A few questions (horrible vendor being bully in a playground throwing his toys out of the pram)

[Anonymousperson]

Sorry - solicitor is incommunicado until Monday & this is doing my head in

Just to give you insight to the kind of guy we're having to deal with - Vendor has practically been booted out by his fellow villagers, he owes money for works done on property he's selling/we want. Throws toys out of the pram if he doesn't get what he wants, has threatened to pull out multiple times as we haven't yet exchanged & he is in a hurry, despite his place being on market for over a year without even reducing the price by 50p! blah blah....

14 suggestions came back from the surveyor. We have asked the vendor to action ONE of these only. Drains need jetting. That's it.

Vendor's agent has told us (finally after 5 calls & multiple emails) that the drains are fine & the agent has removed surface leaves so there really is no issue. (Owner lives overseas)

We asked for works to be carried out by a professional. Obviously this has been ignored.

Lots of too-ing & fro-ing, vendor now says he'll do it after exchange but before completion & will put this in the contract.

I don't trust him AT ALL. What are our options?

*If this is put in the contract and we want a receipt from a pro, can he get out of fulfilling his promise?

To avoid this scenario, can we now go back & say we've reduced our offer by £xxxxx in light of our request being ignored?*

We realise he has no legal obligation to meet us on this but the other factors we could throw into the mix are big. Possibly asbestos. Roof to be re-tiled.

Advice welcome & thankyou in advance.

He sounds horrible.

I'm buying and don't trust my vendor either. ..

Think you have no leverage at all after you have exchanged. He wants you to exchange say you won't until he has done the required works

Just get the drains done when you move in, it's not a big thing is it?

Why do you want him to do the drains specifically?

I'm buying a house which has been bought and done up to sell, and priced accordingly so I ve asked the seller to get her builder back to fix his bodges. ..I'll see if he does. She's now keen to complete after having messed around for weeks...

If you really want to house there really is no point creating a fight with the stroppy vendor over the drains.

Just move the sale through as quickly as you can and get the house you want.

If it is included in the contract then legally he should do the work, but if he doesn't then the solicitors will parry back and forth with letters and you will probably have to sue him through small claims court.

If you reduce the purchase price, you will need an amended mortgage offer and the contracts will need changing/signing again to reflect the new price. This will delay matters further, which I assume neither you nor he want.

This really isn't worth getting stressed about. Just get the drains jetted after you move in.

Can you include a provision in the contract that the work is done and receipts produced prior to completion or the sun of £x will be retained from the purchase price to cover the cost of the agreed works? That might incentivise him to actually do it?

Thankyou for reading & replying.

We would like the drains done specifically as the property has been extended and they're blocked by building materials from works done.

I'm new to this so appreciate your words on all the issues I raised.

you can ask that he puts a bond with the solicitor so that if he doesn't do the work then the bond is forfeit or used to do the work

How much will getting the drains cleared/ jetted cost?

I empathise. The house I'm buying has had work done and I wanted my surveyor to check that they hadn't blocked drains exactly like this.

Reduced offer would take just days for mortgage company to reissue ( I was told 48 hours for Santander, although my seller wouldn't accept a reduced offer..)

Well we have just exchanged contracts, we delayed it by about a week because work we had asked to be done hadn't been finished. It was our solicitor who advised to not exchange until it was done as once we exchanged the vendor legally didn't have to do the work.

A mortgage lender may take just days to reissue, but the point is that the contract needs to reflect the correct price so this also would need changing and then signed by the seller and buyer (and the seller lives abroad), so it would delay matters.

Thankyou everyone.

Spoke to agent (Very unhelpful the solicitor being away this week) who has said he won't do them now as it'll delay exchange & he wants to exchange asap. The irony is that he is the one delaying All she said was that as our solicitor (when he is around )will act with our best interest.

I do however now have another q if anyone would mind replying....?

If an item is mentioned in the advert/Rightmove promo/printed brochure etc does it legally have to stay? Can it then be put on the F&F documents for extra money meaning it was actually really 'for negotiation' and not included in the sale price?

Thankyou in advance. I have tried googling but haven't had much luck.

Well yes it should really be included but it is possible there was an inaccuracy and that after seeing the advert you will have been sent a f&f form detailing everything that is really included. That will have been signed by the vendor and form the basis of the contract drawn up by your solicitor.

So it is the f&f form that you should really pay attention to.

Unfortunately no. Estate Agent has probably assumed something is included and vendor thinks not. The F&F is legally binding however - it will be attached to the contract so if they say something is staying (or quoted a price) then they are obliged to honour that.

We are currently representing a purchaser who is buying a property that the EA sales particulars advertise as having an allocated parking space and a share of the garden. It has neither according to the deeds so we have one unhappy client.

The F&F form is the legally binding bit. If the form is not as you expected, you can drop your offer or ask for it to be changed. Or just suck it up.

It should stay, but if it doesn't you will either have to suck it up or take the vendor to small claims court (so I was told when our vendor took a load of stuff that was on the F&F list)

Hi all - OP here
Had a long chat with solicitor (he is finally back from his hols) this morning & legally there is no obligation for the summerhouse to stay. It's a grey area due to being in the approved spec etc etc. It does cone down to the F&F list.

We have submitted a retainer into the contract which will prove whether the vendor is true to his word.

Due to exchange this week if he agrees.

Thankyou for your help.

UPDATE

Upon legal advice, we have pulled out. Solicitor doesn't trust him & as such, we can't either.

Thank you for the update I think you are wise

Good! It's one of those scenarios I think, where you'd have moved in and found all sorts of "surprises". He sounds so dodgy.

I think you're doing the right thing, although I'm sure you're disappointed. Your seller sounds like a shyster, though, so I bet you've dodged a bullet!

Wise to pull out before incurring many costs. We tried to buy a probate flat where the vendor's solicitors weren't that interested as they were acting on behalf of Trustees of the deceased estate so unless they kicked up a fuss, they were happy to eke it all out and raise their fees in the process.

The Management Company were also doing diddly squat in providing the necessary information (such as key fobs to access the secure parking area) and when we gave our solicitor an ultimatum that if we didn't get all issues resolved by a specific date, STILL nothing was forthcoming we decided to pull out. We were going to have to deal with said Management Company once we were living there and it didn't bode well for future relations with them.

What a nightmare it does sound like it's the right thing though!

I am sure you've done exactly the right thing. Hope you find something else soon.

I think you did the right thing, he sounds a nightmare.