Buyers trying to reduce price 1 week before exchange.

[J6765]

Hi,

I am just after some advice please? We're selling our home and 1 week before completion our buyer have asked us to lower the price of the house by 2,500k. What would you do? We've currently told them no because we feel like they have had ample time to bring this up. They offered on our house late February and we had our offer accepted on new property at beginning of April.

Their communication has been poor throughout and will leave it weeks to come back with anything each time which has meant the process has gone on far longer than needed. We went with them because they are first time buyers so thought it would be fast.

They had a survey completed 5 weeks ago, still late in the day tbh. I asked the surveyor if there was anything that I needed to be worried about and he pointed out a problem with woodworm but said all other things were small. We have since paid to have this problem sorted.

A week after the surgery was completed buyers asked if they could send a family friend around to check gas and electrics which we told them no and said would have an independent person to look at them if needed. This went no further.

We are due to complete next week and yesterday I received an email with a list of demands and the proposed reduction. They stated survey had thrown up problems with chimney needing repointed, flat roof which needed refelted. They also asked about a peice of wood in the loft which has been cut. The wood in loft was cut long before we moved in and has been that way for at least 15 years. Neither of our roofs are leaking or in bad condition so we do not see this as urgent work.

Estate agents is trying to get us to compromise. I'm going to say no and send timeline if sale and explain that they need to give us a definite answer by tomorrow or we will relist.

I'm just a bit nervous they will walk away and we will lose our onward sale. Any help, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Are they just trying it on?

Had this done to me and we said no. We were adamant when we said it. The estate agent then offered to reduce there fees on our sale as they didn’t want to lose out. So we spilt it. See if you agent will do this ? Though you will have to make the agent think you will pull out if not .

They are trying it on.
It's so common.

Unless you are so desperate you are willing to be shafted because it's better for you than relisting, tell them no, complete at price and on schedule or you relist.

Just say no, set a deadline for them to confirm and you’ll relist if they don’t agree (and if prices have gone up in your area say the house will be relisted at £x higher than currently) and be prepared to do that.

Cheeky bastards trying it on, don’t fall for it.

Wow thank you all so much for your responses. Will stick to my guns and hope for the best.

I have emailed this morning. I was tempted to mention about house prices rising but will see what they come back with. Have given a deadline too. Wish me luck

Is the ‘piece of wood’ that’s been cut in the loft a joist? If it’s load bearing then that’s potentially a real issue.**

Brave yourself for them pulling out

fact they’ve been hesitant throughout and slow to progress means this isn’t exactly a purchase they’re gunning for

Sounds quite similar to the survey we had done on the house we bought. A few things needed doing immediately including repairs to chimney stack total repairs estimated at £6k.

No reason not to go ahead and we didn't ask for a reduction. There was no evidence of anything serious like subsidence just the sort of stuff that you'd expect to come up with a property of this kind of age.

FTB can be a bit notorious for being spooked by surveys?

TBH it would be a hard no from me. I can’t do business with underhand people. I’m straight and honest and that’s the way I do business.

The estate agent is only interested in securing a sale.

You've done the right thing, OP. But I am a stubborn old goat who would be adding on the value increase since Feb, less 2.5K, and presenting them with a request for a shortfall. It will focus their minds. This route really does depend on the desirability of your house/area tho. Unfortunately as mentioned, they already sound flakey.

I'd they do proceed after trying it on, don't clean or leave any useful info on vacating🙂

Good luck. Will keep my fingers crossed for you!

Agree with pp comments about the joist. Rest of it sounds bog standard. Flat roof will always need to be replaced due to limited lifespan etc etc.
I might agree to £1k off just to get the thing done.
And take everything not nailed down!

Say you will go back on the market in this market it will sell very quickly and they will have spent £2500 on legal fees

If you're about to complete, then surely that means you've already changed (and therefore agreed upon) contracts?

Therefore everything has been agreed in that contract?

Exchange is not complete

Why is everyone assuming that prices have risen? When interest rates keep rising and rising, mortgage downvaluations are rife, and so many properties are back on the market/marked ‘reduced’.

Even if you find another buyer you don’t know what position they’ll be in , or whether your house has the same value.

They sound like they’re trying it on, but equally £2500 isn’t a very large amount. I’d find a way to split the difference, or lean on the estate agent.

One week before completion.
Have you already exchanged contracts?

There was a time when exchange and complete on the same day was almost normal, but it's risky. I know we wouldn't have got our current house if this was the case as one of the owners had severe last-minute regrets about moving out.

My first reaction is to tell them to jog-on. But you need to think about the implications for you. Are you in a chain? Do you need to complete next week? What's the impact on you if the sale falls through?

If you've got nothing to lose, stick to your guns. If you've exchanged contracts already and they're pulling this, speak to your solicitor ASAP.

If the sale falling through is going to be a massive inconvenience for you and there's no contractual remedy then you may need to either compromise or call their bluff.

(and if you're the seller from the other thread, this could get interesting..)

They could be getting cold feet and looking for a way to justify backing out. It’s a risk either way. Is the house you are buying your dream home or will you be ok with the chain collapsing? You could compromise and reduce £1000 perhaps. It’s hard to know what to do but keep emotion out of it, it’s business and you need to focus on the outcome you want. It it a small amount to fuss about when alls said and done.

They're trying it on. I bet the "family friend" would have suddenly found all sorts of problems, hence them dropping it when you suggested an independent person.

Stick to your guns, this happens all the time. It happened to us just before exchange, stating they wanted the price reduced due to some things that had been found in the survey, despite having had 2 months to bring it up prior to that point. We flat out refused to entertain it and they agreed to proceed at the original price. Its a common tactic people use to try and get some money off by trying to frighten the seller at the last minute.

They are looking to recoup the price of fixing the faults that the surveyor had highlighted. The repointing may be a non issue depending how picky the surveyor was. The felt roof has a life, if it hasn't been on the weather side of the house then you can get 15 years+ out of it. Ideally you would know how old it is and renew before it leaks. If the cut timber had made your house structurally unsafe I'm sure that the surveyor would have mentioned it to you even though you had not employed him.

I know that

(And despite the spelling mistake in my post, surely that was clear?)

From this website:

Exchanging contracts is the moment when a buyer and seller swap documentation to confirm a property sale is legally binding

Once a buyer and seller have exchanged contracts, the sale is confirmed for the agreed asking price, with neither party able to pull out without facing extremely serious financial consequences

The exchange of contracts is a crucial stage, as prior to this happening, neither the buyer or seller are legally-bound to the sale of the property

Therefore changing the price at the pre-completion stage shouldn't be allowed to happen.

@J6765 Are you talking about your buyers asking for a price reduction before exchange or before completion? Because your thread title says one thing and your OP says another - hence possible confusion!

I'd just accept. How much money have you made on the property? Guessing it is probably quite a lot. £2500 isn't that much and the next buyers will probably flag the same issues.

We had this, although buyer wanted to pay 50K less. Apparently she’d done this with another house and was shocked when that seller said no. She threatened to sue them, they sold for a higher price within a week. Then she played silly buggers with us. We found a house I really wanted so I told the estate agent that if we lost this new house I would not sell to her. She stopped messing around and paid the asking price.

Hope you get it sorted OP

They are trying it on - a very common practise and one I abhor. I would absolutey stand my ground and say if you don’t agree to exchange at the original price by x date then the sale is off and the house goes back in the markets. Chancing fuckers…

This happened to us on our last house move. I told the buyers to fuck off and that I would relist it immediately. They backed down and bought the house for the agreed price.