Seller demanding £33k extra on exchange day

[Firecat84]

After weeks of harassment from our sellers about the process going too slowly (it's been about 5/6 months due to us losing one set of buyers halfway through - we've been chasing solicitors like crazy trying to speed everything up) we were due to exchange yesterday. On the day however, we received a message via the vendors' solicitor saying that house prices had gone up so much in the time it had taken the deal to go through that they wanted an extra £33k (they gave a whole bunch of other vague reasons too, which I think boil down to they've had to pay for an extra term's private school fees?!!) Obviously we don't have this money and even if we did we don't want to give in to such horrible tactics. The vendors aren't in a chain going up - I don't know where they're moving after this.

The house had been on the market for a while when we made our offer and had been reduced twice. I believe we were the only offer (it has potential but needs quite a lot of work). We offered £8k under the lowest asking price. At the time there was plenty on the market in the area and now there is nothing we could afford. All the houses available are bigger and nicely finished, which does give the impression prices have gone up, but I think it's a bit misleading.

We are financially stretched to our limit as it is but are in a flat with a baby and desperately need more space. We've spent so much time and energy (and money) on this move and we're just exhausted and depressed by it all. My family want us to walk away and not give any money to such horrible sellers. What would you do?

Agree, just say that you cannot agree to any price increase but are happy to proceed at the original agreed price, and leave the ball in their court. Don’t give a deadline.

I'd offer to proceed but only with a 10k reduction. What horrible ppl. Good luck OP

My God l wouldn't even give them an extra £1k, greedy bastards.
In principle l would walk away and secretly hope they struggle to sell it.

@tara66 clue's in the title of the thread.

The house buying system in this country is awful. I'm so angry for you and for others that have got to exchange and then one moves the goal posts. I agree with others, don't say it's a problem with finances but that you don't want to pay any higher and let them pull out of the sale and pay the ea fee. Hopefully they will back down

Agree about not getting in a discussion.
Say that you are not prepared to increase the amount offered and are prepared to walk away even at this late stage..
Don’t mention your finances.

I'd offer them 5k, if I had it, otherwise nothing.
We had a seller who demanded more when we offered but we couldn't pay more - they took all carpets and light fittings with them. The 5k might keep them sweet.

@hannayeah

Are you sure they can legally do this at this point?

Yes they can. Only once contracts are exchanged does the sale become legally binding. Morally very wrong though.

Just tell them no, the price is as agreed or no sale at all.

My sister had this in reverse when selling her house. Buyer tried to knock £10k off on exchange day. She said no, and that she was quite happy to cancel the sale if they didn’t want it at agreed price. They quickly back tracked and paid the agreed price:

@joystir59

They don't expect you to come up with the extra £30k, they want you to walk away so they are free to accept a much higher offer. Dreadful behaviour and I know how stressful this is for you. The system of buying in England is so bad! You must walk away as you don't have the funds any way. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

I'm wondering if this is it. The OP says it's been a long drawn out sale and the sellers have seen prices increase in this time. While the £33k is a huge amount of money, it's a relatively small percentage of the agreed price.

They probably think they can get rid of the OP, slap an extra £50-100k on the asking price and find a new buyer within a week or two of going back on the market.

Didn’t know that about forcing them to pull out and then being liable. Great advice.

It's a really shit way to behave but you need to set that aside and work out how to move forward.

You don't have the money so you can't agree £33k. So the answer has to be no.

If you walk away you will have to find a new place. Is there anything available? Are houses, like the seller says (as unpalatable as it is for them to say now), more expensive? Would you have to spend more to buy an equivalent alternative home? Is the answer is yes then how much more will you spend (including new surveys and fees)? If it's still less then walk away from your current purchase.

Then there's your sale. Will you lose your buyers if you pull out of your purchase? What's the market like and how quickly will you find an alternative?

If you really need to move, will lose your buyer and won't readily find a new place for you then I would consider negotiating. Tell them no outright. If they won't budge is there an amount you can afford somewhere between 0 and £33k? Set a maximum and see if that works. Otherwise walk away.

