Would you pull out of this sale?

[Trainfromredhill]

House ‘sold’ in early June- went to closed bids. 4 offers, lowest and highest chain free. We went for the highest. Was considerably over guide price (3 of the 4 were over guide price). Was assured they wanted a quick purchase- they were in rented. Mortgage and searches all done within 6 weeks. As far as we were concerned we were ready to exchange, and by this time we had moved out. 2 weeks later they announced they were booking their structural survey!!! I’d presumed they weren’t having one as it hadn’t been mentioned before. 10 weeks on from the offer the survey gets done, then they want a full heating and electrics survey. All done, few issues raised, conversation with EA along the lines of ‘you might need to accept a reduced offer’, but nothing official. Multiple emails from us begging for an exchange date……there is no reason to hold up any longer……but then there is. The buyers have equity in another property, they need this money to buy ours. The equity transfer hasn’t been completed. It’s going to be ‘a few weeks’. So they aren’t and never were chain free. The purchasers have also written to our EA telling them not to contact them for the next 10 days as they are ‘very stressed and on a holiday we really need’ and don’t want bothered with the purchase over this time. Im stunned with the breathtaking arrogance. DH thinks they are going to reduce their offer at the 11th hour and wants to pull out of the sale now and restart the process with a different EA. I think we should hang on for a month with the deadline to exchange in 3rd week of sept with completion within a week and inform the EA that if reduction in offer is mentioned we’ll pull out. I think both the EA and purchaser have behaved appallingly but pulling out now is potentially more stress and hassle for us than hanging in there. Thoughts?

Assuming you're not desperate for the money from the sale I'd go with your option of holding for a bit longer and refusing any reduction. I guess check your contract with the EA though in case there's some clause about paying their fee if you pull out of a sale?

Personally I'm with your DH tbh. The EA and the buyers seem like a nightmare.

I would hold out for a bit longer. But so have it in mind u may have to start again.
I have read time and time again about being not being in a rush and not really realising or caring that people just want the move to be over as quick as possible. Far too many times to be honest while the rest of us stress and worry.
I would imagine they lied to put themselves in a better position on ur eyes.
If they start asking for money off etc I would say no. Nine times out of ten these people are bluffing and when u say no or threaten to pull out suddenly they are ready.
People like this are infuriating as they don’t seem to give two hoots about the people around them. I’m sorry.

I'm with Dh. I had buyers who claimed they were chain free and then turned out they were waiting for cash out of not just one but two house sales. I told the estate agent we would be putting the house back on the market as they had not originally disclosed this. Lo and behold their parents came up with the money for them so the sale went through and wasn't dependent on the other properties. It worked out it well though I guess the fact that there was a back up helped. If yours said they were cash buyers this simply wasn't true so in the basis I'd say I was going to put it back on the market after the weekend.

Tell your EA you're pulling out if you don't get an exchange date today. Let them all stress for a change.

They weren't odd to ask for a structural survey. It was quite odd of you to assume they weren't having one. These things do move at a glacial pace. It's also normal to reduce the offer if survey shows an issue.

The holiday is audacious.

I'm with your DP.

EA should have checked the purchasers out, I would give the buyers a deadline to exchange, if not you will re-market the property. Any messing in the price, tell them where to go. I hope it works out ok.

We had a similar situation last year, and we had to meet stamp duty reduction dead line too, so it was extremely stressful.

We bluffed and emailed our solicitors, theirs, and both agents in a chain email saying if we do t get an exchange date within 48hrs, we are pulling out.

They s**t themselves and sorted within an afternoon

@Thornethorn i don’t think it’s odd to ask for a structural survey. I think it’s odd to wait 8 weeks before organising it. We had a SS done within a fortnight of the property we were purchasing AND a follow up specialist survey done of an issues they found within another 2 weeks. Not sure why you’d wait for everything else to be done before getting a survey. In the current market I don’t think it’s normal to reduce the offer and expect to keep the sale.
@girlmom21 they've gone on holiday and don’t want to be contacted, so they aren’t going to agree to an exchange date today.

I would pull out. It sounds like they are playing games. Probably put in a high offer knowing they would likely get it but always with the intention of bringing the price down with a survey once you were invested enough to not walk away. They have lied about being chain free and the EA's haven't qualified them correctly. Take it to another agent - the chances of the current purchaser actually completing in a reasonable timeframe are slim - they've shown their hand, now show yours by walking away.

Agree with you OP. The structural survey is the first thing that's completed, way before searches etc.

