Advice needed on lowering purchase price before exchange

[Mummy0987]

I am buying a new build from a developer. I just realised from paid price registry that my neighbour who bought exactly the same build as me (same square feet, same interior) just a couple of months earlier was paying nearly 15k lower than me. With current brexit situation, I don’t find the price I am paying is fair. We are probably a few days away from exchange, I would like to re-negotiate the purchase price with the developer, how do I go about? (I am a no chain buyer)

I doubt they would entertain a price drop.
I find it highly unlikely that you have found the neighbours sale on the land registry... developers sold prices are generally kept off land registry until the whole development is sold... to stop people like you checking what others have paid.
What the neighbour paid is irrelevant tbh they negotiated a better deal than you

You phone the agent and tell them.

Then you wait to hear if the seller accepts the new price or tells you to go jump.

If they accept, fine. If they reject then you either pay the original price, offer another amount or don't buy at all.

The seller may also refuse to sell if they think you are an unreliable buyer.

Personally I think before making your first offer is the time to decide what you are happy to pay - not later - but that's the process.

You can try. They could say yes, they could say no. The risk is that they pull out altogether (unlikely but possible).

Yes, approach your agent and simply say: I feel in the current market the price I'm willing to pay is XXX. Don't waffle or cite others, just keep it short. Up to them to decide whether to decrease the price and up to you to buy it even if they don't drop the price.

I think developers care a lot less than individual sellers about this sort of thing. I’d go back to EA and say that given house prices are falling (they are where I live anyway!) and that you know the neighbour paid 15k less, you wish to reduce your offer.

Just reduce your offer to the agent.

A developer would rather have your sale than go back on the market, especially in these unpredictable times.