Hello everyone, really hoping for some objective advice, I am in two (or more) minds about what on earth to do. I want to be fair but also I’m pretty upset and angry so run the risk of making a mistake.
I recently had an offer accepted on a house I love, in the area I love, about six weeks before the stamp duty holiday ends on the 30th June.
The area that I’m buying (a tiny pocket of hackney in London) has gone absolutely crazy at the moment with things going for up to 100k over asking (I know I know it’s awful)
Although I clearly didn’t offer that much over asking I did offer significantly over, everywhere was going to bidding wars and I think I had to. Luckily my offer was accepted and I was thrilled!
The vendor had found a property in Manchester where they are moving to and wanted to try to get it all through before the stamp duty holiday.
As a kind of motivator and because of my tight budget I made a dual offer- one amount if we complete before the stamp duty holiday and 10k less if it is after.
Early on I wanted to clarify whether my vendor was wanting to move directly into their new home or was happy to move into rented if we were able to sort out our purchase more quickly. The vendor said yes, they are happy to move to rented. They said this more than once, in writing.
Because they said that, I was happy to go ahead and let my buyers complete, knowing that worse case scenario I would only be in interrim accommodation myself for a few weeks.
HOWEVER
Since then everything has turned very unpleasant. The vendors solicitor advised them not to vacate their property without having their purchase sorted. This decision wasn’t really communicated to me I just got radio silence when pushing for a date. At my end we are completely ready to exchange but their solicitor won’t even talk to mine just saying ‘you need to wait’
What has ended up happening is that I have no idea how long I will be waiting and am haemorrhaging money in an air bnb with no idea of end goals. If they even said okay it will be about a month that would be useful but it feels so cruel not to have any communication. My solicitor has asked for an update with where they are with the purchase- have they done the survey/had the mortgage sorted etc and their solicitor WILL NOT answer!!
The reason I am worked up is this
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I feel they totally changed the goalposts saying they would go into rented and then changing their mind without really telling me. Had I known earlier I would have started looking for more suitable and affordable interim accommodation
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although my offer is 10k less it is actually costing me far more- stamp duty 12k moving x 2 is 2500 storage is 500 per month interim accommodation 600 per week so a total cost of FAR more
If they had just gone into rented like they said they would none of this would have happened- not to mention the total stress of not being able to plan my life at all
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a minor issue came up on the survey at a cost of 2k-I asked for a reduction, they said flat out no. I did not pursue it in the interest of things being pushed through in time. Now obviously it seems we have all the time in the world to pursue it but my vendors are behaving so cage-ily I don’t want to do anything to make them suddenly pull out.
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fundamentally, I over offered on the house, they have caused me loads of awful stress and changed their minds on a huge issue on a whim without communicating it properly, I am now losing loads of money not just on stamp duty but on moving twice, storage and renting. Not to mention the survey amount.
I want to reduce my offer by a further 5k
I do not know when to communicate this to them as don’t want them to freak out and just pull out.
Similarly, I haven’t been in this situation before and AIBU? Is this just the nature of property in the UK and I need to suck it up? Do I need to just chill out as 5k wouldn’t recover my costs anyway?!
I just feel so upset and bitter about it and money is tight so that 5k is like the cost of an entire new carpet / sofa whatever - it means a lot to me
Please help!!!!!!