Seller pulled out. Compensation for (ex) buyer?

[fabulousathome]

I don't think there's much chance of this working but I wanted some opinions please.

I agreed a price of £168k via an estate agent on an empty flat in October 2013. It was to be a buy to let and I am a cash buyer. The asking price was £170k Provided evidence of cash, had a survey less than a week after the offer and all seemed well. Vendor, whol lives abroad in the EU (flat is the in UK) was rather slow in getting the proper information that my solicitor asked for.

Two days ago I had a call from the estate agent saying that prices have moved up and their client now wants to put the flat back on the market at a guide price of £180k to £190k. We were very upset as we were very close to exchange but offered a future £5k cash for them to go ahead with us as we knew it was what we wanted and we are lucky enough to have that money.

After a day this offer was rejected. So now we will have paid out around £1000 in fees (solicitor and surveyor) and have nothing to show for it.

My Dad (a very elderly retired lawyer) said I should try asking the Estate Agent how much compensation the vendor was going to give us as he was the one that pulled out.

Is it worth me trying to do this this or should I just forget it? I can't see such a vendor will give us anything.

Shall I name and shame the branch on here?

should say "We offered a FURTHER £5K cash for them to go ahead with us."

What have the branch done wrong?

The vendors are entitled to pull out for whatever reason they like, sorry.

Not if you didn't get to contract stage. If you exchange contracts you have legal recourse for losses incurred, but before that point you have no protection and they are not obliged to sell to you at the agreed price (unless the flat is in Scotland)

Unfortunately you will have to forget it - there is no binding agreement in place until exchange of contracts so either party is able to change the price or withdraw altogether without penalty. I'm surprised your father, as an ex-lawyer, would think otherwise.

I wouldn't name the estate agency - I imagine it is the vendor who has changed his/her mind, the estate agency will earn very little money on an extra £10-20k to make it worthwhile to go through marketing it all over again. It is deeply frustrating but, sadly and infuriatingly, there is nothing you can do.

There is no binding contract until you exchange contracts. If the seller had pulled out after exchanging then the you would have recourse for compensation for losses flowing from the breach of contract. However, in your case there is nothing you can do, even though you are out of pocket through no fault of your own.

Sorry but neither you or your father seem to understand the sale process in the UK. What on earth would you be h=naming the EA for? What have they done wrong?

The agent has done nothing wrong! It is the buyer who has instructed the estate agent to put the flat back on the market; I'm sure the estate agent will have tried to convince them otherwise - you do know that at a typical 1.5% commission that if the flat now sells for £185K (rather than your £175K offer), the estate agent will make an extra £150?

Its annoying and the UK house selling process is deeply flawed but you have no chance of receiving any compensation. There is no contract.

The only way I can think of recouping any money is you could offer to sell on the survey via the agent to the next person who agrees a sale. We have purchased searches in the past.

It's terrible and the vendor should be ashamed of their grabby behaviour - you've essentially been gazumped in anticipation.

There is nothing to stop them coming back and taking your last offer of course.

We put a strict time limit on our cash offer when we bought our house last year. We got to the last day and they caved in and signed the contract. They were just trying to see if they could get a better offer.

I suspect your vendor may be using your offer as a backstop to see if they can get a better offer elsewhere no it is coming up to the spring. This is the risk of making cash offers in my experience. The vendor knows you are there and they know you have the cash so you are a safe fall back which gives them the luxury of then holding out for a higher but less firm speculative offers from people in chains.

That is why we put a time limit on our cash offers so the vendor knows you are not a safe bet. Personally, I would write to the agent and formally withdraw your offer in writing just in case the agent is playing along and keeping your offer warm for the vendor but touting the property at the same time. The agent will not want to let a certain sale go cold without a fight.

'gazumped in anticipation' is a good way of putting it. I'm afraid that is the English system and you have no comeback as you hadn't exchanged.

sorry.

It's back on Rightmove already at the higher price. Actually I would still buy it if they accepted our offer including the £5k extra.

A first world problem of course.

It's just life. If the sale had been quicker you probably would have been fine but its normal for someone to want the maximum price for a property.

You're buying it as a buy to let which suggests to me that there is still room for it to go higher & still be profitable for a future purchaser so no wonder the vendor is looking to get more money.

I'm very surprised that your father has suggested this as a former lawyer. There are clearly no grounds for you to ask for compensation in these circumstances. It's just a consequence of our (shit) house buying system. The EA has done nothing wrong here that I can see - it's the vendor you should be angry with.