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Original poster

Have you ever withdrawn from a property you've offered on?

48 replies

goodfences · 10/10/2021 18:44

We're at the search stage of a house we've offered on (they've been completed). It's a nice house but needs cosmetic work. An old lady lived there before and her taste isn't horrible but it's not modern and fresh. All interior wood (doors/ stairs) are a gloomy mahogany colour and one bedroom has a shower and sink but no loo (or plumbing ready for a loo). At the time we were searching there wasn't very much around.

I'm going to see a house tomorrow without DH which on paper looks better. Same price. En suite in master. Rooms about the same size. Fresh white decor. Utility room. The owners are emigrating so want to leave all furniture (grey sofas white furniture, quite tasteful). We have furniture but mostly amassed second hand bits from family over the years (all a bit mismatched) so would be looking to upgrade a bit when moving anyway. It's close to a nice green space and a bit quieter for our pet - home one is close to a busy bypass.

If I really love it I need to persuade DH. I know he thinks it would be an admin headache to withdraw even if home two was much much better for our family so would be reluctant. Has anyone withdrawn an offer before in favour of a better house? How much of a pain was it? He would obviously view it if I truly love it tomorrow.

OP posts:

WhyMeLord · 10/10/2021 18:52

We saw two on the same day and offered on both on the basis we'd go with which ever accepted. The first accepted immediately and the second did 4 days later. In the year we been looking we'd had 6 other offers rejected or accepted then pulled out so never thought in a million years both would accept. We liked the second better so had to pull out of the first one. I emailed the agent and apologised a lot and explained what had happened. He emailed back saying, thanks for letting him know and not to worry these things happen. That was it. I'm currently sitting on my sofa in house 2

WhyMeLord · 10/10/2021 18:55

Sorry, I missed that your further down the line. It will cost you your solicitors time to date but admin wise nothing happens except everything stops and you start again.

MrsKeats · 10/10/2021 19:01

We had to withdraw after a shocking survey.

Beautybunny · 10/10/2021 19:01

Don't worry about it. Buy the one you want. I was gazumped this year, and had the second sale cancelled as they are staying put. Any compensation for us? " ah no. Cost us £2000 due to their fickle choices. That's the law so ho hum.

mamaduckbone · 10/10/2021 19:11

We withdrew after searches turned up a load of covenants and other things we weren't happy about. It cost us a bit but I'm glad we didn't go through with a house we didn't want. You should go for the house that will be right for you.

justasking111 · 10/10/2021 19:53

@mamaduckbone

Ditto, plus a bad survey. We really didn't want a complete doer upper again.

PuntasticUsername · 10/10/2021 20:29

Yes. We pulled out three weeks after offer accepted (survey not done yet, legal work barely started), because a house that we'd previously offered on (but lost out to a cash buyer) came back on the market. We offered again and got it.

We felt terrible, but thought we had to go with the house we truly loved. Estate agent was incredibly nice about it all. Of course, karma well and truly bit us on the arse because we ended up spending four months and two grand on House 2, and not buying it at all (crappy legal issues).

It was the right thing to do, I still think. I will always remember House 2 very fondly, but I literally never think about House 1. Looking back, it wasn't really right for us and we rushed into it in a panic. We'd been looking for nine months, it was one of the very few houses we'd ever agreed on, our own house was sold and we were scared of losing our buyers.

(We are now comfortably installed in House 3 btw, which is better than even House 2, so maybe things do work out after all?)

H8H8H8 · 10/10/2021 20:34

Withdrew from a house that had an extension that, it transpired, had neither planning permission (which it needed) or building regs. Had paid out for survey and only came to light as extension had been built over drain access hole (uncovered in survey).

Wasn’t a pain at all. Took a couple of phone calls. Moved into a much nicer house 6 months later.

Roselilly36 · 11/10/2021 06:36

@MrsKeats

We had to withdraw after a shocking survey.

Yes that happened to us too. Cost us quite a bit, extensive survey, solicitors bill. But better than buying a problem. Only purchase we have ever pulled out of in 32 years.

AllTheSunshine · 11/10/2021 06:51

Yes. It flooded. It's your biggest purchase so you need to be happy with it.

saleorbouy · 11/10/2021 07:00

There's no legal obligation to purchase until exchange of contracts and even then you can back out and loose your deposit.
If the house doesn't suit then go with the other, obviously you will have a higher Solicitors bill but in the long run you will be more content with your purchase.
An offer is just that, " I like your house and would like to buy it after further investigation" don't feel pressured into anything at this stage.

ZealAndArdour · 11/10/2021 07:09

Yes, I have done. It really wasn’t that bad.

Just make sure you have an offer accepted on your new place before you pull out of the old one.

Before I viewed the second property I emailed my solicitor and asked them to pause the conveyancing on the current purchase just in case any big expensive bits of the legal work happened to be taking place that day.

Then I did the viewing, made my offer, got it accepted and sent my docs over to the EA for the new property.

