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Original poster

Advice on pulling out of house purchase

73 replies

OrangSky · 27/08/2020 14:32

I need some advice please! How bad is it to pull out of a house purchase approximately 6 to 8 weeks after offer was accepted? We don't even have an indicative completion date yet. Would the estate agents put a black mark against our name and tell all other estate agents in the area to steer clear of us?
Do you have to have a very good reason, or is it acceptable to just say we have changed our minds?

OP posts:

Bells3032 · 27/08/2020 14:35

It's a tad mean to do it but if it's not right for you then you have to. You'll have a pissed off seller but the estate agent won't black list you for doing it once. Doing it multiple times it would but estate agents are used to it.

Why do you want to do it

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 27/08/2020 14:45

Depends why you're pulling out really.

MovingSwiftlyOn · 27/08/2020 15:01

I'm assuming you're in the UK, in which case as long as contracts haven't been exchanged then it's fine to pull out. Yes it'll be disappointing for the vendor, but anyone with any sense realises this can happen and prepares themselves.
It's a huge purchase which you will literally have to live with for years, and if you're having doubts then really, don't buy it!

BentBastard · 27/08/2020 15:04

People pull out of sales all the time and still go on to buy so I doubt you will be blacklisted.

Might make this agent wary of future offers you might make on other properties. so they might, for example, recommend in the case of a future offer from you that the vendor doesn't remove the house from the market immediately.

Just speculating though.

Climbingallthetrees · 27/08/2020 15:04

Why do you want to pull out? If there’s a good reason and exchange hasn’t happened yet, then it’ll be horrible for the seller but sadly normal for the English buying process. If you’ve pissed everybody about for no particular reason then the worst that will happen is the estate agent is likely to advise clients of your history of pulling out, which might put people off you if they’ve got more than one offer. Though also karma.

Pootles34 · 27/08/2020 15:06

Well if you're thinking about it, do it now rather than waiting. The longer you wait, the worse it'll be.

JoJoSM2 · 27/08/2020 15:08

I’m also keen to know why you’ve changed your mind.

However, if you don’t want to buy the property, then you can’t go ahead with it. People will be pissed off.

Original poster

OrangSky · 27/08/2020 15:43

Well the reasons are that the house needs a lot of work, the bedrooms are quite small and the garden faces east when I really wanted a south or west facing garden (for the evening sun). We had looked for so long and the house somehow felt really right so at the time I decided I just have to compromise on some things. The location is great, we can't actually afford any of the bigger or fully renovated houses in the area and I swear out of 10 houses that come up 9 have north or east facing gardens! However, over time I have started feeling that these compromises are too big and now I am just full of dread :(

OP posts:

ComtesseDeSpair · 27/08/2020 15:51

The seller will be pissed off yes, and will likely turn the air blue when talking to their friends with things along the lines of “the pisstakers knew the bedroom sizes, garden direction and that it needed work when they offered, FFS” - but you obviously can’t spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house you aren’t happy with just to keep the peace.

However, if you can’t afford what you really want and what you do want is unlikely to come on the market often anyway (and will attract more interest and potentially competing higher offers than you can afford when it does) then you need to have a think about whether this actually could be the property you need to settle for or whether you’re able / prepared to wait.

ComtesseDeSpair · 27/08/2020 15:55

And the estate agent won’t blacklist you or tell other local agents; though if you did want to offer in the future on another property being marketed by the same agent it’s possible they would put your offer forward to the vendor with the warning that you’d previously pulled out of a purchase at a late stage, which may affect the vendor’s decision. Unless there’s only one local agent though it’s likely you’d find a new property with another agent anyway.

BentBastard · 27/08/2020 15:57

Looking at your reasons, they're all good reasons not to buy it, but also things you knew before offering so yes, pull out, but think things through properly before offering next time so as not to mess about the poor seller.

