It's it ever ok to reduce offer price just before exchange

[absolutelyknackeredcow]

Very long story but this is the situation:
Private sale -we found them and did all the leg work.
House needs considerable work - think everything (roof, plumbing, electrics the lot). Extremely poor decorative state.
It has a lot of space and is in a road we were keen to live in so we offered what they asked. They said this was a non negotiable price. At this point we thought we were paying about 30k over the market rate but it's a long term investment for us and forever home.
After we offered we realised that there was no central heating in the property in bedrooms (this was not obvious on viewing as there is so much stuff) - even at this point we didn't ask for a reduction.
The chain has stalled - in order to keep our buyers we exchanged in current market we will be going into rental ( for building works this was going to be necessary).
Our sellers still refuse to put pressure on their sellers. We have no idea when exchange or completion will happen and how long we be in rental. Our builder has been very understanding but he has no idea when he will be starting - meaning longer in rental for us.

We are really fed up.

Since then other properties have really dropped in price - seeing 5-10% reductions - let alone for people with no chain. I'm feeling like we are being mugged.

Given this information, would it be reasonable to ask for a price reduction if we get to exchange?

OP, just wondering how it is going? I hope it all worked out (whichever way that ultimately is!)

Sorry meant to do an update
We tried to reduce price (not budging ). Tried to get them to pass on the benefit that they weren't paying fees (not budging). Outraged that we even asked.

They said we need to exchange by Tuesday and complete by the 25 July otherwise they will pull the chain ( so ironic given that we had been pushing for both for some time). This is, of course, fine by us !!!!

We have decided to go ahead after much soul searching :
Mainly because it is a long term forever house in the exact location we wanted which meets our specific needs as a family and children and accommodates my husbands hobby in a way that no other house we have seen does.
There was also some further confirmed sold price info which I received on a house we viewed twice. It also needed a lot of work and was comparable in size. It was comparable in price to ours.
Only time will tell whether we have made a good financial decision. It was undoubtedly the right decision for us as a family

That sounds like a great update giving that the biggest problem here was them dragging their heels. Fingers crossed for Tues.

It sounds like the right decision to me as well OP - hope it runs smoothly to completion now!

I will wait until completion to post details of the 'pets'. It will be worth the wait I'm sure

Thanks for all good wishes.
Our builder came round this morning - full of helpful advice and exciting ideas and I have began to get excited again about the potential

Nice update, hope it progresses smoothly. Sometimes you have to separate what is a good deal financially from what is a good house for specific needs and how happy it will make you having a house that meets those.

I am super curious about this house

Good luck for Tuesday's exchange.

@W0rriedMum I promise you it will be worth wait

Well @absolutelyknackeredcow did you exchange yesterday?

I am very intrigued about the pets!

STILL NO BLOODY EXCHANGE

It's not our sellers. They are really putting pressure on.
But sellers sellers are just being ridiculous

Sosrry this is happening to you

what have you been told, are you sure it’s not sellers making excuses?

It's definitely not our sellers - at one point our solicitor released contract for exchange and their solicitor tried to go up the chain.
I think there is a real risk there will be a further delay - we would start incurring further costs from next week regarding builders and storage

Sorry to be thick but why are the builders causing you extra costs?

@RosaWaiting at the moment our builders aren't asking for retainer if things go beyond the 25 July completion, however it is possible they might.
In addition work is probably six months - we have the rental for that time - if this absolute madness continues any longer we may have longer in rental as builders won't be able to start on time.

Storage costs if we don't complete on 25 July certain though.

Oh so you booked in builders already? Eek.

I’m not the most patient though. My sister let a buyer faff for months after I’d have told them to bog off, and it went through about six months later than she wanted...

We had too - it's an absolute gut and good builders get booked months in advance. It currently has no central heating and a leaky roof - we couldn't wait until winter for that.

I've waited before - 9 months for a completion - but this is different because everyone agreed to the 25 July at the start of March

Still no exchange

Same reason?

Yep - sellers seller is trying to progress an onward chain despite being bankrupt and promising to go into rental.
Final deadline tomorrow noon or the whole thing falls

Did you set the final deadline?

No our sellers - but to be fair we support it

Well, I will cross everything that it works out for you