Renegotiate before exchange…or does that make me a CF?!

[Fallulah]

We had an offer accepted on a house on 17 June. (We originally offered in May and lost out, and that fell through so they came back and offered to us.) We’ve sold to FTB.

I sped through all the property information forms, responded to my buyer’s queries on the same day etc etc. We’re still waiting for our vendor’s solicitor to send our solicitor the answers to our queries despite the vendors telling everyone they and answered them by the end of June. When the agents chase the chain, they just get the answer that the solicitor is bogged down and their assistant is on annual leave. So that’s one issue.

The people our vendors are buying from only instructed their solicitor and paid for searches last week. Nobody can work out why they decided to wait so long. Meanwhile we and our buyers have everything in place, mortgages approved etc and could exchange now. It’s the chain upwards from us that are holding everything up.

The people we are buying from didn’t really complete their property information form properly - no mention of shared access/rights of way which is what has created the queries we are still waiting for. They also slipped in there that there are two periods in the time we would be looking to move that they are going to be on holiday, which could add further delays.

Meanwhile prices are dropping in this area. Houses in the same area we are buying in but that are arguably nicer/a bit bigger are coming on for 10-15k less than we offered back in May.

As it’s looking like we won’t be moving until October now, because of the vendor’s choice of solicitor and the slow action of their vendor, would it be unreasonable to renegotiate the price before exchange? The agent phoned me every week to update me on what’s happening and I keep mentioning other houses that are coming on for less and all he says is ‘please don’t look at them’! I have no desire to start a brand new purchase now we’re so far down the line and we like the house, but getting a bit frustrated at the delays while the market drops.

have no desire to start a brand new purchase now we’re so far down the line and we like the house

don’t bluff them by offering lower and if they say no - you just have to accept. You will have pissed them off and no doubt they will doubt how serious you are and may decide to re market. They don’t appear to be in a rush

Presumably you'd be happy for your buyers to renegotiate with you too?

If you’re prepared to walk - go for it

if you’re not - it’ll be a bluff and unlikely to be fruitful

So one month ago your offer accepted

when did you receive an offer on yours?

Ours sold in May and our FTBs have got a cracking deal because ironically the market for smaller houses is getting stronger. It’s the next size up (that we’re buying) that is experiencing the drop.

Point taken on the replies so far. It just leaves a sour taste that people can cause such delays and there is no come back when my part of the chain has worked really hard to get everything done, been completely honest etc.

Since I wrote the post my solicitor called for a catch up and I told her my thoughts. She warned that any renegotiation would mean they had to inform the lender of a revised price and that could trigger a new mortgage approval, meaning we wouldn’t get the good rate we locked in months ago. So it may not be the way to go.

If you are buying with a mortgage and renegotiate you usually have to apply for a revised offer which would hold matters up

Also potentially any new mortgage offer would be at a higher rate than one applied for and approved 2 months ago anyway

It’s been 5 weeks op

Still rather early to be toying with idea of reno!

We had our offer accepted on our house in May 2021 and moved in October 2021. The house had been marketed from February 2021 which is when it was valued (Scotland so Home Report gets done with valuation just before it goes on the market) it was snapped up within days but that sale fell through then we seen it and offered on it. In 2021 the market was rising quickly so there would have been a definite gain for us between valuation in Feb 2021 and completion in Oct 2021, our sellers did not ask us for more money. Sometimes your on the up and sometimes your on the down, that's the way it is.

It's the estate agents's job to be chasing people in the chain to ensure that things get done and it doesn't fall apart. I can totally understand your frustration that this isn't happening further up the chain and also understand frustration if you think the market has fallen since May.
Perhaps express your concerns to the agent and see what the response is.
You could try to renegotiate but you need to be serious about it and be prepared to walk away. You are only 5 weeks in which isn't a long time. Are you tempted to look at the other houses if they are really bigger/ better or are you fully committed to this purchase?

I don't think you really have any grounds to renegotiate at the moment. Maybe if you have a survey on the house you're buying and it throws up lots of red flags, but not at the moment. I doubt property prices have changed much since you made the offer on 17th June and it doesn't sound like your buyers have done anything wrong.

It's business, you'd be a fool to pay more than it's worth

I once had a very financially savvy client who unusually had 2 prospective purchases going at the same time. He incurred extra legal and search fees, as well as 2 surveys, but thought it was well worth it to put himself in the perfect position when it came negotiating both price and timing. If you want to play hardball, I'd go and look at other properties, there's nothing like knowing you've got options when people are mucking you about.
They'll all be calling you a CF, though!

All a bit odd Tbh

That’s disgusting behaviour. I’d tell that person to get fucked on principle if they tried to renegotiate with me.

While you’re at it, why not ask your buyers for more money?

Lol

It’s irrational and totally short sighted behaviour too!

Rather than try to renegotiate I would go and view some other properties with the same agent. Explain that you are concerned at the unnecessary delays, want to move quickly and feel like thanks to them dicking about you're feeling the need to have a eye on potential backups.

All of this would be true!!

And hopefully it will get them to pull their finger out if they want to get on and sell to you, or to change their minds if that's what they're doing. Either way you're better knowing.

If I found out my buyer was doing that, or they tried to use doing that as a lever to reduce their offer in any way, I would tell them to go and do one, and refuse to sell to them at all. It's not savvy, it's foul, as they intended from the beginning to ditch one of the vendors. And it could backfire big time. They could end up with a buyer but no house to buy.

This is classic stuff. We feel we should negotiate the price of the house we are buying down but those buying our house for a cracking deal! I mean in this market everyone thinks houses are overpriced except the one they are selling.

The sarcasm and vitriol on this thread, from people who don’t know my area or the prices involved, is laughable. I get the point - most of you think I would be a CF! Consider me schooled! (But don’t tell me most of you wouldn’t try and get the best deal in this situation too.)

The survey has been done and there are further investigations taking place this week. Again the solicitor has advised not to try and negotiate the price because of the mortgage situation but to ask them to do the required work before exchange.

I still maintain that if my vendors had chosen a decent solicitor and the person they were buying from wasn’t doing everything in the wrong order, I wouldn’t have time to even be considering these things - between them they’re holding everything up!

It comes across like you’re just looking for an excuse to lower the price you offered to pay only 5 weeks ago. I would understand if it was 5 months ago but not 5 weeks. Why punish your Sellers for something they didn’t do?
You offered in June and expect to Complete in October- that is not an unusual time scale for a chain and as a PP has mentioned, it is normally the EA who pushes things along as fast as possible, not anyone’s Solicitor.

@Fallulah im told from a conveyancing solicitor friend that 40% of sales agreed prior to recent interest rate hikes are renegotiating or dropping out altogether. We are also probably going to have to renegotiate. I’ve got sales of 2 properties going on at the moment and we’ve had to renegotiate both to pass money down the chain to try and get things done. It’s a very tough market at the moment. At the verge of just giving up on the property we are purchasing as it was agreed pre 0.5% hike and we are worried we are paying much too much and although we really like it, it’s either that or renegotiate since we’ve had to drop considerably on our own sale. Not easy - good luck!

I'm 5 days behind you with a shorter chain. I'm pleased at the progress in the conveyancing. Now, almost everyone dealing with our sale and purchase has gone on annual leave. One person is taking three weeks off, so I don't expect much progress in August. We are aiming for completion in mid October to the beginning of November. Our new neighbours took ten months from offer to completion on nearly new properties so that is why I think it's going well.

I've sold at a knockdown price, but fortunately am buying at one too. I'm thinking that I probably could have bought even lower, but definitely wouldn't renegotiate.