Wow! Being held to ransom!

[Gilead]

So far this purchaser has demanded we remove various things from the garden. Some of which we agreed to, others not. She sent a list of questions over via the agent not the solicitors, all of which should have been done by the solicitor. She demanded (and didn't get) a map of where the sun hit the garden at various times during the day. She expected us to remove fitted wardrobes and shelves because she doesn't want them. She has been back more than once to look over the place with builders/decoraters etc. She offered a ridiculous price and finally got 15 grand off, quickly followed by another three agreed to keep the chain going. And now she's refusing to sign contracts until we let her in to measure up where her fucking furniture is going. I am extraordinarily close to telling her to piss off and putting the house back on the market. Aaarghh!

We had a horrendous buyer who was similar. We'd just put in an offer on our dream house and then she dropped her price based on the survey (survey said original price was fair). I was so pissed off but we just had to swallow it (in NE, property moves slowly). Funnily enough we did not leave a card, bottle of champagne, flowers, any instructions for using the oven/boiler/alarm system/dishwasher etc etc. But now we have our lovely new house so trying not to think about it.

Not funny is it. That's where she got the extra three grand from, the survey was fine but she insisted it was for the inconvenience of minor works. Survey also said price was fair. We went with it to keep things going. However my autistic dd is finding the whole process very hard and she is just being a cow. She thinks that because we're going two hundred miles away (funnily enough, NE) we're desperate. It's grim because the people I'm buying from are lovely!

The next time she demands something, go back and say you're sick and tired of the way she's behaving and she'll be free to make any changes she wants WHEN YOU COMPLETE AND THE HOUSE IS HERS. If she's not prepared to back off and buy as is, you're putting it back on the market. If your vendors are as nice as you say, they might wait for you.

I am sincerely thinking about it Makemine.

I would. We had a nightmare time with our cash buyer who it turned out didn't have the funds when they were meant to long story. After dicking us about for months we went through with our threat to re-market the house - lo and behold they shut up, suddenly found the money and we exchanged within a week.

I do actually think she'll pull out, I'm not entirely sure I care. I like the house I have put an offer on. I like the family. I'm not sure it would sell particularly fast, whereas I think mine might. There is always though, another house.

We had exactly the same..!! Threatening to pull out unless we allowed them to come round every Friday and Saturday to plan and measure up..!!! They knocked us down on survey, Demanded we clean and paint all the gutters before we left and other stupid bloody demands..!! The final straw came when the wife ( I stupidly gave her my number early on in the process) called me 1 week before exchange at 11pm telling me they would be in area at 7am the next day and I should make arrangements to be there and let them in for another look..!!
I about lost it, told the agent we were done, house was to go back up for sale as I wasn't going to sell to these entitled morons..!! She sent me abusive texts for about a week before sending flowers as an apology.. frickin nutter..!!! And yes, in the end we sold to her to not lose our dream house, felt so bad for my nice neighbours though..!

Hi there. I manage house moves and I completely agree. Stick to your guns and put a stop to all this 'taking the piss'. What reasonable person wouldn't buy a house they have seen a number of times and have at a reduced price, just because they can't come around and measure for the furniture. That should have been done on the second viewing.

If she is going to pull out, then she will find a reason to do so anyway and you are probably better off finding out sooner rather than later.

I feel your pain - I hope it goes well :-)

I'd tell her you'll be happy to arrange for her to come and measure up for her furniture once you've exchanged contracts. If she says no, carry through with the thread to put the house back on the market. If she comes back, the price has gone back up by the £3k she chipped off.

I like your thinking wow!

We had a nightmare time with our cash buyer who it turned out didn't have the funds when they were meant to

God, us too, our move was delayed for a month a WEEK before moving day because the stupid bitch hasn't realised she couldn't immediately transfer money from one country to another (she only checked the day we were suppose to exchange ). Then BT fucked up and cut us AND our (lovely) sellers off and then fucked up the reconnection so we had no phone or internet for a month. BT have still not compensated us for this. Our sellers could have been furious about this but they were so nice to us about it. It's raising my blood pressure just thinking about it!

Earlier stupid questions
Thread I wrote about shenanigans back in May!

Oh tell her to sod off! I think DP (chief negotiator in these matters in our house) would have asked the agent were these the questions of a serious buyer or someone who is messing around?

Actually, tell the EA you're becoming increasingly concerned her demands are because she isn't a serious buyer and is pushing you to pull out so she doesn't have to and thus saves face. Reverse psychology. Once you've exchanged she can measure up for furniture on one occasion only.

The woman who bought my flat many years ago was similar. In the end I had to tell agent that I would not take calls during working hours because the demands were ridiculous.

To keep the sale I did agree to go over one evening after completion to answer questions. The woman was a weird mixture of paranoid and demanding. She wanted me to assure her that no one could break in through the sky light (flat was on 5th floor, skylight was heavy lockable metal thing). I said I had no idea as I wasn't a burglar but that no one had so much as tried to in the years I had lived there. There were odd pernickety questions about the boiler and other stuff as well. In the end I felt sorry for her as there might have been some terrible trauma behind it all, but I did still refuse to have any further contact when the follow up questions kept coming.

Given you first posted in May and things haven't got better I'd put the house back on the market.

Every time you've agreed to a demand the ante's been upped.

I'd be concerned this was a prelude to asking for more money off the price before exchange.

So call her bluff and say she can measure up when she's signed contracts and not before.

If she refuses then the house will go back on the market - and mean it.

If she does come back the yes to the suggestion at £3k more as compensation for the pissing about.

I'm anxious this is going to happen to us! Whole chain ready to move except our buyers who are fiddling around doing everything at a snail's pace and haven't even arranged the survey yet months after offers accepted. I've no doubt they will try and wrangle something even though it's a solid house that doesn't need any work. if we don't move in next few months then we won't at all due to school applications and other logistical stuff that is all hanging on it.

ludicrous, set a time limit for survery (and every other step) to be done or house goes back on the market. You have got too much riding on this. You need to find out if they are serious as soon as possible.

Yikes, this has been going on since May? Definitely tell her to sod off the next time she makes another demand.

CountFosco Yikes, that sounds really stressful. Our buyer told us the money was in her account (with our EA claimed to have verified) but then two weeks before we were due to exchange said it was tied up in an investment bond and couldn't be accessed immediately. Cue lots of talk of bridging loans and then another three months of waiting until she finally got the money. I still feel murderous about it now.

Regina i'd be tempted to but we're in a bit of an odd position and I'd rather keep the buyer we have - at the moment. We will consider putting back on the market if things don't get done swiftly though.

Ok. Have emailed agent and said measure after exchange or bugger off. If she’s serious she’ll see sense and if not at least I can get back on the market quickly.

Good on you for telling her to do one. Doing this is hard enough without a ridiculous buyer. We're off to our new house to measure for furniture on Friday, so that I can order new sofas as soon as we've exchanged next week!

You are absolutely correct to have done this. I’m with all the PPs who’ve said that if she’s not serious, you’re better off finding out now and getting rid rather than it happening much later on.

Good for you.

Either way you'll know where you stand.

Good luck.

Estate Agent is checking in to things this morning, they'd like it to hold together but understand where I'm coming from. They have said they've never had a client quite this bad! So, we shall see. Either she's serious and will come back and agree to my really quite reasonable request that she wait until after exchange or she can go mess up another sale with her unreasonable demands, elsewhere!

I had a colleague have this kind of thing happen and she ended up saying either we exchange or it goes back on the market. Similar behaviour from the buyer that every time they thought that was it, escalated to another level of ridiculous.