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Original poster

Gazundered day before exchange

823 replies

BenjiCat · 26/08/2021 20:48

We were all on track to be exchanging this week with completion on for the end of next week. We were waiting on our buyer's searches etc for some time and they finally came through earlier this week.

Call this morning from the estate agent. Buyer has dropped their offer by £15k due to 'immediate issues flagged in the survey' with no details about what these are, no copy of the report and no estimations on how that figure has been calculated. We've said we'd need to see the report to understand the basis for their drop (and to potentially renegotiate... No promises). But they've been reluctant to do this and says they'd be happy to proceed with exchange tomorrow still should we agree to the £15k Hmm

Fuming does not cover feelings right now Angry!!

OP posts:
TheSockMonster · 27/08/2021 11:09

Fingers crossed for today.

Something similar happened to us. It was the exact same offer the buyer had made initially and we’d refused. However he was unaware that our purchase had fallen through and we were planning to move in with family to avoid disrupting his purchase. When he realised he had no leverage he paid the agreed price. Cheeky fucker.

Bythemillpond · 27/08/2021 11:13

Cattenberg

I can do all the things an estate agent does. I have no emotions attached to any houses I have lived in as they have always been a compromise house and not a home. I have sold many houses and if anything I find estate agents just complicate the transaction
My original estate agent was just awful. I think he actually lost us buyers and viewers because we found out he was telling potential viewers what they could do with the place rather than let people decide for themselves.
A couple of viewers said by his description that so much needed doing that they were in two minds whether to view
It is a house where you could reconfigure in a number of ways but how we have it is perfectly sensible.

Kiduknot · 27/08/2021 11:19

Good luck. Hold your nerve.

Aliceclara · 27/08/2021 11:19

Offer a small reduction, say £2500 and say that's as far as you're prepared to go as you haven't seen the survey.

DelphiniumBlue · 27/08/2021 11:20

Any news?
I hope you've contacted the agents and told them that if exchange doesn't happen by 3pm at the agreed price you will remarketing it, and tell the agents you want to see it on the market this evening so that you can have viewers over the weekend.

Aliceclara · 27/08/2021 11:21

And don't budge from that. Then you've acknowledged their 'views' but you've made it clear that that is the full amount you're prepared to come down.

Blossomtoes · 27/08/2021 11:22

@BarbaraofSeville

Do FTBs really have nothing to lose? Many are on the limits of affordability/LTV so money spent on surveys/solicitors eats into their deposit and is money down the drain.

Also they could be paying rent so the longer they delay buying, the more they have to pay on rent.

Who knows? It’s almost always FTBs who do it though. The agent told me my FTB’s solicitor had put him up to it, that may or may not be true. I don’t think they even consider that the vendor will tell them to fuck off although, based on this thread, that appears to be the usual outcome. And most of them then roll over.
FreeBritnee · 27/08/2021 11:23

Perhaps I should have said they have less to lose.

HopeHappy · 27/08/2021 11:32

I hope this has a good outcome for you OP. A buyer of mine tried this on the day before exchange once.

I couldn't afford the drop they demanded so told them they had until 5pm that day to exchange at the agreed price or I was putting it back on the market. I didn't want to lose my purchase but I just couldn't afford it.

Stupid idiots had been chancing their arm so much they hadn't even told their solicitor, so when I had a call saying contracts had been exchanged, I said to my solicitor it was good they'd backed down on the price drop and she hadn't heard anything about it!

I then spent a couple of days thinking up more and more drastic ideas of revenge, but in the end settled for taking the champagne I'd bought them with me (they were FTBs) and not cleaning behind me when I left! CFs!

EnjoyingTheSilence · 27/08/2021 11:35

Hope all is going well today @BenjiCat and the cf back down or you get it back on the market in time for more viewings this weekend

GiantHaystacks2021 · 27/08/2021 11:36

As above - tell these cunts to go fuck themselves.

longtompot · 27/08/2021 11:37

Did you have many other offers @BenjiCat? Would it be worth seeing if any of those are still interested and can move quickly?
We were ftb ers 5 years ago and wouldn't have dreamt of doing something like this. We were more worried the seller would pull out (it was a divorce)

Medievalist · 27/08/2021 11:38

Offer a small reduction, say £2500 and say that's as far as you're prepared to go as you haven't seen the survey.

