The never ending house sale!

[IsItaCowIsItaPlane]

Need to rant mostly, but sympathy or suggestions also acceptable!!

Selling a house on behalf of a family member who lives abroad and has dementia so can't answer any house related questions). Offer made and accepted by me at the end of May. Selling to a first time buyer. Since then in August they have asked me to reduce the price by £10k (not due to a bad survey or anything but they had over spent) I agreed to reduce by £5k.

It is now December. They are in absolutely no hurry to do anything, except ask questions that I don't have the answers to. They know the circumstances of the sale. They know that I don't live there, have never lived there and that the person who owns the house has no mental capacity, and yet, we are in a never ending cycle of their solicitor asking questions that I can't answer or that are totally irrelevant. Each time they ask a stupid question it takes their solicitor at least a week to put it to mine. They then take 24 hours to send it to me. I then respond within an hour and my solicitor (never going with an estate agent recommended one again) takes a few days to reply back to their solicitor who then takes another week to send it to the buyer, who then promptly thinks of another bullshit question to ask and do we begin the whole laborious fucking process again. It has been 7 months!!! Our estate agent spends ages trying to explain to them that they need to stop asking pointless questions, or ask them all in one go, but they just think of more each time.

The past 6 weeks they have asked me for FENSA certificates for the double glazing, fair enough, but they know as the property information states that the windows were put in in 2006, so any certificate is invalid by now anyway. Still I dig out the FENSA certificate which ran out in 2016, as they do after 10 years. Send it back.

Then two weeks later they ask when the boiler was last serviced. I have no idea and there is no paperwork anywhere which states that. I respond and they come back 2 weeks later asking if at any time in the last 40 years the water board have requested access to the house. I literally have no idea. They know I don't know this, but I get that they probably have to ask so I respond to say I don't know.

They then ask how much I pay annually for gas and electricity?! IDONT KNOW and even if I did, maybe my relative sat in the cold and dark every day and pud £100, maybe she walked around naked and had it like a sauna and it cost £20k, it's all bloody relative.

Today, I am ready to lose my shit at them...I'm currently paying gas and electricity to keep the house on the grid to stop any burst pipes etc, at a cost to me, as relative has no money to pay for it. Today, their solicitor emails to say that they are worried about the cold and that this might mean burst pipes and mould!!! That's it, I've lost my shit. If they got their fingers out their arses then they would be living there rather than thinking about it.

So I've now given them 10 days to exchange or I'm putting it back to market. I will never ever sell to a FTB ever again.

WTH is wrong with these people.? Why can they not get a list of all their questions and ask them all at once. Why does it take 7 months to think of yet another question? Why do they not understand the basic line "I've never lived in the house and the person that did doesn't have mental capacity"? Why won't they just bloody exchange?

After I issued my ultimatum they got their bloody mum to ring the estate agent to say it had upset them??!!!! Arrrggghhhhhh

On the third buyer after the first buyer failed to proceed at all for 5 months and a cash buyer that had mortgage problems🙄 . No one seems to know how to buy a house these days. I just don't know how two lots of solicitors can sit on their files for months and not catch on that something is not happening 🤷‍♀️

Is there any reason not to stick it back on the market now?

Omg first time buyers 🙄 defo complete by the end of year otherwise back on market 1st December!! Surely there mortgage offer must be near running out now also 🤔 I would be concerned!

1st January even... long day!

Spoke to the solicitor today, they have put it in writing to the buyer that if we don't exchange in 9 days it's game over. I may also ask the estate agent to realist it in the hope that sticks a rocket up their arses.

My solicitor says that every time they ask to exchange, they decide to ask a random question and thinks that they are deliberately delaying

We were first time buyers 3 yrs ago and from the looks of things were quite sensible. Even our buyer thought our asks were reasonable. Only request was to remove a tank in the loft that had asbestos in it. These people don't want to buy this house. Remarket it and save your sanity.

My house took nearly 5 years to sell. Was about ready to torch the place by the end!!

Oh, OP. You have every sympathy I possess. We accepted an offer in May too, and have since June been paying rent and mortgage, so desperate to complete asap. We finally exchanged last week.

