Buyer pulled out

[CautiouslyPessimistic]

I know there's nothing I can do about this but god I need to vent.

Listed in January, accepted an offer within two weeks, was very clear we needed to move in the school holidays because of the kids. Found a house we wanted, that offer accepted. Us and our sellers proceed along well - we were ready to exchange about a month ago, as were they on their onward purchase. Check in with our buyers - are you ready? - oh nearly they say, just a couple more questions.

At a rate of roughly one question a week they drag it out for another month, only to unceremoniously pull out this morning. Refused to give the estate agent a reason. Estate agent calls their lawyer, she says 'what do you want from me, they've given their answer'.

So here I am with four months to list again and complete before my youngest starts Reception in another county, our sellers now have to decide if they want to wait for us or not, and I'm so angry I could spit fire.

I know they're allowed to do it, I know that's how the system works in this country, but I just feel so strung along and like it's the height of callous disregard for someone else's life. And now we'll probably have to accept a lower offer to sell faster, and all because someone else is too lazy to ask the questions they need promptly, or too selfish to realise how it affects someone else.

So sorry op. It’s such a stressful process. Have you asked your EA to call around anyone else that previously offered or narrowly missed during offering?

We have - waiting on the replies to that now. It's been months though so I'm not optimistic.

It's a topic that's been done to death and it's so disheartening no matter which side of the process you're on, but somehow when it happens to you it feels so personal, you know?

Thats horrible and I put a hex on your former buyers. I can't understand why people are such gits, moving house is stressfull enough.

I’m sorry, OP. What a headache. I hope you can find new buyers quickly.

We once pulled out of a purchase shortly before exchange because of something that came up during conveyancing. But we communicated with the agent about the issue for a good week or so, and sought to work out a solution, before pulling out when we got nowhere on it. For them to pull out so suddenly without giving any reason is being unnecessarily shitty in what is already an unavoidably shitty situation.

I felt so awful about what happened with our sale that I cried for days, and I can only imagine how upset our sellers were. Unfortunately it was a legal issue that we could only have resolved through joint efforts and the agent was totally unconstructive (possibly because poor advice on their part on the listing was coming back to bite them) so we really had no other option.

So sorry to hear and I feel your pain it happened to us after endless viewing we accepted the one and only offer, but they pulled out dater

I think it's the lack of thought that hurts, you know? If they'd said 'we're sorry but we've had a change of circumstance' or 'we're worried about x thing on the survey and can't get past it', or even just a basic apology, it wouldn't have been so bad. I think if I felt they were remorseful I'd be able to understand any circumstance. This is just straightforwardly rude.

Thank you for the sympathy and commiserations everyone. May all your future sales and purchases go without a hitch. And thank you especially for the hex!

This has happened to us three times in the past and it’s really awful. I still curse each and every buyer now and always will.

Your buyers sound actively deceitful and completely lacking in decency. I’m really sorry.

I hope your estate agent tells all his local connections what they're like...

This happened to me three times when trying to sell one house! It’s so demoralising and I really feel for you, OP. Good luck with finding a new buyer

Happened to me, turned out his house extension was over the boundary line so his sale had stalled. He kept saying one more week but I managed to dig back through the chain to get the truth (solicitor useless). I sold for £30k more to a new buyer

I think one of the reasons people don’t want to say why they are pulling out is because vendors and agents then try and ‘solve’ the problem so the sale continues but normally by that stage the sellers have decided not to pursue the sale so won’t want to be dragged into those sort of conversations. I can understand how frustrating it is though, not being given a reason

@FitAt50

that's uncalled for. Perhaps with the CoL or a change in their work situation they simply cannot afford to buy the house?

@CautiouslyPessimistic it is awful & I really feel for you. It's fucking frustrating not to be told why, but for my own sanity I'd choose to believe they simply can no longer afford to buy my house.

obviously it depends where you live, but around here, if your greed price was reasonable in January, you'd get the same price now and another quick sale.

how far away from your existing home is the new one??

Get fresh photos done & use a different lead photo. Come on as much like a newly listed house as you can.

best wishes!!

@SarahSmith2023
that's uncalled for. Perhaps with the CoL or a change in their work situation they simply cannot afford to buy the house?

Well those would be perfectly valid reasons, but OP says the buyers have refused to give a reason:

"I think it's the lack of thought that hurts, you know? If they'd said 'we're sorry but we've had a change of circumstance' or 'we're worried about x thing on the survey and can't get past it', or even just a basic apology, it wouldn't have been so bad. I think if I felt they were remorseful I'd be able to understand any circumstance. This is just straightforwardly rude"

I think @SarahSmith2023 meant to type 'agreed' price, not 'greed' price. Unfortunate typo!

@SidandAndyssextoy

I didn't quote that part of her post? (which is clearly a typo anyway)

@MarinatemysoulinSprite sorry - getting confused between quotes and posts there. I'd managed not to see what you'd quoted! I'd just noticed the typo because it caused me to double take at first.

Happened to me on exchange day. That was the last time I packed any boxes before. No explanation. No nothing. Lost so much money that we didn’t have.

@SidandAndyssextoy

Totally passed me by until you pointed it out!

It’s an awful thing to happen. We had a buyer that pulled out without giving a reason last year and the vendor of the house we were buying wasn’t prepared to wait and immediately put the house straight back on the market 😢

fortunately we had a viewing and another offer within 24hrs and the sale went through and we were able to still buy the house we planned but I can still remember the gut wrenching awful feeling. Really hope you get some good news soon

There was a thread on here recently about someone wanting to pull out. I couldn't comment as ifelt caught in a bind, of course not buying that house was the right decision for them, but how any functioning adult could get themselves in that position baffled me.

It’s so shit
It shouldn’t be allowed to happen
Better things will come your way, it’s just hard to see it today.

Sorry OP. It's awful isn't it. It happened to us. Exactly three months wasted but they were also con artists so that made it worse.The anger I felt and still feel is overwhelming. We put it back on the market at a lower price and accepted an offer 8 weeks ago but the buyer is dragging their heels. Their solicitor is terrible too.

Everyone in the chain, 5 including us,is ready except our buyer who has just announced that they have not even had their mortgage offer through yet and they want a level 3 Survey. It has been 8 weeks since they offered and the survey still hasn't been bloody booked. Worried we will lose our onward purchase. So bored of it all. Im never moving again after this. Too stressful by far

I'm so sorry to hear all of your stories, it's desperately unfair how many of you have been through it too.

We're back on the market and in a pretty desirable area, plus our vendors have given us a two week grace period before they relist, so I have everything crossed. Honestly though I don't think I'll actually properly breathe out again until we exchange, and that's got to be at least a month away at a (very optimistic) minimum.

Our EA suggested asking the ex buyers if we could have their searches and survey, to speed up the process for the next people. Thing is they'd presumably want compensating for that (even though it's not like they can use them now), and I'm not sure I can bear the idea of paying them, even though it's the sensible thing to do. That just feels like rubbing salt into the wound.