I then emailed the EA from the previous purchase and nicely explained I was pulling out and the reasons why.

Then I spoke to the mortgage lender and asked the process to convert my offer, they arranged another mortgage valuation (it cost me £300 including the homebuyers report) and we just carried on from there.

It’s the lost money rather than the admin that is the most annoying part.

ChuddleyCannons · 11/10/2021 07:13

Yes it was a new build with no warranty, the company who built it had gone bust couldn't get insurance incase there was an issue with it.

dubyalass · 11/10/2021 08:01

Yes, survey turned up all manner of problems and the mining report showed an adit at unknown depth running under the house. Next door had historic movement and there was a flying freehold. I would have been ok with some of those in isolation but not all together. The agent was not happy when I pulled out but I went on to buy a much better house.

It's a huge amount to spend on something that isn't right, particularly in the current craziness.

Auntieobem · 11/10/2021 08:09

We offered subject to survey, survey came back wnd value was much lower than we'd offered. We reduced our offer ( still higher than valuation), they refused to budge, we pulled out. It took them over a year to sell for 10k less than we'd offered.

TheUnbearable · 11/10/2021 11:11

Yes because of a shocking survey the legal fees etc had already cost us 1k and some sort of specialist structural survey due to possible subsidence was recommended by the surveyor.

Zenithbear · 11/10/2021 11:27

Buy whichever house you prefer. But beware that the agent may know of your purchase and tell the vendor. We had 3 offers on one day and the estate agent told me that one party had recently pulled out of another sale (for a flimsy reason, not subsidence, damp etc) and it put me off, even though they were upfront about it when they viewed and seemed really sincere. We just couldn't risk being messed around so went with one of the others.

Original poster

goodfences · 11/10/2021 12:45

Hi all thank you for your experiences.

I viewed the house this morning. I did love it but I'm not sure I've come away thinking I need to offer on it.

All the furniture the vendor is leaving behind isn't great quality, mostly basic IKEA and it looks like she's allowed her dog to trample all over her white chairs and light sofas. The carpets covered in old doggy poop stains. All cosmetic but on top of that the amount of personal belongs she's leaving behind its too much. I'd have to hire skips to clear the house/ sell stuff on. (A boat in the garage and rowing machine in the master bedroom for example) I have two under 3, it's just not realistic. I need to be able to move in on completion.

So even if In the long term it could be really lovely, it's just not right for now, which is a bit of a relief.

OP posts:

jaundicedoutlook · 11/10/2021 12:59

We’ve done it twice (during separate moves - not during the same search). First time was after a survey was done but not much legal work done.

As others have said, you’re not under an obligation until exchange, and you’re not obliged to give reasons (though we did give reasons to make sure the estate agent at least understood and didn’t think we were being (too much like) dicks). Said we were sorry for the inconvenience and that was that.

user1000000000009 · 11/10/2021 13:18

@goodfences

Why is she leaving her stuff behind? She has to take it with her or organise people to collect it.

You don't usually buy the house with the previous owners crap left in it.

Keep the boat.

I wouldn't buy house 1 either to be honest, you don't sound keen.

Sandrine1982 · 11/10/2021 14:09

We have withdrawn recently due to vendor messing us around with long chain and no end in sight. It cost us around £950 in legal fees (thankfully we hadn't done a survey) but that was it. All we need now is a new mortgage offer (new property is slightly more expensive and there is the full stamp duty to pay now) but that's the only extra paperwork we had to do. Good luck ... withdrawing is easy but can be expensive depending on how much legal work and fees have gone in.

CraftyGin · 11/10/2021 14:11

We withdrew on the day of exchange, because DH's job in the new area fell through.

The vendors were lovely about it. The house was a good one and they sold a few months later for more than our offer.

Original poster

goodfences · 11/10/2021 14:15

I was told she's emigrated. She moved pretty quickly and has been coming to collect various things by ferry and car hence why all her stuff is there.

Afterwards I drove around to house one to remind myself what I liked about it. It's not terrible. It just needs updating and I'm not great at imagining the future look!

OP posts:

JoborPlay · 11/10/2021 14:59

There's no admin hassle - you just tell the estate agent and solicitor you're pulling out, pay the solicitor. Done.

I'd be very wary of pulling out on house 1 though if the survey and searches are good until you've got survey and searches on house 2, because who knows what it'll throw up!

minipie · 11/10/2021 15:10

If the location of house 2 is better then don’t dismiss it just because of all the stuff she’s left. You can make an offer which is conditional on it being emptied for completion - she can arrange this remotely, pay a house clearance company, agent has keys. Or you say you will arrange house clearance prior to completion and knock the cost off your offer. Doubt she’ll find any buyers who will want her stuff.

As pp says, if you switch then you’re taking a risk on survey/searches throwing something up on house 2. But for a better location it may be worth it.

I have pulled out of a house purchase, when we realised the work we’d want to do on it would take it way out of budget.

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