What would happen if we pull out of sale?

[Freetodowhatiwant]

Does anyone know what would happen if we pulled out of selling our house? The surveys have been done but no date for exchange or completion yet and some searches yet to come back. Buyers want to hurry it forward but we initially agreed completion first week in May and we can’t really go much before that as we have nowhere to live.

Now with CV, schools closing, the thought of moving town somewhere new and on top of that we are separating it’s all getting too much for me and I feel like I want to stay for a while. See how the land lies in a few months time. Haven’t spoke to Dh about my fears yet so thought I would try to inform myself of what might happen/ what penalties we might have to pay.

You aren’t committed but won’t buyers will become very scarce soon?

Estate agent here!
If you haven't exchanged yet you are not legally committed to proceed. If you have used a no sale no fee agent you will not be obliged to pay commission (but check your contract with agent as some may charge for photography, EPCs if you withdraw)
If you have used an online agent like Purplebricks you will most likely still be charged their fee.
Your buyer cannot claim cost of their survey from you or their solicitor fees to date.
Solicitors may charge you for work done so far but some also operate on a no sale no fee basis, again check your t&c's for that.

As previous poster mentioned you may find that that the market going forward is very flat and you may struggle to get another buyer down the line.
But you may also find that there are not any properties that you want to buy either!

Prior to exchange you can just walk away. No penalties, just the fees for your solicitor - most of which work would hopefully be reusable in the future and probably minimal. The buyers will take a bigger hit as they will have incurred costs for surveys and searches plus their solicitor. It is usually very much the downside to property in England but in this case will work in your favour.

Yes - also double check your contract with the estate agent in case they have provisions in respect of you pulling out.

Do the buyers definitely want to hurry it forward? Maybe they wouldn’t mind a delay now too, with everything that’s going on. Worth asking anyway.

We were keen to hurry our sale last year but we were happy to delay a bit when our buyers requested it.

Thanks so much, I feel a bit reassured but I do feel terrible for the buyers. They are first time buyers from abroad and have been very nervous even pre CV issues, asking for out of the ordinary things such as could they come and meet the surveyor and go round with him.

Weirdly when I met them when they visited once, and it was that time we agreed the first week in May, they also asked if I could be flexible if they wanted to leave it longer and I said yes. They are due their first baby in June. But then two days ago their solicitor called and asked if we could arrange completion for the 27th March!! Totally random and our if the blue. We said unfortunately not as we won’t have our temporary space to go to as we have family there. Family who in fact now can’t go back to where they live in Europe.

I don’t want to let anyone down but the whole CV thing, schools closing and probably not opening until September, sadness about leaving friends, whole uncertainty and not having yet found a place in the new town makes me feel sick with nerves.

Dh might not want us to stay however as we are separating (my instigation) and so living together is rather difficult. However the whole cv thing has changed a lot of things.

Technically we could sell and then move to the new town to rent but this is going to be disruptive for the kids as they will have to live again when I find a house for us.

If they want to go ahead I would try and facilitate it even if it inconveniences you. The market is almost certain to crash soon with the current situation and sales are likely to go very flat.

If you sell now, you will have (more than likely) much greater buying power later.

If I was advising a buyer I would say pull out. For a seller, I would bite the buyers hand off.