Sale fell through AGAIN

[mummysho]

I basically want everyone to make me feel better lol.

We put our ground floor flat on the market in November, it sold within 24hours of being on the market to FTB. After a savage survey, they pulled out instantly without even trying to negotiate. The surveyor was totally harsh about most of what he said but 1 thing was the boiler, which we sorted. We sold again in January, very quickly again. This time cash buyers who weren't going to do a survey, adamant they wanted our place by the end of feb and wouldn't wait, even met with us and seemed lovely. All of a sudden got a survey done out of no where near the end of feb, not particularly good again and wanted us to drop the price considerably, even though they had already knocked us down by 5 grand, we couldn't do that so they pulled out too. We'd packed up everything cause they wanted it so quick and seemingly so desperately and we just recieved the exchange of contracts. So we're gutted, probably going to lose our dream house now as they don't want to hang on any longer.

Basically the problem is a lean to extension that has no building regs, that's all. Built by the previous owners. We've seen hugely run down places, even 1 with major subsidence that have all sold. This is ground floor flat, big rooms, double log burner, large private garden, hot tub, double oven, off road parking, nothing round here like it. SURELY IT WILL SELL SOON!!

Anyone else been in a similar situation?! Stressed and gutted!!

Sorry to hear this OP, I've had a sale fall through a few times but for different reasons - never anything to do with the house.

Is there anything you can do about the extension? Indemnity or can you knock it down completely, get retrospective planning permission? Otherwise it's going to be an issue for any future buyer.

Get indemnity insurance for the lean to - surprised no one has suggested it. I never got building regs for knocking through a supporting wall - I did have a rsj put in but never had it signed off (my ignorance). But indemnity insurance for £120 and that was it.

Are you upfront about the lack of building regs? Can you retrospectively apply for them?

Have the buyers shared the surveys? It sounds as though you need to fix the problems because you'll probably find yourself in the same position (or reduce the price)

I hate cash buyers for exactly this reason. Everyone thinks that they are better because they’re not tied to another sale, but they are fickle and can change their mind at the drop of a hat. With a chain the pain is waiting for the chain to assemble, but once it does, usually the pressure of the chain keeps everyone moving. Of course, chains do collapse, but in my experience cash buyers are flakier

@Pipandmum we got asked about indemnity insurance by our last buyers solicitor, which we were happy to do, but never got that far unfortunately. Perhaps we can do it anyway, thank you!

@CheddarGorgeous yep we were upfront and they were happy with that and still said they didn't want to do a survey!

@Africa2go The first buyers didn't get a full official report so there was nothing to share other than the bullet points sent to them, the second buyers for a full report but refused to send it to us. Perhaps being petty, or perhaps having us on and the problems weren't as bad as they made out and wanted to save face, who knows. We don't want to spend any more money than we already have if we can help it, so have told the estate agent to be totally upfront that work needs doing but isn't urgent (we've survived 3 strong wind and rain storms with 0 issues) and we'd be willing to drop the price, so we'll see!

We got retrospective building regs on a knock through some years ago, is that an option?

@Waitingforplastertodry We found out the hard way it seems. The fact that they refused to send us the survey report, send warning signs. They were seemingly desperate to get our place, yet when I looked up their address online, it's still listed as for sale so I think they were stringing us along to get more time. But because we refused to drop the price as much as they wanted (we physically couldn't) they scarpered!

Indemnity insurance will only help if the lean to is basically sound but just lacking sign off. If the surveyors are flagging up that the lean to is badly constructed or has defects then you then you will probably need to find some way to make it good yourselves.

Ahhh we had a cash buyer on our last place who several weeks in raised ‘just a small mortgage’ on our sale (ok so not cash but still chain free) and then the day before exchange tried to tie in another property

@crankysaurus definitely going to look into this, thank you

We had a similar thing with a house we just bought (they didn't get an extension signed off quickly enough) so they just got an indemnity insurance thingy. Maybe say that when people are at the survey stage? It's odd that has caused 2 sales to fall through. It seems quite par for the course! (Most people I know have either bought places with indemnities or had to get them in order to sell.)

But indemnity insurance is usually a cheap and quick fix if it was just a question of covering off lack of building regs - not something that would cause buyers to pull out completely after spending £££ on surveys and legal fees.

@Africa2go you'd think so hey! I can kinda get the ftb pulling out as they got scared off and it included a problem with the boiler, which we've since sorted. But not these guys, I think they strung us along towards the end as we saw their house for sale online after we did a little search!

Just sold our house after four falling through attempts :-)
The ‘actual’ buyers understood the house, and getting indemnity insurance wasn’t a problem - we had to get it for a lean to that’s very old and a very historic knock through.
What a PP said re: the soundness of the actual lean to rather than the building regs might be worth investigating. Ask a builder to have a look.

Surveyors can only see what you see though. Sounds like you just had bad luck with idiot buyers who aren’t serious though - or they would have said ‘the lean to has a serious issue’ and why.

Did you get a survey yourself when you bought it?

@Girlwhowearsglasses 4? Eek! Hope we don't make it to 4! I admire your strength!

Get this, we bought it off my husbands parents. So no survey, as we trusted them. We had to give them extra money for it too as a gift because they couldn't get it classed as a 2 bed (separate issue which we quickly sorted when we bought it). Any issue that has been bought up, has been works that his dad has done, will they help us? Nope. Nice huh?

Could it be that the survey is flagging up that its a 1 bed, turned into a 2 bed, and thats why buyers are dropping out as soon as they get a survey (its not a "true" 2 bed)? Also is your FIL a qualified tradesman? I think botched DIY can often make things really expensive to put right?

Building regs aren't just a bureaucratic tick boxing exercise. It demonstrates that the building is safe - foundations, ventilation, electrical safety, fire safety etc. An indemnity policy might reassure some buyers or might just make them think it's kicking the problems down the road until they come to sell.

Do you have a friendly planning dept that could advise you on getting building regs?