we're not the only ones and that it is possible to have a happy ending!