Gazundered, what now?

[AnitaPNesse]

Annoyed, so excuse the writing! Accepted an offer in April and buyer's solicitor asked no-end of rounds of enquiries (London leasehold). Had discussed a mid-July completion date and was supposed to exchange in the next couple of weeks. Buyer then requested a third viewing which I was against. Agent said I'd create issues by encouraging buyer to do so until after exchange so I went with it. Agent rang the next day to say that buyer started enquiring about other properties listed at the agency, stating they're in quite a strong position now given their mortgage in principle's valid for 6 months while my mortgage repayments are going up because of recent interest rate hikes. Agent was obviously not happy at all and asked buyer if they wanted to complete or not and they wouldn't give an answer. Agent called the buyer several times yesterday trying to get a response. Buyer was elusive and 'in meetings'. Suddenly picked up saying they had a few minutes to spare and wanted to renegotiate and offer 10k less on the accepted offer and had to receive a reply from me within those few minutes. I responded by saying No and that I wanted to put the property back on the market. Heard nothing back from buyer. I'm going to relist with a new agency as my listing had been online for way too long before the accepted offer that I want to remarket it with a fresh listing.
Would like a sense check from MN before doing so. Am I doing the right thing? I don't want to play this game with the buyer. If they found something bad from the survey, fair enough, but they haven't and they're just trying it on. Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on how to achieve the best outcome in this horrid situation.

Tough one, but I agree with the buyers as the cost of their mortgage now compared to when they offered is likely to be much, much higher. It is not their fault costs have jumped so much .So a reduction to try and offset this (the increase in mortgage interest is going to be way higher than £10k in the long run) is totally normal.

Yes in practice their solicitor will not exchange until they are ready to do so, and if they are still asking lots of questions then you may not be ready to exchange just yet. I would offer a 5k reduction with the proviso that we have to Exchange as soon as possible.

Though I expect you have already resonded by now, so is there any update?

Calculate how much the extra faff is worth to you. My friend got £15k more after turning down an offer and holding out, which theoretically was a good thing, but it took an extra year of her life (the second sale was an absolute pain in the arse and took forever) and there were extra mortgage payments and maintenance costs in the interim, so it was less than £15k. It is probably a falling market, so you're unlikely to get much more if you remarket tbh. She wished she'd just taken the hit and not gone through so much stress.

Wow. Now I fully understand why the seller I bought a prime property from sent a heartfelt message to me through their EA at my honourable conduct and asking to meet me to thank me in person. I didn't meet them as I was busy rushing from A to B to C.

It was all done within 3 weeks. I was not a FTB ( I now see from MN this is important), knew exactly what I wanted, where and the price I was prepared to pay. My solicitor sent them lots of Qs and they were all answered ( I am a long standing client of my sol). And sol was on hand for the last Qs to advise different scenarios depending on the answers.

Heard later that someone had messed them about and pulled out. I also had another seller who messed me about (was still deciding if he wanted to move to the seaside I then realised.)That was a compromise purchase had it gone through.So, in the time of my being messed about and the seller being messed about, the prices went down a bit so that by the time I went back to looking, the prime properties that I really wanted were affordable to me. So a rare case of win win for me and the seller after both had been messed about and he just wanted a quick sale as was busy updating his new home so needed his cash.

The buyer's now asked for a 12k reduction of our original agreed price (which was a 30k reduction of my asking price). Annoying. Not only that but they're wanting everything on their terms, i.e. exchange and completion dates. I'm livid.

I'm putting a 2nd property on the market next Monday. If I get a lot of interest and an offer's accepted, I'm tempted to just pull out of this sale as my buyer is a FTB funded by mortgage and the Bank of Mum and Dad. Their behaviour has just been horrid.

I’d tell them to bugger off now

I have to agree, I think you made the right concession to agree to the further 10k off for a quick completion- but now they are taking the proverbial.

They sound like total chancers, even worse if they have a large deposit from the bank of mum and dad. Pull out if you can.

Sad to report that I went ahead with it. We were supposed to exchange yesterday, but we then had to wait for 'the deposit funds to clear'. Expected to exchange today (as surely they would have cleared today), and the I just received news from buyer's solicitor that when the new price was agreed, they did not report it to their lender, so now I have to wait until that has been approved (possibly another 5-7 days+).

