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Original poster

Our buyer has really changed the goalposts!

31 replies

firefirefire · 21/04/2019 18:37

Evening
How would you deal with this? We sold our rental property to a couple who are moving in together and were planning to rent their individual houses out. We accepted a fairly low offer based on the fact it was going to be a quick and easy chain. They had a mortgage sorted etc etc.

We are 4 weeks in and hasn't seen any committment from them in terms of surveys, searches, enquiries etc . Our estate agent and solicitor have now told us that they've actually now both sold their homes - one to a first time buyer and the other is in a small but complete chain, hence them stalling. They are now apparently funding the purchase of our house with the sale of their houses.

This is bloody annoying to us as we now are waiting and relying on 5 people in total to get mortgage offers/surveys etc etc when it should have just been our buyers!!!

The other issue is that we made our timescales very clear to them at the beginning because our fixed rate on our BTL ends soon and we do not want very long paying through the nose on a bad interest rate. If we have to start paying that whilst waiting for all this to go through, it makes us feel very bitter that we accept their low offer based on lies!! I am thinking that they never planned to rent their houses out at all.

So my question is, what would you do? Shall we email the estate agent and ask for some committment from the buyers in terms of dates/surveys etc etc?

The house sale is incredibly important for some incredibly personal reasons as it is funding us to completely relocate.

OP posts:
TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 21/04/2019 18:41

I’d put it back on the market, tbh. You accepted a lower offer precisely to avoid the sort of dillydallying they’re now doing.
It won’t get any better, I speak from bitter experience.

ChicCroissant · 21/04/2019 18:42

That is annoying, but 4 weeks into a property purchase isn't very long - my EA always used to say around 12 weeks from the offer being accepted.

I think you could push to get the survey done. Would you put it back on the market?

We relocated and rented in the new area, is that possible if you also have a deadline for the relocation (as well as the BTL mortgage)?

Hope they pick the pace up next week for you, OP! Will they need a mortgage at all if they sell both properties?

Penguinpandarabbit · 21/04/2019 18:42

I would be very concerned and give deadline for survey to prove serious.

Singlenotsingle · 21/04/2019 18:43

I'm afraid buying and selling houses is incredible stressful, because no one has control. Certainly ask your EA to chase it up but your alternative is to put yours back on the market and start all over again.

MarieG10 · 21/04/2019 18:46

Put it back in the market. If they could have afforded to buy without selling then they still can

Original poster
firefirefire · 21/04/2019 19:02

Yeah was expecting about 12 weeks but apparently they've only accepted offers on their houses over the last few days, so it's pretty much at the beginning and not 4 weeks down the line, if you see what I mean. Confused

It's a difficult one because as some f you have said, we could end up in a much worse and longer chain than this if we put it back on the market.

I am hoping if we rattle their cages a bit then it might hurry them along.

The only saving grace is that our residential house has just sold too, so I guess we have potential to move into our rented one before we re-locate... Not ideal though as it's way too small for us. We have 5 children!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
firefirefire · 21/04/2019 19:06

@MarieG10 I'm genuinely thinking that they may have lied!

OP posts:
Passthecherrycoke · 21/04/2019 19:07

I agree phone the estate agent Tuesday and say you’re putting it back on the market

MzHz · 21/04/2019 19:14

Definitely put it back on the market and if they don’t want it so, they pay full asking price

Cheeky buggers!

Asdf12345 · 21/04/2019 19:25

Explain the situation to them and negotiate an escalator to the contract, ie if not completed by x date the price increases by £yk per week up to the asking price.

Be prepared to walk away and go back on the market if they don’t like it.

TheGrey1houndSpeaks · 21/04/2019 19:27

Of course they’ve lied!

AWishForWingsThatWork · 21/04/2019 19:32

I would put it back on the market after telling their estate agent that they weren't honest about being chain free, and you can't afford to wait money- or time- wise ... You would have taken a higher offer, but you trusted their statement that they were chain free.