Don't do this.

whataboutbob · 27/08/2021 11:44

@lunar1

They need to sort out the home buying laws in England, they are horrendous.
Agree. In other countries you can’t get away with that, France for example. Once you are at that stage if you pull out you loose your deposit of 10% of the value of the property. Sure it wouldn’t wash in Scotland either.
Blossomtoes · 27/08/2021 11:46

@Medievalist

Offer a small reduction, say £2500 and say that's as far as you're prepared to go as you haven't seen the survey.

Don't do this.

No don’t.
LakieLady · 27/08/2021 11:47

@Bythemillpond

You would think with computers and email things would have sped up over the years.

My first place was with a 100% mortgage on a wrecked house and from viewing to getting the keys was 8 weeks which was considered at the time to be quite a standard time frame
The next time I bought 11 weeks, then 3 months and each time more and more time.
Now we are looking at 6 months and I know we are not the only ones who have been waiting this length of time. It is the norm.

Something must be. The mortgage companies down the line have for my buyer and my buyers buyer taken so long to process things that they have both had to submit more up to date information after they had submitted everything initially 3 months before and were both told they would have to go to the back of the queue for their paperwork to be processed. (1 extra piece of paper they said they had to have took them 24 working days to process)

The whole thing is a joke.

I'm amazed that it still takes so long, when searches can be done online and preliminary enquiries can be sent and completed on the same day (unless they're complicated).

I was an estate agent in the early 80s, and the average time between exchange and completion then was 13 weeks. I bet it's a lot longer now. And agents seemed to be a lot more proactive in making sure that sales agreed completed. We used to spend as much time doing that as selling.

portico · 27/08/2021 11:47

I would never have the nerve to gazump anyone. My thoughts are pull out with this buyer, because if they break faith once - they will do so again. Were there any other alternate interested buyers - ask the estate agent.

Btw, they have been saying for over 30 years that we need Gazumping laws - that time is now!

Bollindger · 27/08/2021 11:48

Stand your guns,
They either buy or don't, but with the Market on the rise, others will buy.

knittingaddict · 27/08/2021 11:49

Well that's true in this country (England) too. The deposit isn't paid until exchange of contracts and that was due to happen today. Once the deposit is paid and contracts exchanged and if the completion doesn't happen the deposit is lost and other financial penalties added.

Blossomtoes · 27/08/2021 11:49

I'm amazed that it still takes so long, when searches can be done online and preliminary enquiries can be sent and completed on the same day (unless they're complicated)

It’s crazy. I know someone who was a cash buyer on a probate property. It took 11 weeks. It should probably have taken 11 days.

GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman · 27/08/2021 11:49

Extreme cheeky fuckery.

Some people do this every time they try to buy a house, and they often get their way. They're bloody despicable and cause epic amounts of stress.

The system in England plays right into their hands.

knittingaddict · 27/08/2021 11:50

That was to this post by whataboutbob.

Agree. In other countries you can’t get away with that, France for example. Once you are at that stage if you pull out you loose your deposit of 10% of the value of the property. Sure it wouldn’t wash in Scotland either.

Cattenberg · 27/08/2021 11:51

@Bythemillpond, if you have the knowledge and experience to do that, that’s great! I wouldn’t have. I would have undervalued my property by 10%, based an an incorrect Zoopla estimate. My photos wouldn’t have been as good as the professional’s (hers were great). I wouldn’t have known how much the value of my property had increased between sale and completion.

I too had the idea of leaving champagne and info about the property for my first time buyers. Needless to say, they didn’t get any champagne, and I didn’t spend much time putting useful info together.

Original poster
BenjiCat · 27/08/2021 11:55

An update is that we've called their bluff. Said exchange by the end of the day at the original price, otherwise, we'll assume the sale is off and take it off the market until sometime next year (and we mean that!). Here's hoping they'll see sense eh!

OP posts:
Highfivemum · 27/08/2021 11:55

We have had this done to us twice. Was so gutted. On both occasions I said too agent re market straight away. He was reluctant as said see if you can sort it. I said no remarket it and send viewers round. He called later with four viewings. I relayed this to my solicitor. Quite matter of fact that we had four viewings and if we didn’t get any offers we may come back to them in a week or two. Within an hour we had an exchanged planned for next morning at agreed price. Stick to your guns. They have a lot to lose too. Good luck

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