Does this all sound normal? To me, it just stinks of the buyer messing around and wasting more time. Likely that they are viewing other properties or putting other offers in before committing to exchanging.

You never know whether they are telling the truth or just playing a game.

Although it would be a bit weird for them to go all the way to the contracts being ready (assuming you must have seen the contract at your side) if they didn't at least have some serious interest. Otherwise they are just wasting money.

You could issue them with an ultimatum but I guess it depends on how badly you want the cash. To me it would be about how quickly I wanted the money and how much other interest had been shown in the property and whether the market was going well in that particular area.

I think they are probably just being incompetent rather than playing a game.

The saga continues...

Everything was agreed and an exchange and completion date agreed.

A day before exchange, the buyer's solicitor informed mine that the newly agreed sale price hadn't been reported to the lender. The buyer then had a call with the lender and informed the agent afterwards that new documents and a new offer had to be reissued. I rang my own lender to ask how long it takes to reissue a new offer / amend details on the mortgage and he said it would take their company two minutes on the system. For the buyer's lender (First Direct) it takes 1-2 weeks, apparently!

I can't help but feel the buyer is wasting and buying time.

Anyone figure out what they might be doing? It all seems open-ended with me unable to lock down any concrete dates. '1-2 weeks' puts an arbitrary date in the buyer's court and they're fully controlling this.

Is there any chance the buyer has put my offer on the back burner and has proceeded with another property? Of course it would cost them more legal fees etc., but it all seems so odd. Friends and family say it doesn't make sense for a buyer to go so far and still seem interested like this if they've decided on another property. They would've pulled out via our agent weeks ago.

I feel massively painted into a corner here.

It's likely you'll have to take a lower offer even if it sells again in the current market. If your buyer still wants to go ahead I'd take the hit but on the proviso that they exchange immediately.

Apologies I didn't read the updates.

It sounds legit. That's not a bad timeline for a mortgage amendment given banks have twice the mortgage workload ATM (deals falling through, rate changes at the drop of a hat).

I'm with First Direct and they are very efficient. Having said that they may have stated 1-2 weeks as a worst case scenario knowing that it normally takes far less time. I would hold your nerve a bit longer and I really think you will hear positive news soon. Sorry I know it has been a hellish Sale.

You've not exchanged yet, and are clearly not happy, have been bamboozled into taking a lower offer than the original gazunder, worked to a timescale that they have set and not met.
I would pull out now and put it back on the market, you are under no obligations, assuming you took conveyancing protection you loose no more than £200 ish, even if you didn't only the fees to date.
Move on and find a new buyer!

If you are renting it out and have a low mortgage, why not just remarket it. You can always proceed with the sale if they get their act together but it does sound like they are messing you around.
Has the agent actually told them that you are not suffering because of mortgage interest rate rises? They might be imagining you to be more desperate than you are.
Unfortunately some people are total chancers. It's why I don't agree with negotiations with them. Same as the Russians ... don't negotiate with terrorists

The pendulum has swung in the favour of buyers. Gazumping was common until relatively recently.

Brilliant. My agent heard from the buyer earlier who said that their solicitor called First Direct this morning. The lender said they are 'sending out a new legal pack'.

Hope you don't mind my picking your brain, but does this sound right? If so, how long should it take usually?

This has been the recent timeline:

• Exchange agreed on the week of 3rd July (after a week of the buyer saying they couldn't commit to a specific exchange date as a result of having to move funds internationally for the deposit)
• on 5th July, buyer informed agent (and their solicitor informed mine) that they had not reported the newly agreed price and had to have their mortgage amended by lender.
• call between buyer and lender took place last week on 11th and lender told buyer they had to reissue new documents
• still nothing to date

Is this normal?

‘Is this normal?’

No … I would put a stop to this now. Take it off the market and relist with a new agent. It all seems really strange. I honestly would cut your losses and save your sanity. There will be someone better come along to buy eventually.

I know that after my daughter negotiated a cheaper price on the flat she was buying after survey, it had to go back to her Lender so they could amend the mortgage offer.

That didn’t take too long (Virgin Money) but it was a few days.

Glad to share that completion took place a month ago.

Hurrah!

Phew @AnitaPNesse you got there, well done.