I don't disagree with anyone saying they're totally arseholes for doing this now. But it's a financial transaction and emotion has to be taken out of it.

Walk away you can't afford it and what's yo stop them putting up the "price" again. Tell them they take the offer or you walk. If you can push for them to cover all your legal fees etc.

I would say ‘we are willing to exchange at the agreed price, not more’.

I wouldn’t walk away’: why cut off your nose to spite your face?

If you pull out of the sale you lose the opportunity of them backing down, you lose the opportunity to complete before the end of the stamp duty holiday, and you let down your buyers.

They have held on for you, earlier in the process. This is a ridiculous tactic, but ultimately you want the house.

I would say the price agreed is what you can afford, and get your EA to talk to their EA. The EA (theirs) will be keen to not see the sale fall through, as will yours. The solicitors usually get paid anyway, the EAs, not a penny until completion.

Another thought to fees is if they have engaged a no sale no fee conveyancer. In which case they will want you to walk to avoid those fees?

Good luck! Fingers crossed they back down.

[quote millenialblush]@tara66 clue's in the title of the thread.[/quote]
To be fair, that’s reading it in the context of current English law. Where I am - a jurisdiction originally on English law- exchange happens very near the beginning of the process (basically have offer accepted, exchange within a few days, 5 days cooling off while you finish checks, then you’re committed and settlement is approx 6 weeks but can be negotiated - we did 8 weeks for mine due to Christmas).

Mumsnet has been very educational, the way OP is being treated is awful.

The selling of houses is due an overhaul

Once you agree a price, it should be set in stone!!!

Wankers

Think of it this way: it's not just £33k. It's £33k with interest. Fuck that.

Another vote for telling them you’re ready to exchange today on the original price agreed. No further comments about their demands and/or your finances.

Sorry you’re going through this OP. Let us know how you get on

After what badger has put I would say

Exchange today as WW originally agreed, we ain’t pulling out...

Make sure your agents explain what badger wrote

Then sit back and let the agents explain to them how much it’s going to cost them if they pull out

I'd walk away and wait until the drop in house prices that's going to come once the stamp duty holiday's finished.

Of course house prices quite often go up while you sort out buyers, mortgages etc, but only someone morally bankrupt uses that as an excuse to then put up their prices at the last minute (or drops them at the last minute if they're buying in a falling market!).

They're unlikely to sell now if they hadn't sold before, so it's in their interest not to be idiots about this.

Wankers indeed...but the market has moved fast. They may well have had other interest especially if houses like this aren’t coming up very often.

Take emotion out of it, if you really want the house. Think calmly about if something else will come up where you want it, In Reasonable time. Can you stretch to more, even a bit?

I’d still say no and say you are ready to sign do they want to proceed or not.?

I’d say a firm no, that I’d be happy to exchange as agreed and to let me know if the buyers are pulling out. As already said don’t walk away yourself because of clauses in your contract.

Remember the buyers will have a clause in their contract too. So they can pay fees for nothing.

I did this when my buyer demanded I pay an extra £1000 for their survey. My estate agent put a lot of pressure on me to pay, then when I refused to pay half. That’s my money I scrimped and saved. I stood my ground and this issue disappeared.

Further on my buyers wanted to move forward completion by two weeks leaving a week for me to sort everything. I already had to break my chain for them for a month so calculated what it would cost me for those extra 2 weeks and said we could if they paid for those extra 2 weeks (it was something like £500). They were happy to go back to original completion date.

I hate cheeky fuckers like these trying to pull a fast one.

I agree with previous posters, tell them you are happy to buy at the original price agreed. Do they think you have a magic money tree somewhere? What nasty people. Will be keeping my fingers crossed that these chancers come to their senses and everything proceeds. Good luck!

@Didicat

Another thought to fees is if they have engaged a no sale no fee conveyancer. In which case they will want you to walk to avoid those fees?

Good luck! Fingers crossed they back down.

In that case I’m sure the solicitor’s t&cs wouldn’t cover the sale falling through because the vendor suddenly demands a higher price on exchange day.

If £33k is 5.8% then the agents fee is what % of the sale? So how much is this going to cost the vendor if they don’t sell at this point...