Exchanging tomorrow. Buyers just pulled out

[Newhousename]

It’s not about money apparently . They just went off the house. The night before. After five viewings and months of paperwork. &@£$**>%€

anyway. Trying to be practical. Does anyone have experience of those we buy any house type organisations? Please. Or any other thought that could help.

I'm so sorry op, that is so terrible. I can imagine only too well how you felt/feel.

Has anybody heard of Gazeal? I moved just under 3 weeks ago and my agent told me about them. In effect, both parties put up some money which is then forfeited by whichever party pulls out. I used it with the sale of my house which eventually went through ok. Didn't use it with buying my new house as the sellers weren't interested.

Don’t use those companies to buy your house, absolutely shits. They tried knocking 20k off a friends house just as they were about to sign. Leave well alone!

We should have the same laws as Scotland, if the buyer pulls out they have to reimburse the vendors legal fees etc I believe, it’s the very least they should do.

Scumbags. Same thing happened to us except then our buyer came back & said she’d reengage if we took money off the asking price. We ended up passing the price difference up the chain but in reality these people should be sent to the 7th circle of hell. Good luck.

What a nightmare for you!
We are just selling an inherited property with them
They offer below market value (obviously) but good for a quick sale

We are completing with them on Friday
Taken 2 weeks all in all

It IS better but there is still room for Manipulative People. I remember in 2007 our buyers contacted us on Christmas Eve at 12 noon to say we had until 5pm to accept a drop from £175K to £145K in their offer (not a result of dodgy survey or anything as Home Report supplied at offer stage). We reluctantly accepted (I am disabled & had just had a 2nd disabled child & our property was now unsuitable - they knew all this). We found a new house that we could now afford & put in an offer (an elderly lady further up the High St in our small village). In the New Year they dropped their offer again to £100K. We weren't prepared to drop our offer to the old lady so we said no & stayed. They then bought her house. 6m later I was able to see how much for. They paid her much less than value. Pigs.

Chin up OP & hope you get a new offer.

The sale fell through before exchange not completion deposit would not have been paid l.

@BitOutOfPractice well done on both 😆

It doesn't always work, even in Scotland - the buyer of my late mother's house pulled out at the point of signing! This was after we'd delayed the sale to help her, because of her own mother's untimely death and had emptied the house of everything except the few items she'd agreed to buy.

However, this was 18mths ago and we sold 6mths later at a higher price. Not before the original buyer had come back to say she didn't normally behave like this and wanted to complete her purchase. It was like she'd left the house in her online basket and just wanted to click 'buy'! She had a complete lack of self-awareness and no idea of what she'd put us through. We sold instead to a lovely young family.

Best of luck Op. It's awful at any time, but even worse if you're trying to move too. Nearly lost another house and almost ended up having to pay the costs of everyone in the chain, when our lawyer went bust! That was in London and took a lot of sorting out. Everything was packed in boxes and we didn't know if we could move until midday on the day of exchange. Not fun with a toddler.

My mistake, I'm not in the UK.

It isn't as black and white as that though unfortunately. Some buyers/sellers have legitimate reasons to pull out. What if there's an issue with the survey? Who deems if it's severe enough for the buyer not to forfeit their deposit?

As much as I hate the current system, I'm not sure I'd be happy with the above unless there were many caveats. Buying at auction is similar, you pay your deposit and have to complete in so many days or you lose it, and it always puts me off.

So sorry this happened to you op. A very similar thing happened to us a few years ago and we had to sell desperately. The buyers just stopped all communication so it was extra frustrating. In the end we found out that their funds had fallen through but it was devastating for us and it took over a year for our house to finally sell. Definitely do not go with the “we will buy your house for cash” companies. Once they hook you in and pretend they are being very honest and upfront and that you will get a bit less then you want, their contract will state that if they can’t get a cash buyer for a certain amount then they are allowed to drop the price by a huge amount. I really hope you get a sale quickly. Best wishes

That is shocking, it should not be allowed, there should be financial consequences. And once every thing is signed it should be legally binding.

You need to get the surveyors permission to sell the survey on. We did it and was all above board. As long as they have okayed it and are aware, it’s fine.

Good to know. But are the buyers covered with their liability?

System for house sales in England needs to change. It is bonkers. Scotland does it better.

We had this a few years ago. The Estate Agent actually went on to blacklist them and we managed to find another buyer quickly. Hoping the same for you x

Happened to my nephew. Real pain and it turned out it was the estate agent that had caused the problem and the buyer still wanted the house. Months of aggro for nothing. So sorry it has happened to you.

So sorry this happened to you OP. I bloody hate the English house buying system. It’s literally designed to be as stressful as possible. In fact, we keep talking about moving but I am so scarred by our last move 8 years ago I just can’t face it. It isn’t worth the grief.

i would love our system to be overhauled to be more in line with some of the other countries’ systems mentioned here!

I can’t read all of this thread because it makes me feel quite sick and brings back the memories of the terrible stress we had in selling. Buyer pulled out after both parties had signed contract but because not actually then “ exchanged “ between solicitors they were able to pull out. We did sell a long time later and still live in the rental we paid for for a year empty because they pulled out. They were a professional couple and I remember feeling the whole range of emotions including anger at their unprofessional behaviour.

Had the same experience in 1991. Selling our large house to the grandson of a famous family. Our solicitor rang us the day of the exchange to say he had left the country that morning and wouldn’t be exchanging. We lost the best house we could ever had owned, still angry!

We had an inaccurate survey on our property and surveyors got out of any liability. Our lawyers said at the time that surveys are not worth the paper they are written on and not to bother again. Just have the minimum requirement (usually a valuation report)

Hi There,
We can't guarantee anything - that's the first thing I want to say before anything else, but we may be in a position to help.

I'd need all the details though. Can you message me in private. I don't use this forum that much so don't know if there is a DM function.
Let me know, or give me your email address

What happened to you is horrible. And unforgivable. Buyers don't suddenly get showstopping doubts as late as that- they ought to have called a halt or paused things to think it over long since.

I'm so sorry @Newhousename. We need to move to a better system, don't we - if you knew you had a 10% fee to claim from them if they pull out for example, buyers wouldn't do this, but they lost maybe a few hundred quid.

Complete arseholes.

Hope you find a decent buyer soon x

What?! What scumbags!
At least you get to keep the 10% deposit though. That should help make up the shortfall if you have to sell it at a lower price. Why anyone would walk away and lose their deposit is beyond me?!