Sod their holiday. Instruct your Estate Agent (who is supposed to be working for you) to give them an ultimatum and deadline or it goes back on the market

I don't see that you have to pull out of the sale. After all, they told you not to contact them for 10 days.
Why not do a mini re-market while they are out of the picture? (While the cat's away the mice will play ). See who's out there. If there are other interested parties then investigate (CAREFULLY this time!); if not then carry on with your current buyers.

Your estate agent works for you, not them. They can't issue commands to your agent. I would pull out as they are not honest and will probably lower their offer at the last minute. But the arrogance and dishonesty would be red flags for me.

@senua thats what my husband wants to do……but I don’t see how that would work? The EA will want this sale to go through, so surely will tell any prospective new buyer that there is an offer at an advanced stage on the table? Who would put a serious offer on a house if they knew it was potentially close to exchange? And ideally we’d change EA.

they've gone on holiday and don’t want to be contacted, so they aren’t going to agree to an exchange date today.

And you want an exchange date. It's too late in the day now but you could have forced your EA's hand here and found out how committed your buyers actually are

Ours came back from their holiday early to exchange

The EA will want this a sale to go through
FTFY
will tell any prospective new buyer that there is an offer at an advanced stage on the table
You tell him to find a keen, properly-vetted buyer or you are finding another EA. He must have a list of names on his books already of people looking for your sort of house.

Who would put a serious offer on a house if they knew it was potentially close to exchange?
Are you close to exchange though? If your buyer was really keen and scared about losing the purchase would they say "don't contact us, our holiday is more important than the house".

If an equity transfer is still to be resolved, and could take a 'few weeks' they aren't in a position to agree an exchange date, and any date put forward is meaningless.

I wouldn't pull out, but I would very seriously begin to explore options with other buyers, either with the current EA or a new one.

I would have a face to face conversation with the estate agent and tell them you want to them to clearly communicate with the buyers that they need to get a move on and put some dates in the diary, that they have misled you with the details of their funding and mislead you with regard to their expectation to complete quickly. If there were any significant issues on the survey, they should have raised these as soon as possible and as such, you will not be held to ransom at the last minute and will pull out. I would also ask them to contact the other people who offered and ask if they would be still interested and if they would be in a position to move quickly. Also tell the estate agent that if they do not carry out your wishes, you will consider them to be in breach of their contract with you and will not hesitate to move to another agent and if they wish to challenge you on this - bring it on.

(Well would I really? No - probably not..- I would probably sit here and be bloody stressed and hope to hell that it all came together and was over soon.)

You mention issues with the SS but don’t clarify.

what were the issues?

*The buyers have equity in another property, they need this money to buy ours+

I reckon they need the extra money to pay for the issues that need to be remedied that the the SS uncovered

And I would never advise a poster to withdraw from a sale - that I don’t know from Adam and have zero info re the detail of your finances and situation. Personally

How long is your contract with EA? Ours have always been at least six months, if you put it on with another agent , you still have to pay them if it is sold within the contract time.

it’s is troubling that they lied to you, but they have spent a reasonable amount of money on surveys etc so I don’t think they are just time wasters.
I would be inclined to have a ( calm) conversation with the agent, and tell him that you will give the purchasers ……( insert number of days) after they return from holiday to exchange at the agreed price. If they fail, he must remarket the property, perhaps by approaching the other people who made bids.

Don’t be surprised if your buyers fail to exchange but then inundate you with pleas and emotional blackmail to reinstate the sale ( that’s what happened to us in similar circumstances). I regret that I took a bit of a wry pleasure i hearing their desperate please, bit of a change for the arrogant assumption that they had all the power in this transaction.

Keep calm, if you can. It’s a nightmare but it will get sorted.

We had similar as buyers - we had cash and were told our (elderly) vendor was moving in with family, then inexplicable weeks of silence and delays later and it suddenly turned out she was buying a retirement flat that wasn't empty yet...

We threw our toys out of the pram and said we were reducing our offer by £2k a week (or something) from that point on to compensate for the inconvenience these delays were causing us, since our offer had been made on the condition of no chain.

Lo and behold, we got in the following week... Sometimes you need to lose your patience to get these CFs to budge!

The equivalent for you would, I think, be announcing that you want the property back on the market next week if they haven't exchanged by then. Screw their holiday - unbelievable brass neck!

Your issue should be with the EA who has not done the essential preliminary checks before you accepted the offer and removed your house from the available market.
I would tell them as they are not performing you have no choice but to go to another agent.