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Original poster

Exchanging tomorrow. Buyers just pulled out

321 replies

Newhousename · 14/08/2023 21:29

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.

OP posts:
HermioneKipper · 15/08/2023 09:36

What bastards. People shouldn’t be allowed to do this

BitOutOfPractice · 15/08/2023 09:37

@user1471538283 I know. When my solicitor called I assumed it was to say that it'd gone through at 1:40 instead of 2pm as they'd told me. Nope. Buter had pulled out because, wait for it, their mom had a bad feeling.

lovewoola · 15/08/2023 09:37

@tenbob so we can't change the system

DrSbaitso · 15/08/2023 09:45

HermioneKipper · 15/08/2023 09:36

What bastards. People shouldn’t be allowed to do this

But they are, so they do.

The system needs a complete rehaul. It's not fit for purpose. Nobody is protected and gazumping and gazundering happen all the time too. Why has no political party got this front and centre?

tenbob · 15/08/2023 09:48

lovewoola · 15/08/2023 09:37

@tenbob so we can't change the system

Something needs to be done around surveys for sure

A lot of people have such a weird attitude towards them, and see them more as an insurance policy against any slight thing being wrong with a house in the future, rather than as an advisory report.
You see it on threads here all the time - people being advised to get legal advice about whether they can sue a surveyor when damp comes to light years later

The result is that surveys are now so full of caveats as to be totally worthless. They list everything as potentially being an issue so they can cover their arses, so you never really know if there is a problem or if the surveyor is making sure you can’t sue them

But I don’t think a sellers pack can change such an entrenched national attitude..!
Everyone thinks every house they sell is too cheap and every house they buy is too expensive, it’s all just too emotive to be a pure business transaction, which is what contract law is designed for

TenderDandelions · 15/08/2023 09:49

I think it might work in your favour that the market is so slow at the moment.

In the past, your vendor might have just pulled out and found another buyer that has a complete chain, but nowadays there's so little movement, it might be just as quick to wait for you to find another buyer.

I agree that this system is shit though. I had a buyer demand a £5k price reduction on the day of exchange. I couldn't afford it so told them it was the price they'd previously offered or I'm pulling out, knowing I'd lose my onward purchase.

Stupid idiots hadn't told their solicitor that they were trying for a last minute price reduction, so the solicitors exchanged contracts anyway!

I then spent the next couple of days thinking of how I could plot my revenge (you know, prawns in the curtain poles type thing), but in the end I just took the moral high ground and drank the bottle of bubbly I'd bought for them!

redactle · 15/08/2023 09:49

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

lovewoola · 15/08/2023 09:49

I agree with you that surveys are just full of caveats which makes them pretty pointless.

But I don’t think a sellers pack can change such an entrenched national attitude..! Everyone thinks every house they sell is too cheap and every house they buy is too expensive, it’s all just too emotive to be a pure business transaction, which is what contract law is designed for

Yep!

nopuppiesallowed · 15/08/2023 10:00

I'm so sorry this has happened to you and to so many others. We had a different problem when we tried to buy our first house. The seller took us round herself. We visited 2 or 3 times. She promised to leave her whirly line and other things, too (we were very young (21 and 22) and had only been married a year and hadn't anything in the way of possessions). She was stringing us along. She sold it to someone else who gave her a higher offer. The English system is absolutely awful and not fit for purpose.

good96 · 15/08/2023 10:14

I would strongly advise selling your house with ‘we buy any home’ or the like - you won’t get the full market value for the property.
I know someone who was desperate to sell their home about two years ago - it was valued by the EA at £350k. The WBAH company gave them £265k for it….
then re-sold it 3 months later for £375k.
Worse thing you can do.

good96 · 15/08/2023 10:16

It is totally shit to be fair when you’re in that situation. Hate people that mess others around like that!

FanFckingTastic · 15/08/2023 10:16

I feel for you OP but not all is lost. My buyer did this to us also after asking for money off literally just before we exchanged. My EA contacted my whole chain and told them what had happened, and to my surprise they all agreed to wait for us to re-sell and we re-listed. I think that the key here is being honest with the other people in the chain.

As it turns out, our buyer came back with their tail between their legs a few days later and asked if they could proceed at the original price and everything went through.

I must admit that when my toddler took a poop just before we left the house on completion day I did not bother to flush though....

itsallnewnow · 15/08/2023 10:18

larkstar · 15/08/2023 06:11

A deposit is paid by the intended buyer usually about a week before exchange - typically 10% of the purchase price I think. You will be entitled to keep that I believe. I'm a bit sketchy on the details even though I sold a house a couple of years ago as an executor and the buyers were an absolute nightmare. The system of buying and selling and making offers is a complete joke.

I hope things work out soon for you.

This is wrong in England im afraid entitled to nothing before exchanges

W0tnow · 15/08/2023 10:19

hoophoophooray · 15/08/2023 07:34

Having been the buyer who pulled out on the day of exchange, I wonder how our situation would have played out in other countries.