Mumtofourandnomore · 21/04/2019 21:28

I think you should put it back on the market - they must’ve known that they planned to sell their own houses to fund their new purchase, and a chain is bad enough, let alone it actually being two chains, from experience something is bound to go wrong/get delayed. If they are prepared to offer the asking price then that’s a bit different - they should be able to afford the increase now they have the extra funds coming in Hmm

CoffeeConnoisseur · 21/04/2019 21:36

I would put it back on the market first thing on Tuesday morning and make sure the estate agents are proactively marketing it.. rather than sitting back thinking “well we've already got an offer”.

You were deliberately misled as to the terms of the offer you accepted, and I would make that very clear to the agents and ask them to pass that on to your buyers. Explain that it’s going back on the market looking for higher offers.

ThanksItHasPockets · 22/04/2019 08:42

I agree with PP. We went with a buyer who claimed to be mortgage-free as they were funding the sale with an inheritance. They neglected to mention that not only did they first need to sell the inherited property but they didn’t even have probate yet. We were too far along the line to pull out at this point but you are not.

Invisibleiink · 22/04/2019 08:52

Ah, that's a good tip for the future thanksithas - worth asking to see a copy of the grant of probate in that situation. (although i realise its not much help to you now!) Some estate agents are quite proactive in verifying buyers at the offer stage - asking for copies of bank statements showing funds available etc.

jcq17 · 22/04/2019 08:59

We did similar to what your buyers are doing but we weren't paying cheaply. The couple we were buying from had split up and wanted the property gone quickly. Turns out after the searches it ended up being them holding us up the whole time which took 14 weeks in total. 4 weeks is nothing.

SlowDown76mph · 22/04/2019 08:59

Put it back on the market. We had a similar scenario, with very plausible reasons/excuses, one after the other. Dragged on for 9 months! When it came to the crunch, they were lying about critical information and then had the nerve to try to get a reduction for non-existent 'issues'. Thing is, we had been taken in by the apparent quick sale at the beginning. We'd be far more street-wise and not so 'nice' next time.

Original poster
firefirefire · 22/04/2019 10:08

@jcq17 That's the thing though, it's not 'only' 4 weeks . It's 4 weeks of them literally doing nothing to proceed and stalling. So we are back at square one as nothing has moved forward in that time.

OP posts:
TBDO · 22/04/2019 11:15

I’d put it back on the market. They made out they were proceedable buyers, but they really weren’t - they didn’t even have offers on their properties let alone being able to go ahead without selling.

jcq17 · 22/04/2019 12:07

It's the nature of the beast I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong we were super proactive it ends up being held up by
Solicitors most of the time. Just contact the estate agent and give them an ultimatum that you want to see progress this week.

MustBeDueSomeBetterFeet · 22/04/2019 12:18

I've always shown commitment as a buyer by getting the survey done asap. I can see absolutely no reason why this hasn't happened yet, so I think it's fair to say it has to go back on the market tomorrow - given all the reasons PPs have stated - but if they can move things along (to whatever stage you feel is acceptable, searches complete or something) you'll take it back off the market. Please just think of yourself here, not them.

ConfCall · 22/04/2019 17:30

Surely the agent should have done more due diligence re funds? Anyway...tell the agent tomorrow that you want it back on the market and actively marketed and that the buyers are welcome to offer anew, based on their actual circumstances.

Sammy867 · 22/04/2019 17:35

We had the exact same. We were buying a house from a couple who were divorcing and moving into rented. Except it dragged on and on. We were chain free but that wasn’t the point as the price we negotiated in was the fact they were chain free too. Eventually we found out months later that they were buying another property using a mortgage from money from the proceeds of this sale and weren’t in fact divorcing. I would start again as we found out too late but I couldn’t proceed with a liar unless the price was increased to reflect their new position, not their old one

WednesdaySpinner · 23/04/2019 14:00

Exact same here too so completely feel your frustration right now. We had even rejected a higher offer as she had told us she was a cash buyer ready to proceed now and by the time we found out we were too far down the line to put it back on the market as we would have lost the house we wanted to buy. Agree with PP that it will only get worse, ours ended up being a nightmare with her randomly turning up the day before completion with a removal van and then threatening to sue us for her costs Hmm I would definitely put it back on the market if that is an option for you