Page 5 | Your WTF Moments As Sellers

Smokeahontas · 2021-04-16T20:11:39+00:00

First time seller here, it’s about to go on the market. To prepare myself a little, what’s the most WTF question / demand you’ve had as a seller?

Hairydilemma · 19/04/2021 18:01

Our buyer’s solicitor asked me to confirm in writing that the loft space was included in the sale as it wasn’t set out as a specific item.

Maybe this is just solicitor best practice 🤷‍♀️ But I was a bit WTF. I’m not quite sure how they imagined we might take it with us

wombatgoeswild · 19/04/2021 18:06

@Hairydilemma

Our buyer’s solicitor asked me to confirm in writing that the loft space was included in the sale as it wasn’t set out as a specific item.

Maybe this is just solicitor best practice 🤷‍♀️ But I was a bit WTF. I’m not quite sure how they imagined we might take it with us

Actually, I've discovered that my loft space in a maisonette isn't ours. The cheeky bleep mgt company wanted us to stump up more cash for it, years after we'd bought it.

Itwasjustresting · 19/04/2021 18:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

abc4321 · 19/04/2021 19:34

We were selling a met style house which hadn't lost any original features but neither was it rich in period features like Edwardian or Georgian properties. It was very obviously a met style house from the photos, on a road of other met style houses in a village of predominantly met style houses.

Buyers came round and rather foisted their young children on us to entertain while they had a lengthy viewing. The next day the EA told us they didn't like the property as it didn't have any period features. A little annoying but fine, that's part of selling your house.

Our purchase fell through so we took our house off the market for six months. When it was back on, the same viewers desperately wanted to view the house again. After babysitting their kids again, guess what their feedback was..... it still didn't have enough period features.

I get that house hunting isn't an exact science and we all have to compromise on our perfect house. But every time I see him in my local coffee shops, I still feel a little peeved..

Quail15 · 19/04/2021 19:54

A relative is selling a property and has had to take out an indemnity insurance after the buyers solicitor ( based at the opposite end of the country to us) wanted proof of the costs of maintaining the private road.

There are no costs, it isn't and never has been a private road. The solicitor won't accept this. The property is in the middle of a council estate ...... I'm not sure how much more 'owned by the council' you can get 🤷

ExitChasedByAnImposter · 19/04/2021 20:07

@wombatgoeswild Does that mean if the loft space isn’t mentioned, it’s not included in the sale? I had no idea. I assumed if you buy the house, the whole thing is yours.

wombatgoeswild · 19/04/2021 20:15

I'm pretty sure indemnity insurance will come up as a major mis-selling scandal at some point. It's got all the hallmarks of being a well dodgy practice.

wombatgoeswild · 19/04/2021 20:16

[quote ExitChasedByAnImposter]@wombatgoeswild Does that mean if the loft space isn’t mentioned, it’s not included in the sale? I had no idea. I assumed if you buy the house, the whole thing is yours.[/quote]
This is possibly a bit different as it's a leasehold block of 4 flats. If it's a freehold property, no issue, you own all the house. I just assumed the top flat would have the loft above too but apparently no...

MrsTWH · 19/04/2021 21:02

We recently sold our house. We had so many time wasters!

One couple who viewed 5 times in 10 days, negotiated a price and made an offer, never to be seen or heard from again.

Then we had a couple who viewed, said they loved it and then made an offer £300k less than asking (500 on an 800 asking...). We politely declined. They upped to 600, we politely declined. They then said that they could buy a brand new version of our home across the road for 850, but that included stamp duty and flooring, and as our house was “used” it was probably only worth 700 and that they felt we were being greedy and unreasonable not accepting their “lucrative” offer of 600 which was clearly in our best interests! We ignored this message. They tried again, saying they were genuine, trustworthy people who loved our house and they really felt they deserved it - so they said final and best offer 610.... we politely declined! They sent a final message saying what a shame it was that some people’s greed blinded them to doing the right thing for others?! Bonkers.

LawnFever · 19/04/2021 21:41

We sold to a first time buyer, we didn’t need all the furniture in our new house so listed a few items on the fixtures & fittings - a couple of chests of drawers, a wardrobe and the kitchen table & chairs and said to our solicitor see if she wants them included in the sale.

We weren’t charging but figured it was easier to leave them than move them when we didn’t really need them in the new house.