Our seller had disclosed a historical property dispute which we did our due diligence on and were happy to accept. The day before exchange the neighbour decided to reopen the dispute and said they weren't happy with the resolution (from 10 years previously - boundary issue) and wanted £30k to resolve it. We couldn't get legal insurance to cover the dispute and quite frankly didn't want to get into - the documents showed it had been a bitterly fought wild ride a decade ago. So we pulled out.

How would that have been viewed in other countries, would we have been allowed to rescind or would we have been penalised? The house took another 4 years to sell...

You’d have lost your deposit I think. But without knowing the details, it feels like the neighbours were on shaky ground on the basis that there had been a resolution in the past.

milveycrohn · 15/08/2023 10:22

"I'm always amazed when I hear that people book moving companies, pack up houses etc. prior to even exchanging."
This is why completion is usually a few weeks after the exchange of contracts, allowing one to get all the moving in process.
Other posters have remarked about having a survey first. Would this be acceptable to mortgage suppliers? Probably not. This is why the mortgage company have a survey (obviously they commison just a valuation type); Why would they rely on anything the seller has produced.
In my experience it is often the searches that take time to receive, but mainly the portgage.
You may have a 'mortgage in principle', but actually getting the mortgage is another matter, especially if they have valued the hosue at less than you are paying. In my DS case, the mortgage copany failed to understand his payslip and initially offered him a lot less than his mortgage in principle. And try talking to them - not a chance. This took another few weeks to be resolved.

ilovesushi · 15/08/2023 10:25

So sorry! Are they thinking of gazundering you? Happened to us a few days before then they came back wanting a £20 grand reduction. Bastards.

Twospaniels · 15/08/2023 10:25

My daughters house was for sale for £275k and they got an offer from National Homebuyers at £223k - so quite a big difference, but it depends how desperate you are to sell and buy your new house I guess

GasPanic · 15/08/2023 10:40

tenbob · 15/08/2023 09:48

Something needs to be done around surveys for sure

A lot of people have such a weird attitude towards them, and see them more as an insurance policy against any slight thing being wrong with a house in the future, rather than as an advisory report.
You see it on threads here all the time - people being advised to get legal advice about whether they can sue a surveyor when damp comes to light years later

The result is that surveys are now so full of caveats as to be totally worthless. They list everything as potentially being an issue so they can cover their arses, so you never really know if there is a problem or if the surveyor is making sure you can’t sue them

But I don’t think a sellers pack can change such an entrenched national attitude..!
Everyone thinks every house they sell is too cheap and every house they buy is too expensive, it’s all just too emotive to be a pure business transaction, which is what contract law is designed for

Show quote history

They are neither totally worthless nor a cast iron guarantee that something won't be wrong.

The basic ones are a quick look see from someone with a more professional eye for assessment. When you consider how much something like a homebuyer survey actually costs, I find it amazing anyone can do a comprehensive inspection for that amount of money once you factor in all the costs. The service reflects the price.

Even with a more comprehensive survey there is still a chance something could be missed, because it is easy for sellers to superficially cover structural damage and often the things you need to look at to make an assessment are inaccessible.

Personally the ones I have had I have always found useful, including the homebuyer ones, and have spotted stuff I missed in my own inspection.

Sothisiit · 15/08/2023 10:43

Relist and hopefully you'll get a new buyer soon. If you know the previous 'buyers' solicitors you could direct you new purchasers to these and then the searches can be reused and would speed up the process.
It's hard to believe some people have no conscience of how they affect others with these massive last minute decisions.

BatheInTheLight · 15/08/2023 10:48

Absolute shits. They should have to pay 5k or something for pulling that kind of stunt.

JudgeJ · 15/08/2023 10:48

GoodChat · 15/08/2023 06:24

A logical system would be that when an estate agent is instructed to list they have their own surveyor who surveys and they list the survey with the property.

Then one a sale is agreed all contracts are immediately signed and nobody can pull out.

We had an offer accepted then the seller went awol.

Wasn't there a scheme in the 2000s where the vendor had to pay for a survey before putting it on the market, many people trained in a few weeks to become these surveyors! It stopped just before we bought/sold in 2010 I believe, we didn't have to do it

Sothisiit · 15/08/2023 10:55

My MIL purchased an expensive ceramic bath. It looked beautiful but had very upright sides and was so uncomfortable with no way of lying down.
Definitely try before you buy to assess comfort.
Hopefully you can find a solution to find a comfortable position.

Sothisiit · 15/08/2023 10:56

Ignore....the above... wrong thread. Oops

GoodChat · 15/08/2023 10:57

Ohhh I don't know @JudgeJ!

The reason I think the EA should have one is so that vendors can't just get their dodgy mates to do it Grin

NeedMoreWonga · 15/08/2023 10:58

Newhousename · 14/08/2023 21:29

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.

This should be fucking illegal.