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Original poster

Been gazundered!

69 replies

Polly2345 · 13/03/2017 18:33

We're due to exchange this week and our buyer has suddenly dropped their offer from £110,000 to £100,000. They're saying it's because the survey threw up issues around damp, the flat roof and the chimney. But they had the survey for several weeks before starting to seek quotes for this work, plus the new offer bears no relation to the quotes - the reduction she's proposing is almost twice what the quotes come to (not that she told us that to start with but our EA worked this out for us and we then asked to see the quotes).

Also, she was adamant she also needed an electrical survey but has never got one (saying she was struggling to find an electrician - even though our EA offered her the electrician they use for the lettings side of their business) and this morning changed her mind about needing one. I now suspect she never intended to get one but has used this to delay things til the last minute.

Our buyer's buyer is the bottom of the chain and has to complete by 24th March or their mortgage offer expires and they can't get it renewed. So I feel this is in our favour - if she sticks to her guns re her new offer and we tell her where to go then she doesn't just lose our house she also loses her buyer.

But we do really want the house we're buying and don't want to risk losing it. Although if we accepted her new stupidly low offer we wouldn't be able to buy our new house anyway.

What would others do?

OP posts:
Bloomed · 13/03/2017 22:55

Yes I'd put it back on the market. Call their bluff.

Lilly948204 · 14/03/2017 06:43

This happened to us just after Christmas. Buyer had survey done which highlighted non urgent work but a couple of things which should be looked at in the future. We didn't hear anything for ages, then she decided to get some quotes. By this point we had contracts ready to sign and exchange. We had been pushing and pushing for these quotes to be ready and to tell us how much they were for. Eventually she came back weeks later with over £10,000 of non essential work and said unless we reduced the price significantly she wouldn't sign her contract. We got quotes ourselves for the one piece of work which we considered could be more urgent and they came in at a maximum of £3000 rather than the £9000 she had said. We offered to pay half £1500, in order to progress with sale. She said it wasn't enough so we said sod you and put the house back on the market. It sold in 6 days for more than the original amount we had sold to her for. Some people in this process are just crazy!

(Since she put the offer in she also kept turning up nearly every weekend wanting to measure things, or get samples of the lounge carpet! The worst was when she turned up at 8am with someone to look at the roof - her survey had highlighted moss on the roof which needed clearing and she came back with a £1600 quote for new guttering all the way around the property. Total crazy woman, although it slowed the process down I was glad to be rid of her!)

OrangeSquashTallGlass · 14/03/2017 07:03

I don't know why some posters are saying not to reduce. If it does genuinely have damp then the price should reflect that. Not by 10grand but by a reasonable amount. I agree with you OP.

user1484830599 · 14/03/2017 07:11

I am also baffled OrangeSquashTallGlass, buyer is clearly trying it on.

Its just not cricket either is it? You make an offer to purchase in good faith and you stick to that amount (unless survey throws up something terrible).

One thing I would say is that where there is damp, generally you know about it. There is a musty smell, blown plaster, maybe marks on clothing/wallpaper etc.

Original poster
Polly2345 · 14/03/2017 08:39

Thanks everyone. Am going to ring the EA at 9am.

OrangeSquash - yes, I would have asked for reduction on damp if I was buyer. Although I wouldn't have waited til the last minute!

The damp isn't that obvious. We weren't aware it needed doing and we live here!

We did think the other day that we should have gotten quotes too in case hers were stupidly high. Reading some comments here, I'm feeling a bit silly that we didn't. But she wasn't upfront about what she wanted quotes for - she kept adding new things she wanted quotes for, which made it hard for us to organise our own quotes.

In the end, everyone who has provided a quote has been recommended to her by our EA. She kept saying she hadn't got quotes yet because she couldn't find people to come out. So our EA gave her contacts of people they use for the lettings side of their business. And when she still didn't organise anything our EA rang those people on her behalf and arranged for them to come out!

OP posts:
SmokyMountains · 14/03/2017 08:59

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but

(a) when I was trying to get quotes I did have to do quite a bit of legwork as I found a lot of tradesmen didn't want to quote if you are selling/buying because they know its being used primarily for a price negotiation and they not really pricing a job where if they are the best quote they are going to get the work in the next couple of weeks, so don't want to waste their time so its may be true she has struggled to get people out

(b) our scary quote was for damp....17k! We were horrified...but we known someone socially who does expert witness stuff in court where they testify for trading standards if people get ripped off with building work and they told us that a lot of local 'free damp survey' types are completely awful and will find huge damp problems in every single property to invent work.

They suggested we use one of two big damp companies who would just give us an accurate idea. They were 'Peter Cox' and 'Timberwise'. We used Timberwise as they could fit us in first. We had to pay as our house was on the market, but it wasn't very much (its two years ago but I think it was about £200?) and you did get that back if you did the work do we offered that to the prospective purchaser as part of the negotiations.

Of course she could still be a complete chancer you are better of without, but if you are really set on the property you've made an offer on, it might be worth your time and effort in playing it out a bit more to see if she has been scared into knocking a lot off by speaking to some damp 'expert' and some reassurance as to outlay would mean she'd up to a level you can afford to buy at.