First we didn’t fill in our info pack for over a month. This was DH’s fault (I thought he had done it) and we almost got divorced. For some random reason he thought there was no urgency as they hadn’t got the survey results back.
Second their solicitor sent queries to the wrong email address and our agent failed to chase anything. We had no idea they were coming and were asking him was what up. No one realised what had happened for almost a month.
The survey came back with some damp
issues so they commissioned a specialist survey. Then they got a selection of quotes for the remedial work: that took us well into the summer holidays. Again, DH scored an own goal by telling the estate agent the exact amount we could afford to take off the price: guess what the cost of the work ended up being? 🤔But we then moved on.
Then there was a legal issue with a trust with a whole separate set of solicitors who took six weeks to make a decision and sign a trust deed.
Now exchange looms. Except it now turns out that our buyer’s sale of an inherited retirement property has fallen through and although parents are now lending them the deposit it has got stuck in AML hell. And the buyers are now wobbly about buying (we’re post-Truss by now) but know they won’t have the same budget with a new mortgage offer, so have finally given in their rental notice after agonising, so can we not complete for two months so they’re not paying rent and mortgage?
Then our solicitor went on holiday for a week.
Then the agent, without asking us, agrees to take them on another tour of the house the day before exchange, in the middle of a rainstorm, and there is a leak. The buyers put exchange on hold while they get multiple quotes to see what the issue is, and the agent assures us this is entirely for insurance purposes and not a threat to exchange.
Then, surprise! They are told they need half a new roof at a cost of over 10k (they didn’t - we had work done to it in early 2022 and the leak was some loose tiles). Will we drop the price to reflect this? The agent doesn’t pass the news on to us - presumably fully aware that it was him taking them round without asking us or checking the condition of the empty house that has caused this - and instead spends a week telling them no. Now Daddy is buying them a new roof.
And then we exchanged.

I usually defend solicitors on threads like these being a property solicitor in a former life (not much conveyancing though, that drove me mad!) but it does sound like the solicitor is failing to advise them properly.

It could have been handed to a junior or trainee who doesn't have the confidence to tell their clients that sometimes there are no answers and they can take the risk or get an indemnity policy etc.

Either way, super annoying. It's also bad practice as you generally have a standard list of questions which answer the vast majority of queries.

I can’t wait to hear how they respond op.

Double - tbf to your buyers, I’d not be in a rush to complete after discovering damp and a leaky roof! There wouldn’t be any reason for an EA to check the condition of an empty house before taking the buyer in either, they wouldn’t expect the average home to be leaking in a downpour.
The rest of your issues are down to you/DH but glad you finally managed to exchange.

Oh God don't even talk to me about these stupid people.
5 years ago my H left me suddenly for OW, went NC and left me to deal with everything.
I lost my job at the same time so got a new NHS job 300 miles away which meant I had to rent while selling my home.
I was paying £600 mortgage on my house and £1000 rent so needed a quick sale urgently.
First time buyers I gave them a 10k discount provided it was a quick sale.
9 months later they were still farting and faffing around and ALL of my savings had gone by then.
Finally I got so pissed off I gave them an ultimatum and said if the house sale isn't done in 4 weeks the house is going back on the market and you've lost the house.
It was amazing how quickly they acted then.

One issue was down to my DH. The rest not us at all - how on earth is our buyers' inability to sort their deposit out down to us, for example?

The damp was fairly standard for a house of its age and type, and the main delay was waiting months for quotes for some remedial work - we agreed a reduction immediately once we were asked (although I agree that DH basically handed them the amount on a plate, we didn't haggle).

The leak was minor, a small patch of wet carpet - the sort of thing we'd have cleared up if we'd been living there and sorted out. The fix for it was some loose tiles that had come off - and the sort of routine maintenance you do when you own a house. Not 10k worth of new roof. And the house had been empty for months so, had he asked about taking them round as he is meant to do, I would have asked him to take a quick look to check no issues had emerged. Little things go wrong with houses all the time. I'm sure anyone living in the house they're selling have had to sort small things out as they've come up and would put their buyer off popping round if something needed attention.

I’m so sorry this is going on. We sold our last house last year to first time buyers and it was a wonderful experience ( not the norm I know ) she found me on Facebook. And we chatted. She was worried it may all fall apart and I could reassure her that we had to move no matter what. She said that she able to sleep better knowing that.
We chatted the entire way through. She asked for measurements etc.
When we had exchanged I sent her photos of her first post in her name. Which she was so happy about. We talked on moving in day as we had to go and get more stuff.
Was the best house move we have ever done as it was a lot quicker asking question than going through estate agents.
I am aware that this isn’t always the case though. So I’m sorry this has been horrible for u

I do think a common factor in a lot of these cases is a crap estate agent. During my recent sale I did often wonder who was paying them/who were they working for. My sale took months to go through, luckily I had a good direct line of communication with my buyer, which revealed the agent had lied by omission to him about a problem with the title that I discovered during the sale and had directly asked the agent to tell the buyer about (both our solicitors were very slow and impossible to get hold of). I ended up sorting it out myself and keeping the buyer informed. I was fuming.