Heard nothing back on the fixtures & fittings list whatsoever so figured as a FTB she was happy to use what was there, thought no more if it and left the furniture when we moved out.

Got a very snotty message via her solicitor the day after we moved out saying why had we left a load of furniture in the property and it needed moving asap/we needed to pay to have it all removed blah blah blah.

Got our solicitor to reply with a copy of the list she’d had months before and clearly hadn’t bothered reading, they still tried to say we needed to move it, we ignored them...

Sellersremorse8 · 19/04/2021 21:52

@LawnFever

We sold to a first time buyer, we didn’t need all the furniture in our new house so listed a few items on the fixtures & fittings - a couple of chests of drawers, a wardrobe and the kitchen table & chairs and said to our solicitor see if she wants them included in the sale.

We weren’t charging but figured it was easier to leave them than move them when we didn’t really need them in the new house.

Heard nothing back on the fixtures & fittings list whatsoever so figured as a FTB she was happy to use what was there, thought no more if it and left the furniture when we moved out.

Got a very snotty message via her solicitor the day after we moved out saying why had we left a load of furniture in the property and it needed moving asap/we needed to pay to have it all removed blah blah blah.

Got our solicitor to reply with a copy of the list she’d had months before and clearly hadn’t bothered reading, they still tried to say we needed to move it, we ignored them...

While I do get that their solicitor should have told you either way, I think you should have taken the silence as a “no thanks”. I (gently) think you were in the wrong to leave it all there...

Thecazelets · 19/04/2021 22:03

Our FTBs demanded £100k off the asking price for a few very minor issues on the survey - one memorable one being that the velux windows in the loft conversion did not have blinds.

As we did not have a spare £100k lying about to complete our onward purchase we wished them well with their property search. They decided that the blinds were not quite such deal breakers after all.

mineofuselessinformation · 19/04/2021 22:12

@Quail15, I had a whole heap of trouble from my solicitor as the road was then unadopted. It was a new estate, which wasn't completed, so the council hadn't adopted it yet.
I wasn't bothered, and in fact the council have adopted it now, but my lovely estate agent had to contact my solicitor's boss to kick them up the backside and proceed when I was happy to.

Roasteros · 19/04/2021 22:12

@Hairydilemma

Our buyer’s solicitor asked me to confirm in writing that the loft space was included in the sale as it wasn’t set out as a specific item.

Maybe this is just solicitor best practice 🤷‍♀️ But I was a bit WTF. I’m not quite sure how they imagined we might take it with us

We had terrible problems with this issue when we sold our first property. It delayed the sale for weeks.

LawnFever · 19/04/2021 22:38

While I do get that their solicitor should have told you either way, I think you should have taken the silence as a “no thanks”. I (gently) think you were in the wrong to leave it all there...

The few items were clearly listed on the fixtures and fittings form, that states all the things you’re taking/leaving.

The time to query the fixtures & fittings form is before you agree exchange/completion, not after you’ve sold the house - it’s up to the buyer to make sure they’re happy with what’s listed and query it if not, loads of people get into all sorts of discussions about what stays and goes with a house sale.

I’m pretty sure we’ve always been given a deadline to respond to our sellers about it, you need to be responsible for reading the paperwork your solicitor gives you.

smallgoon · 19/04/2021 22:52

@MrsTWH

We recently sold our house. We had so many time wasters!

One couple who viewed 5 times in 10 days, negotiated a price and made an offer, never to be seen or heard from again.

Then we had a couple who viewed, said they loved it and then made an offer £300k less than asking (500 on an 800 asking...). We politely declined. They upped to 600, we politely declined. They then said that they could buy a brand new version of our home across the road for 850, but that included stamp duty and flooring, and as our house was “used” it was probably only worth 700 and that they felt we were being greedy and unreasonable not accepting their “lucrative” offer of 600 which was clearly in our best interests! We ignored this message. They tried again, saying they were genuine, trustworthy people who loved our house and they really felt they deserved it - so they said final and best offer 610.... we politely declined! They sent a final message saying what a shame it was that some people’s greed blinded them to doing the right thing for others?! Bonkers.

Good lord, what the actual hell is wrong with these people???

TheRebelle · 19/04/2021 23:09

We had so many time wasters, we were selling an ex council house (so priced at the lower end of the market) 1950s 3 bed semi, two decent sized double bedrooms, box room, large living diner and a kitchen extension, medium sized garden. Floor plan on RightMove. We had a couple who were FTB, both still living with their respective parents say it was too small for them because in 15 years they might have two teenagers and they might not have enough space.

