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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:
MrsPerfect12 · 27/08/2021 12:28

Good luck @BenjiCat hope it works in your favour.

nellly · 27/08/2021 12:28

Definitely the best approach,
Got my fingers crossed for you op

Alonelonelylonersbadidea · 27/08/2021 12:28

Good luck OP. Good reply. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's sorted in next few hours. CFers.

Bythemillpond · 27/08/2021 12:29

Blossomtoes

I think the mortgage companies are the ones adding to the time

I don’t think you’re right. It takes for ever for cash, chain free sales too

Auctions do it within 30 days.
I have bought in 10 days (although a few years ago now)

Even requesting the money from the mortgage company takes 5 days now.

It was 4 hours when we moved here 22years ago.

Mildura · 27/08/2021 12:29

@Bythemillpond

Mildura

But you can go through all the credit checks and paperwork about earnings etc and get a figure indicating how much, depending on the property you can borrow. How else do you know your budget.

That's certainly not typical, almost unheard of I would say.

You arrive at your budget by obtaining an Agreement in Principle (AIP) with a bank/broker. During this process you discuss your salary/deposit/debts and then the bank/broker advise you of what amount a lender is likely to offer you as a mortgage. But it's not until a full application when payslips/bank statements are submitted.

Bollindger · 27/08/2021 12:30

Well the FTB's are ready to roll, so if they see their new life falling through and have a 3 month wait to progress your standing firm could well be the shock they need to see this is real life, not a game,

lunar1 · 27/08/2021 12:30

Keeping everything crossed for you! You are doing the right thing!

Kiduknot · 27/08/2021 12:34

@Mildura

Even though my buyers had a mortgage offer before viewing

No they didn't. You can't begin a mortgage application process until you have the address of the property you are buying to put on the application.

You can have a mortgage offer in principle.
Atalune · 27/08/2021 12:34

Well blinking done! op. Hope they come to their senses then.

RamblingJenny · 27/08/2021 12:36

So sorry. I would definitely do as the others said and play your hand at it.

JaneKing75 · 27/08/2021 12:40

The house i'm buying was down valued by £10,000 - I asked and got a reduction. I think we'll see a lot more of it over the next few weeks

jackstini · 27/08/2021 12:42

Fingers crossed OP!

Muma1992 · 27/08/2021 12:43

@JaneKing75

The house i'm buying was down valued by £10,000 - I asked and got a reduction. I think we'll see a lot more of it over the next few weeks
Hopefully you asked in a nicer way than these CFs OP has posted about..
nellly · 27/08/2021 12:44

@JaneKing75

The house i'm buying was down valued by £10,000 - I asked and got a reduction. I think we'll see a lot more of it over the next few weeks
It's totally fine to respond to survey or down valuation with a reduced offer but you wouldn't usually agree to ex change without those documents so it seems far more like a power play!
Mildura · 27/08/2021 12:44

You can have a mortgage offer in principle

Indeed you can. But it's not the same as a mortgage offer.

HermioneKipper · 27/08/2021 12:45

@JaneKing75

The house i'm buying was down valued by £10,000 - I asked and got a reduction. I think we'll see a lot more of it over the next few weeks
This is an entirely different issue though. Prices may have been inflated and the mortgage valuation came in at a different price.

In the OPs case, the buyers are just a pair of completely cheeky fuckers chancing their arm and taking the piss.

JaneKing75 · 27/08/2021 12:46

It was very much a take or leave it situation but not at the last moment either, Natwest told me weeks before exchange the figure they considered it to be worth and I wasn't going to pay more than the valuation and potentially be in negative equity from day one.

Blossomtoes · 27/08/2021 12:49

@JaneKing75

The house i'm buying was down valued by £10,000 - I asked and got a reduction. I think we'll see a lot more of it over the next few weeks
Presumably you didn’t wait until the day before exchange?
Kipperandarthur · 27/08/2021 12:50

Good luck. Hoping you get the outcome you want. It’s a very unfair approach for them to have taken. Our system really should not allow it to happen as it does.

Rosscameasdoody · 27/08/2021 12:53

We put in an offer on a house a few years ago and the surveyor basically said it wasn’t worth what they were asking. Valued it at £10,000 lower than our accepted offer. We renegotiated via the estate agent and the seller agreed to drop the price. I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but this is why you have a survey - having said that, we provided a copy of the report and the EA confirmed that it was pretty pointless the seller pulling out, as the next buyer to come along would probably have the same problem. Why is the survey report is so late - I would have thought any problems would be flagged well before exchange, or have they deliberately waited until they think you have no option ?

LimpLettice · 27/08/2021 12:55

This happened to me although at an earlier date - we were desperate for a firm offer because our seller wouldn't accept my offer until we had an offer and it was this house or don't bother for us. We accepted an offer, started the process, and a couple of weeks in they came back and said they'd thought about it, and decided the house was worth £15k less so that's what they'd pay!

Ours was in the hands of a property developer, only a few doors away, and by this point we'd met. He said he'd wait, we went back and said nope. They went back to the original offer but I'd had enough at this point and we went back on the market. Sold at asking 3 days later and all fine.

Anyway. Fingers crossed for you and the rest of the chain but if they refuse, well, I'm a firm believer something better will come along.

Rosscameasdoody · 27/08/2021 12:57

Not RTFT - are they first time buyers ? If so, do they realise that if they did pull out, they would still have to pay the solicitor for the work already done - not cheap.

Drivingbuttercup · 27/08/2021 12:57

Good for you op. I went through something very similiar, i told the estate agent they had to reply by 4.00 otherwise i would put the property back on the market and refuse to sell to them even if they changed their mind and agreed to the original offer. Also added that i had somebody else who was interested (i didn't). I got a reply an hour later. Everything went though.

HeronLanyon · 27/08/2021 13:06

Of course it’s sometimes perfectly acceptable to negotiate a reduction as a result of survey/s. Last sale I handled the buyers did this, as soon as they had survey results, explained reasons and gave me excerpts of specialist survey. They also were apologetic on too (which they didn’t need to be as what they were asking was perfectly right). In this case none of this applies. No reason, no supporting evidence (indeed refusal when requested by seller!), at the very last minute. Couldn’t be more clear shoddy behaviour.

Unsure33 · 27/08/2021 13:06

@Rosscameasdoody

yes of course things happen during the process but you dont get as far as day of exchange without your mortgage offer which would have taken into account the survey

at this stage they are just trying their luck . and its horrible for everyone in the chain !