Got a list of about 16 questions yesterday, not through the solicitors, but the estate agent! She is proper on the case now, but the questions!!

The buyer wants me to get a gas safety certificate, or pay for them to get one done after we complete!!! WTF. No. Just no. They can seriously FO. I said if they had asked 7 months ago I'd have considered it. Now, absolutely no bloody way. They want the last boiler service paperwork which I don't have, and a water bill!! The house has been empty for a bloody year, what the hell use is that?

AIBU to just say no to all of the above as I don't have them, or should I try to get copies etc?

I mean, gas safety certificates are around £40 and presumably utterly useless after the sale has actually completed in terms of getting a reduction of value? Bizarre request, but I'd be tempted to lob them £40 (and check with the solicitor that it's actually not something that they can kick up a fuss about after completion).

Haven't you already covered the boiler paperwork point, in that you don't have any? Water bill likewise pointless so I'd say no to them.

OP,

There is a system for taking a deposit and holding both buyers and sellers to deadlines. It is the best aspect of the American real estate system.

When you make an offer in writing you include a cheque , typically for 5% of the purchase. It is called ‘earnest money’. You also submit a contract giving deadlines on all the key steps to completion, such as securing a mortgage, scheduling inspections, etc (it is structured so you can deal with any issues arising). Of course the sellers can and do negotiate. If the buyer rejects the seller’s attempt to negotiate the earnest money is refunded.

This framework prevents logjams. The disadvantage is that commission is 6% (paid by seller)

I have neither bought nor sold property in my home country but I think the system works closer to the American model than the British one.

I work for a mortgage broker and the clients that get their parents involved are literally the worst 😂 shouldn't be buying a house if you need mum or dad to fight your battles for you IMO!! I feel for you that sounds bloody frustrating and an ultimatum is exactly what I would have done. Fingers crossed for you

After an hour on hold to the boiler servicing people I've found out that there is a gas safety certificate from 15 months ago, so I've sent them that. Hopefully it will be enough. Also found an old water bill from last year so I've sent them that too. The ultimatum does seem to have had the desired effect. So fingers crossed for no further questions.

Blunt email.

"I have gone above and beyond throughout. I have answered every question in good faith. I will not be answering anymore and will be relisting the property immediately if I get more. Either proceed with the sale or don't as I feel that we are now at the point where you have deliberately been delaying the process for your own financial benefit. I am frustrated and upset by the level of messing me about and will not tolerate further such nonsense. I no longer think you are taking the sale seriously and acting in good faith nor considering the impact these delays have on the sale."

And have done with it.

I think you are actually being overly generous in giving them ten days only for them to respond in this way.

Ugh you have my sympathies- we’ve just had our 3rd buyer pull out since we first went on the market in September. We’ve had about 50 viewings to deal with and going back out to market in this climate is the last thing we want to do! I really wish people had to stick with it once they had an offer accepted, instead of wasting peoples time/money/lives and being able to pull out with a one line email.

What an utter waste of your time, your solicitor's time, their solicitor's, the estate agent's time.... what motivates this... I am sorry that you are left doing all of this.

How infuriating!

You’re reminding me of the FTB who bought my flat who tried to get me to pay for a fire safety check by the fire brigade as it was a ‘block’. I refused as it was a converted house with three flats in it.

How u have not told them to get lost by now is amazing.

This was my email on Monday:

"To confirm our call today, if we have not exchanged by 15th December then we will be withdrawing from this sale. The buyer has had 7 months to ask questions. Every time they ask a ridiculous question it takes another 2 weeks to do anything further and then their next move is to ask another ridiculous question. They have dragged this on for far too long and simply put, we do not wish to do business with them past this point.

To confirm the response to their latest stupendously ridiculous enquiry, the house heating is set at 15°, and so should not get mould or have a burst pipe, however due to my crystal ball no longer working, I cannot provide them of any further assurance of this.

We feel we have completed due diligence in so far as we possibly can."

I think you can tell from my tone that I'm over this!!! 🤣