Another couple looked around then told the EA they were disappointed because they really needed a four or five bedroom place, the EA had to have a word with them and explain you won’t get a four or five bed house on a three bed budget.

Another one wanted to know if they could buy a slice out the middle of the farmers field behind the house to make the garden bigger

Bythemillpond · 20/04/2021 01:20

Our current house (4 bed 2bath detached. Up for around £750,000) was up for sale and one of the viewers was very disappointed as they really wanted something with 10-15 bedrooms and a few acres.
They were describing the house that is at the top of the road. A large Manor House, the last time it was sold it was in the region of £30 million.
They wanted something like it for £750,000

ExitChasedByAnImposter · 20/04/2021 02:36

@MrsTWH

We recently sold our house. We had so many time wasters!

One couple who viewed 5 times in 10 days, negotiated a price and made an offer, never to be seen or heard from again.

Then we had a couple who viewed, said they loved it and then made an offer £300k less than asking (500 on an 800 asking...). We politely declined. They upped to 600, we politely declined. They then said that they could buy a brand new version of our home across the road for 850, but that included stamp duty and flooring, and as our house was “used” it was probably only worth 700 and that they felt we were being greedy and unreasonable not accepting their “lucrative” offer of 600 which was clearly in our best interests! We ignored this message. They tried again, saying they were genuine, trustworthy people who loved our house and they really felt they deserved it - so they said final and best offer 610.... we politely declined! They sent a final message saying what a shame it was that some people’s greed blinded them to doing the right thing for others?! Bonkers.

So they thought your house was worth 700k, admitted this, and then underbid? 😂

Why didn’t they just bid 700k or close to that? Bonkers 😅

They must have liked the house though since they kept coming back.

sarahc336 · 20/04/2021 06:37

When we sold my partners house we were actually asked if we had permission to sell it, I mean if we didn't why the hel were we 🤣 we didn't just go round trying to list other peoples houses on rightmove 🤣🤣🤣 to this day I still don't know what they meant oh and we were also asked if we had anti freeze in the boiler..... 🤨

Clementine8 · 20/04/2021 07:14

@sarahc336 i’ve know an estate agent not getting both parties to sign their contract in the case of a divorce. This was because only one of them wanted to sell and it was dragging on through the courts so mr thought he would force the sale (mrs had moved out) and got his mate, the estate agent, to market it with only his permission.

GingerBeverage · 20/04/2021 07:25

The thing that concerns me most about some of these stories is that people like this are moving around in our society, with responsible jobs, and approved for many hundreds of thousands of pounds credit - when they're clearly quite cuckoo!

De88 · 20/04/2021 07:54

@GingerBeverage

The thing that concerns me most about some of these stories is that people like this are moving around in our society, with responsible jobs, and approved for many hundreds of thousands of pounds credit - when they're clearly quite cuckoo!

Kottbullar · 20/04/2021 08:00

A family who were really positive about the downstairs but when we went upstairs the wife started shaking and lurching around. She said the upstairs was haunted and she could never live there, she asked for a sit down and a glass of water as she was so overwhelmed by the evilness that lurked there.
They eventually left and I thought that was the last we'd hear but the rang the estate agent and asked if we'd consider £75,000 off the asking price and only on the condition we funded an exorcism of the upper floors.

Our actual buyers were quite annoying, they kept asking us if they could start doing work to the house before they'd bought it, then wanted to move their furniture in early.
Once moved in they kept messaging us asking loads of random questions like
"How much paint did you use to paint the living room"
"Why do you have sockets behind the fitted wardrobes"
"Can the oak floor be painted"
"Why is the house next door empty?"(it had a To Let sign outside )
"Why did you put the washing machine in the utility room? It's more convenient in the kitchen"
After two days of interrogation we blocked them!

romatheroamer · 20/04/2021 08:16

I posted earlier about my ftbs and am beginning to think I was quite lucky reading about some of the nutjobs on this thread. However, they presented as a nice friendly young couple but were deceitful and manipulative. I didn't want to communicate further after moving but received a sugary email saying how much they loved it, they'd met all the neighbours and what was my address because they'd got bits of mail. So I gave it expecting to receive forwarded stuff but nothing received...it occurs to me they just wanted it for any "complaints".