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.

so in 4.5 weeks, surveys done and searches done.

seems like it’s going well!

* there are further investigations taking place this week. *

and you were going to try to renegotiate at this early stage before even further investigation has taken place

you’re either very inexperienced or very inpatient or….

I think there's something to be considered in making clear to the estate agent that you are unimpressed by 1) the delays in responding to queries and 2) the fact your vendor's vendors have only just instructed surveys, and making noises about the drop in prices and if exchange is delayed beyond XX time frame you'd be looking to renenegotiate to reflect both the reduced market value and the mortgage rate. But your preference is to proceed with this purchase at the price agreed, in XX time frame.

I would start looking at other properties in the meantime just in case.

Where did it say that solicitors have only just been instructed

I think you are making good progress OP. Presumably you have also had your mortgage offer. It should last for 6 months from the date of issue. It will have been made prior to the latest 0.5 interest hike. Looks like there might be another one of 0.25 on the cards. You only made an offer and had it accepted a little over a month ago. Unless there are issues flagged on the survey I think you just have to accept house prices might go down temporarily. If you are buying the house to live in it won't affect you. If you are buying for an investment and would be selling in a year or 2 it could affect you. Long term house prices keep on going up. After the housing crash in 2088 house prices were going back up by 2012.

I assume you meant that prices were going back up by 2012 after the housing crash in 2008 @caringcarer

It’s the chain upwards from us that are holding everything up.

Then you can sell to your buyers, complete that part of the chain, and move into rented/with family until your purchase comes through. If that's what you were really bothered about, although it sounds like you could find new buyer easily enough so your buyers probably know they've got a decent deal and will wait for you. As they should, because this doesn't sound like an unusual hold-up. The timeframe sounds very normal and nothing to trigger this kind of action.

You only offered 5 weeks ago. It doesn’t seem to be unduly slow to me. I know prices are supposed to be falling but I find it hard to believe they’ve crashed in such a short time. Do you really want the house, or would you be ok if the sellers told you to fuck off? If you’re ambivalent about it and might find a property you like more for less money I suppose you’ve nothing to lose. If it’s a lovely house which ticks all your boxes, you’d be silly to risk it. (Or at the very least alienate the sellers so there’s no goodwill left if there’s anything you need from them.)

I'm in a situation I have to renegotiate. Valuation came back almost 40k under the agreed price few months ago. I feel really bad for the people selling, but who can afford to pay this much more? There are a few findings, but the valuation figure worries me most. Would people just bite the bullett?

You’d be mad not to renegotiate. Unless it’s incredibly desirable, you are rich, or they get a cash buyer, they will face the valuation discrepancy with the next purchaser.
Talk to the estate agent, he needs it sold to get his commission.