Moving after 30 years in my house

[Mxflamingnoravera]

After 30 years in my lovely Victorian terrace I've decided to downsize to a two bed new build flat.
I've had back surgery which was not entirely successful and other aches and pains which makes my house too much for me.
I'm 15 years divorced and my son left home 10 years ago, it's time for a new family to love this house and garden.
....
But I'm lost, heartbroken, excited, don't know quite how to get the house sale ready. Can't clean because of my back, and can't garden for the same reason.

I've got a blitzer coming for the garden on Wednesday, and a decorator to paint over old water stains on my ceiling.

But how do I go from all this to an apartment? My son's room is pretty much the way it was when he left for university. His childhood books and toys are still here. I'm overwhelmed by the enormity of my decision.

I've seen an agent, I know what the house is worth. That's not the problem, it's the 30 years of STUFF that feels so overwhelming. Where do I start? Help!

Speak to local solicitors and write a letter terminating your agreement with other solicitors.
New company may be able to help with the wording of the letter or even do it for you at a cost

Hi @Mxflamingnoravera
This is copied from a U.K. solicitor webpage:-

The process of changing your lawyer is straightforward. You simply need to find a new solicitor that you trust to take over your case. You will then need to sign a form of authority, which allows your new solicitor to obtain your files from your previous solicitor. In most cases, your old solicitor will release the files, allowing your new solicitor to pick up where they left off. However, some solicitors will ask you to pay any outstanding fees before they release your files. This is because solicitors can exercise a lien over your file.

Good luck with the move.

I spoke to the sales progressor at the vendors estate agent today. She was great, she is going to keep badgering Muve and said we are not yet at the point where I need to change but they are not acting quickly on the stuff they have (because they want me to buy their "premium" fast mservice). I spoke to muve and they said their premium service had "specially trained" people working on the case, you can imagine what I said to that! I'm going to give them a few more days, but they have been sitting on the management pack (whatever that is) for a week, it's in their interest to go slowly to get me to buy the extra service. I'm livid, but staying calm and trying to catch them out on their own promises.

We are almost at exchange and now my buyers have had a last minute full structural survey. It's a Victorian house, there are works that need doing. Damp on the landing being the most obvious.

But they now want "time to get quotes in". My seller wants to exchange and complete in the next two weeks.

I can see a haggle over price coming. What do I do? I need to move, my health is not improving (I was in A&E last week with suspected -thankfully not- CES). I just don't have the strength to start again, I don't want to lose the flat, but I don't want to fund works that the buyers will benefit from when they were pretty much all evident on viewing.

Any advice?

My advice would be that you need to be prepared to haggle.

If your house has damp issues plus other issues uncovered by the survey, your buyers will probably expect a reduction. If you refuse and lose them, exactly the same problem will occur next time you try to sell the house.

See what they say when they have the quotes and then post again and people will advise you re negotiating. Remember your EA is also there to give you advice on how to proceed. Sorry if that isn’t what you wanted to hear but a little negotiation on price after a full structural survey is common.

I recently sold a Victorian house and the same thing happened - twice. The first buyer asked for £20K off to cover works that would have cost £5K at most. I wasn't a forced seller at that point so I wasn't too bothered when the buyer pulled out. Second time round I negotiated a £5K reduction with the buyer, but on condition that the exchange of contracts happened on schedule. Fortunately the buyer was happy to proceed without getting further quotes. If you have a rough idea of how much the works might cost, could you speak to the EA about potentially offering a reduction up front if the buyers will move quickly? I'd also make it clear that if they are getting quotes, then you will want to get your own quotes rather than negotiate based on theirs. (My EA advised this on my first sale.)

I have offered to get electrical certificate done and a 2k reduction which brings the price to 10k under the asking price.

My agent says this is a good opening move. Thing is all the stuff in the report was visible when they viewed so it's not as if they didn't know they'd need to budget for this stuff. I'm not going to pay for repairs that won't benefit me. I simply cannot afford to, either directly or indirectly.

I have someone coming to quote for the damp this week. I've cleared all the foliage that was in front of air bricks. My agent says it's not usual these days to seek huge reductions when the house was clearly needing work when viewed.

Let's see....

Buyers are still umming and ahing about quotes. They are affecting a whole chain of people's lives. I'm losing all the good will I had towards them.

Try to detach if possible.
You have no control over their final decision.
Worrying won’t change things ( says she who stresses over everything) 💐

What a frustrating situation to be in. I've read your thread from the beginning and have been rooting for you. I really hope the buyers step up.

They are still messing me and the whole chain around. surveyor is offering quotes is not on (according to my EA and my onward EA). But they are fixated on these "quotes".

I'm at the end of my rope. I'm tired, I'm in limbo, I'm going to have to deal with another round of we want money off negotiations tomorrow. I'm on my own with all of this, it's a very lonely time.

I just want to get on with the move now. I'm so fed up of everything. My lovely house is starting to feel like a millstone instead of an asset. I use less than half of it.

Thanks @HermioneMedal for looking in. It's nice to know there's folk out there.

I know you feel alone, but you have support on here OP.

I'm following your posts OP as I've just downsized too and followed your thread from the start.

It's so frustrating- I've just sold and purchased. It took 23 weeks from start to finish with an 8 week stretch living with my parents.

I'm also following as I have been through the property mill myself recently, also on my own. I hope you have success with the negotiations. It sounds like you have a lovely house and you deserve a fair price for it. As tough as this process can be, you will find the strength to get through it.

Another day of being messed around, yesterday they tried to get me to pay to get the house double glazed. ffs. I wish I could just walk away, but I'm deep into the sunk costs.

They are trying all sorts aren't they?

Just have to hold your nerve. It would be ridiculous for you to pay for the house to get double glazed at this stage. That is something they can do in future.

People are just so ridiculous sometimes! It makes me so cross.

You could threaten to readvertise and see what they do. But we get so invested emotionally and financially that it's so hard to issue cultivations.

They really are trying it on

That should say ULTIMATIONS

😂

Finally. We've agreed. I want to move, my last offer was further than I wanted to go but it gets me moving. Two weeks from now hopefully! 🤞 at last.

That’s great @Mxflamingnoravera

Have you exchanged contracts now or will you shortly?

Thank goodness!

Yes push for exchange asap - if you haven't already

That's wonderful news and I hate to be negative but my experience of these sorts of people is they will push for more and more right up to the point of exchange. We had two requests on the morning of the exchange for appliances to be included in the sale which we had always been explicit were coming with us as they were brand new. Their excuse was they didn't know any plumbers.

They'd messed us around so much we'd made sure we had enough time between exchange and completion so if there were any last minute shenanigans we wouldn't be on the hook for the removers coming the next day.

So I would speak to your solicitor and arrange for exchange to be at a minimum the number of working days notice you have to give your removers so at the first sign of any crap you can say you are not having it, you are cancelling your removers at 4.45pm if not exchanged by 3pm and after that any further dates will depend on the availability of your moving company. In high season.

Be prepared. You are almost over the line but people are dicks.