Buyer pulled out…..again

[Snugmummy]

so I posted before about our buyers needing more time to decide- after offering and us accepting.
They left us 10 long days in limbo and then finally came back and said they absolutely definitely want our house- they completely love it and started negotiating for our blinds, curtains , light fittings and gym equipment- they wanted it all!
We then went ahead and offered on our dream house, had our offer accepted and all surveys were completed with absolutely no issues whatsoever.
They then sent an email… a bloody email! To our estate agents on April fools day (feels horribly ironic) to say that, sorry, hope we understand but they’ve decided to buy another house. I’m so gutted - our dream house is now back on the market and so are we.
Please send me positive stories of a successful end to these situations, I’m aware they happen often, but never to us before. I’ve fallen in love with ‘our’ new house but feeling terribly depressed that we may lose it after all.

They may have Humza Yousuf and the women hating SNP in charge, but one thing about Scotland I would think should be adopted across the rest of the UK is their law about house sale and purchase. Unless you could do better.

People like the OP describes should be banned from buying property for a very long time, and made to live in somewhere like an aged caravan or tent.

I bought and sold in England and most recently in Scotland. I really don't understand the starry-eyed view of the Scottish system, its really very little different to the English one. Until the Missives are signed either party can pull out without penalty, this happened to us when we were selling in Scotland this time last year when we were quite a few weeks down the road and had had an offer accepted on another property - in our case it was a cash buyer who turned out not to be. Luckily 1 of the other 3 couples that had offered still wanted to proceed, we reverted to them and it all worked out but given the missives were only agreed and signed 2 days before completion it could still have fallen through. The only significant difference, which is good, is the seller having to have the paperwork ready for the buyers, but it's still sensible to do your own survey if the house is complex or if the HBR is a bit cagey

Another positive story here: buyer lost their buyer twice, I lost my dream home, it took 11 months and I lost about £2k because the second time the chain collapsed. BUT, I then found a much better house, in a much better area, for £42k less. We’re now in, I LOVE the house and couldn’t be happier. And all those people saying what your buyer has done is ok, it’s not. Sure, legally it’s fine but that’s because the English system for buying houses is ridiculous. Morally though they are shitty people. It’s not ok to let other people spend £££s on surveys, solicitors fee etc if you’re not fully committed to buying. Scumbag behaviour.

So glad you love your house! We had another viewing today which went really well , so fingers crossed we’ll be back in the game soon!!

is your dream house still available?

Yes it is!

this could all work out very well!!

is your property on same price as before?

Our original buyers pulled out. We resold our place for £50K more and managed to keep the purchase of then house we wanted. The market is improving. Hold tight and all will be well, I'm a great believer that all things happen for a reason. Best of luck to you!
PS I heard our original buyers then pulled out of another purchase on the day of exchange. There is a special place in hell reserved for these people!

Nothing as yet but the ‘random man who knocked on our door’ is on holiday & he hasn’t sold so can’t make an offer anyway . The estate agent said he’s very keen but who knows! I’ve lost the will to live over the whole thing, we’re all in a weird limbo until some bugger sells 🙄 but hey ho- we’ll just sit tight and see what happens next!

Yes it is

Yes

We are in a similar situation. We put our house on the market and after a week had an offer, we cancelled all future viewings and agreed to accept it as they were super keen and weren’t in a chain, perfect. 4 weeks later at 4pm on a Friday we got an email from their solicitor saying due to personal circumstances they could no longer proceed. Our EA got on it quick and we were back online by 4.30 and had viewers as early as the following day, anyways we had an influx of viewers and went to a closing date. Got 5 offers with only one being chain free, although it wasn’t the top offer we went with them as wanted a quick sale. Well lo and behold exactly 4 weeks later at 4pm on a Thursday we get an email saying the buyers didn’t actually have a deposit and would have to pull out - excellent.
Our EA acted fast again and phoned the highest offer we received at closing and the couple still want it, but they still have a house to market and sell. They are confident it will go quick but we have 7 weeks to sign missives on our new build or we will lose it and I feel angry that people can get away with putting offers in when they are flaky, don’t have the money or aren’t serious! It’s not bloody fair on the people selling.
Hope you got it sorted.

This happened us 6 times. Deposits paid & sale agreed. Sale agreed means nothing, they can pull even after contracts are signed & 10% paid.

The law is heavily waited in the buyers favour.

We even had someone do a survey, found woodworm & wanted 30k off. We got a quote of 1,500 to treat. They wrote a letter about it being their dream home, but how they couldn't afford it & would pay 30k less. Cheek!

We'd other various issues. AIP is all they provide to the estate agent, after that when they try get the mortgage items like bank statements will be revisited & their may be a change which the bank don't like, so they'll pull the offer.

Everytime it went from sale agreed to pulling out we changed estate agent. Tbh none of them put in hard work.

Our solicitor & various estate agents told us this was very unlucky & unusual

Also often buyers are bidding on several properties at once. They can even pay the holding deposit of say 7k, then if they are successful on bidding with another property they simply ask for that deposit back.

Delay tactics aren't good. Once they go sale agreed you want to push for surveys to be done, contacts to be signed etc, once it starts costing money they are less likely to pull out

@TracyStew Well lo and behold exactly 4 weeks later at 4pm on a Thursday we get an email saying the buyers didn’t actually have a deposit and would have to pull out.

It sounds like your EA let you down here by not checking they had the funds in place to make the offer. Normally they ask for bank statements and mortgage approval proof before submitting the offer to you.

They had an agreement in principal when they made the offer which is all my estate agent can go on. It wasn’t until the latter stages of the full mortgage proposal that it came to light they were being gifted a deposit by a family friend which isn’t allowed. It’s not their fault as they didn’t know it would be an issue and their mortgage broker hadn’t asked where their deposit came from which they definitely should have!! This is in Scotland so maybe different in England.

Maybe in the UK this is the case
All the ea in ireland ask for the AIP letter

So, after absolutely zero further interest we contacted our EA and asked them if we can go multi-agent as we were very disappointed in the lack of viewings. They agreed (to our surprise as our contract has a fair few weeks to run) and asked that we give them 2 weeks before we instruct another agent, which we agreed to.
Lo and behold we suddenly have 3 viewings lined up this week! Hopefully the thought of losing a hefty fee has given them a kick up the bum and they are more pro-active!
I understand that it’s a slow market in places but I do think they need to be doing more than simply listing houses on right move to earn their fees! Send positive vibes my way please!

Hi

Wondering how things went for you after your buyer pulled out? Did you still get your house? Your experience is almost identical to ours. Under offer to our buyer for months, we had an offer accepted on our dream house. Buyer then asks to have another viewing, saying they definately aren't having second thoughts and are absolutely definately buying it. They then delay for a couple of weeks before pulling out, having found something else. This after MONTHS where they could have pulled out without consequence. I kept telling the agent I felt we were being strung along but they kept making excuses for them. I am gutted😔and its the second time this has happened to us.