Its not necessarily a bad idea to put it back on the market to see if you can get any nibbles at a slightly higher level but realistically if the property has damp, any survey is going to find it and any buyer is then going to want to renegotiate on the basis of it, so you might bin off the current one and find yourself in the same position in a few weeks time.

If you get a decent damp survey done, you have a reliable idea as to cost to negotiate and stop the risk of someone coming round and adding £££ to the job and scaring the buyer off, and of course if you lose or ditch this buyer you can use the damp survey with the next one.

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 14/03/2017 09:05

Damp is a con a lot of the time. The surveys are done by people who install damp proof courses and surprise surprise most of the time they say it needs doing. And the injection stuff is dubious whether it really achieves much at all.

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 14/03/2017 09:08

I don't quite get what all the quotes are for either. I always think it's sold as seen unless the survey throws up something really not very obvious.

Original poster
Polly2345 · 14/03/2017 11:49

Just heard back from the EA. Our buyer isn't willing to budge from £100k so we're going back on the market. I now think she planned this all along.

OP posts:
HmmOkay · 14/03/2017 12:05

I'm really sorry OP. Rubbish for you.

So now either the buyer is going to have to move into rented or she will lose her own buyer. You may find that the buyer comes crawling back after a couple of days when the reality of that (plus the costs that she has already accrued) sinks in for her.

user1484830599 · 14/03/2017 12:05

Sorry O/P but you've probably had a lucky escape. People who are happy to behave in such a devious way are rarely easy to deal with and she could easily have turned into a nightmare.

Fingers crossed for a new buyer quickly. I was going to say OR that she changes her mind and pays the original price, but how would you ever trust her again?

Original poster
Polly2345 · 14/03/2017 12:20

Thanks for the kind words. Our EA has just called. He's put the house back on the market but...

Our buyer's solicitor is 'trying to talking some sense into her' to get her to offer nore and everyone further up the chain has offered to lower their offers a little so we split the loss between us. I've heard of this but I didn't want to ask people to do it - felt cheeky. So it's nice they've offered (not that they should have to).

I know what you mean about can we trust her. I won't believe anything unless we actually exchange. I am really aware that the people at the bottom of the chain will lose their opportunity to buy if their mortgage offer expires, and our seller has already had a sale fall through twice and lost the house he originally wanted. Not that it will be our fault if things don't work out, but it might be worth sticking with our stupid buyer if the rest of the chain are willing to help.

OP posts:
ExplodedCloud · 14/03/2017 12:28

If it can be pulled together so everyone takes a small hit, that's good but as pp have said that can mean involving lenders unless there's a way of doing it via solicitors.
I'd not come off the market yet...

witwootoodleoo · 14/03/2017 12:36

All the mortgage companies of tgose revising their sale/purchase price will have to redo the mortgage offers. That's going to be tight by 24th so you're all going to have to stay on top of them

HiDBandSIL · 14/03/2017 18:08

GOod luck OP, what a stressful situation. I wish we could get your buyer on here to get her to explain herself! Really bad behaviour.

SmokyMountains · 14/03/2017 22:29

oh dear, how stressful for you.
FX the buyers solicitor can work their magic for you.

Original poster
Polly2345 · 15/03/2017 06:53

Well she still wouldn't budge from £100k. So we let her go as she's clearly an idiot (according to our EA her own solicitor has told her her behaviour is unacceptable).

Then Iast night our seller offered to lower what we pay him even further to fully meet our buyer's demands. And he's already instructed his solicitor to sort this. I think he's mad (I was all for getting more viewings in the property in the hope she'd realise no one was going to give in to her and then she might come back in a few days with a more sensible offer).

I also just really don't want to deal with her anymore but our seller is clearly desperate to sell (he had two sakes fall through on the day of exchange before we offered).

OP posts:
Original poster
Polly2345 · 15/03/2017 06:54

On having to have your mortgage offer redone: I hadn't thought about this so thanks to everyone who's pointed it out.

Does anyone know: will we have to go through the whole application process again from scratch?

OP posts:
user1484830599 · 15/03/2017 07:05

I'm almost cross on your behalf that this awful woman is going to get what she wants, but if it keeps you able to proceed with your purchase it looks like the best option I guess.

I'm not sure about the mortgages, but I guess it would take some time to reissue the offers at the new price. Could you ask your EA.

Spickle · 15/03/2017 07:23

You shouldn't have to go through the whole mortgage process again. The lender will just have to adjust the amount of borrowing against the new price of the property and reissue the offer. It just takes a little while for the new offer to reach you and your solicitor so it's a little bit inconvenient when you're waiting and waiting...!

wowfudge · 15/03/2017 08:00

And the upshot is that this madam will get her way because everyone else is being so reasonable. If you do the deal OP, take every damn thing with you!

user1484830599 · 15/03/2017 08:04

Yes agree with wowfudge take all the light bulbs!

Gazelda · 15/03/2017 08:12

How bloody maddening for you. Your heart probably wants to tell her to stuff it, but your head is looking at the bigger picture, this could all be a distant memory in 1 month. And your mortgage repayments will be lower!

Falafelings · 15/03/2017 08:14

Leave a huge shite in the loo

Falafelings · 15/03/2017 08:14

You all sound very nice and she sounds a right nightmare

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