RatherBeRiding · 27/08/2020 16:02

As above - all perfectly good reasons not to proceed but, really, better to wait until you come across The One than compromise and then regret it.

sbplanet · 27/08/2020 16:10

How much work? Would it be worth taking it on (as it's 'the worst house in the best area' that you can afford) and doing the work?

You could increase your investment just by making the property a better buy for the next person. Also as it's in a good area even if the market went down instead of up you'd be better off as better areas always hold their value to a greater extent.

What did you like about the place?

rottiemum88 · 27/08/2020 16:10

and tell all other estate agents in the area to steer clear of us?

I'm pretty sure given GDPR no agent would be stupid enough to do this, as it would be illegal

purpletrees16 · 27/08/2020 16:28

I pulled out of a house for structural repairs (Subsidence - when I’d declared up front that I wasn’t willing to deal with that and had asked before I put the offer in but the seller didn’t know, apparently.) estimated at £100k so hopefully they won’t blacklist me.

Will caution that you might be putting another year on your move to find and win the best property so it might depend what made you want to move now?

Raifa · 27/08/2020 17:41

Yes sure, just buy the house for the inconvenience caused and time taken to organise coupe of visits.

badacorn · 27/08/2020 18:08

Pull out as soon as possible, so no more of the sellers time is wasted. They will appreciate getting it back on the market asap.

Don’t worry about the EA blacklisting you, you won’t get a reputation for doing it once.

As someone else said all of your reasons are things you would have known prior to offering. Maybe you should think about what you can realistically afford and what compromises you are/aren’t willing to make. DH and I wrote lists of pros and cons of houses, and lists of things we can compromise on etc.

Nandocushion · 27/08/2020 18:17

Your reasons are fine but tbh if the location is great I'd probably put up with the other stuff, especially as you say you can't afford a better house in the same area.

biscuitcakes · 27/08/2020 18:21

Yes pull out but do your research, then you can be honest. If work that needs doing is a bit issue then get quotes for some of the work that needs doing. If it's too much, you can always cite that the cost of the world are more than you anticipated and the purchase is no longer financially viable. Seller may even reduce the price if it's within budget to do so. Think about the 'unchangeables' such as the garden. If you can't afford something better then you may find yourself making the same compromise again.

biscuitcakes · 27/08/2020 18:22

Apologies for typos!

Bluntness100 · 27/08/2020 18:24

These are things you knew so basically you’ve just changed your mind.

Which means the seller has lost eight weeks where they could have sold to someone serious.

Yes pull out but you can’t be fucking people about like this. Offering to buy their houses then two months later changing your mind. You won’t get black listed as such but these agents will be very wary of dealing with you so I think you need to count them out, because they will think you’re not serious, they’d probably advise anyone whose property you wished to offer on what you did and if other offers on the table to steer clear. Hopefully you’re not buying in a small area where many of rhe properties are on with the same agent.

I suggest you sit down and think about what you want to buy before you offer on any other property in future so you don’t mess things up for people like this.

FAQs · 27/08/2020 18:27

What an arsey thing to do for reasons which haven’t changed and where always there and beyond the sellers control. Just do it straight away to give them a chance to put it back on ASAP.

If you really hate it though there is no point spending all the money on it as you’ll regret it, unless you are intending to flip it.

Knittedfairies · 27/08/2020 18:29

Are you suffering from buyer's remorse?

woodlandwalker · 27/08/2020 18:30

Lots of people drop out for very minor reasons. It is very annoying when you are selling but there is nothing legally to stop you and Estate Agents won't be bothered.
The key thing is to decide on what you really want to do. You can't afford what you want and there's always some compromise. You will either need to compromise more or carry on renting and saving for a bigger deposit and hope prices drop not rise.

Bluntness100 · 27/08/2020 18:32

and Estate Agents won't be bothered

The agent will be furious, there is potentially a whole chain behind this which will fall apart, this isn’t a few days this is two months.

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