Vendor pulled out at exchange

[JH20000]

Vendor pulled out 30 minutes before exchange. Devastated.
I’ve spent over 3.5k in legal and survey fees.

please tell me it gets better. I’ve wasted 5.5 months to get to this point

I have nothing useful to say. Just that that's bloody awful and huge amounts of sympathy.

Oh I'm sorry to hear that - any reason given? Not that that really helps :(

Get your solicitor to ask the vendors to re-imburse you at least for the searches and survey. They may well say no but it's worth a try.

The whole process in England sucks, for both buyers and sellers, and should be completely overhauled. Sorry OP, it's really unfair that you've ended up out of pocket.

I feel for you, this happened to us. In the end we bought a new build so we had some control. It's a ridiculous system in England.

5.5 months between offer and the planned exchange - you have the patience of a saint, I'd have walked away months ago.

I'm afraid that legal and survey fees are a sunk cost. It's not unusual to pay these out for at least one property that doesn't proceed for whatever reason. It's something you should budget for, but I doubt it's something anyone ever tells you in advance - it's something you learn along the way.

For the future, is there some kind of insurance you can take out for these scenarios? I hear about them all the time, it’s a wonder anyone ever moves house. That is a crazy amount of money.

I've been there @JH20000.
I make it worse, I worked with our buyer. He only told me when I left work to go and sign the exchange docs at the solicitors.

We put the house straight back on the market. What actually happened, was that the person at the top of the long (8 links) chain bought it. The value of our little 2 bed terrace was worth it to keep the chain, and his million pound profit, afloat. He put it back on the market, sold it again on a couple of weeks, for more than what he'd paid us for it.

Shitty behaviour of the buyers though.

I hope you get a new buyer soon.

It was for a leasehold so took slightly longer.

sorry, just wanted to get my feelings down.

I really have no words.

I’m in England, is there any chance of recouping at least some of these costs?

From whom?
You've got no contract with the Seller until the point of Exchange.
Your Conveyancer has incurred expenses for time and Searches.

It's part of the system. It's how it works.

No… don’t prolong the agony by thinking like that because it won’t get you anywhere. Very sorry it happened but you do need to accept it is done now and no point dwelling on the costs you have incurred.

Yes it’s. Called homebuyers insurance

don’t buy a house without having it
your basically gambling on people you don’t know being honest and trustworthy when hundreds of thousands of pounds are involved

😂
I don’t know why more people don’t buy it when buying a house - you are dealing with the general public who are stupids and deceitful at the best of time 😂
most solicitors offer it as part of the service

You can buy it online as well but you have to purchase it within 2 weeks of MOS from the estate agent

you can pick the level you require depending on what survey you have and solicitors fees

my son paid 70 through his solicitors

it coverd up to 1k in general survey
5k in Solicitors fees
2k in other fees you may have incurred like Rutgers survey - booking removals

his chain almost fell apart right at the last min and the sellers had to pull out but they luckily kept my sons a buyer and they managed to buy another place the following week

had it fell apart then all of my sons cost which were around 3k would have been covered

There's insurance for this type of thing from a sellers and buyers perspective about £100ish quid.

Nothing you can do now with this sale. It's shit and I hope you get a reason. Some people are bellends

You should have taken insurance, would have cost you a lot less - always take the insurance.

You have no recourse...

I really feel for you. Our sellers took six fucking months to get their act together and I worried every day that they would pull out.
Unfortunately you aren't going to be able to recoup any costs this time round, but make sure you are insured for this going forward. Hopefully you'll look back at this when you've secured your new place and it'll feel like a relief, in time.

You got away lightly, only ever buy freehold, leasehold is a con.

So sorry to hear - the process is honestly antiquated in this country and sadly I've heard of many stories like yours. Hope you have better luck next time.

I’m so furious it’s unreal. They may have had a valid excuse but 30 minutes before is awful, sorry. I even got a lovely two line email from the estate agent as a way of telling me.

Yes I know I needed insurance. I feel like a fool.

So sorry this has happened to you, OP. It's really shitty of the vendor. And it's shit that it can happen at all, the system is absolutely appalling.

Try not to take some of the very blunt posts on here to heart, too - there's a stunning lack of empathy in some of them, even by MN standards.

I agree especially the laughing emojis because it is hilarious isn't it? What a horrid smug post.

Yep happened to me twice last time I was buying. First time I specifically asked if the woman would go through the sale if she didn't find a property to buy and was assured she would. Booked survey, did searches. I met the agent at the property with the surveyor. Again I asked. Yes she will not hold up the sale I was told. Of course she changed her mind! I'd already completed on my own house and had to move to an Airbnb with my DD and two dogs.
Next guy same thing. Then he pulled out not only after I had done survey and searches but also three weeks before the stamp duty holiday ended. He claimed ill health.
Finally went for one that was chain free, tenants had vacated.
Cost me extra £15k in stamp duty and about £4k in Airbnb fees plus £4k in wasted fees for the aborted purchases.
Government needs to: Make offers legally binding (with agreed contingencies). Set out timeline in the offer phase. Deadlines for survey, mortgage approval, exchange, completion etc. Penalties if either side pulls out without cause.

The buying and selling process in england and wales is abysmal. There is a special place in hell for people like your vendors.

I’ve had this too but we had an inkling that the guy would do something like that. In fact he was an utter arse so I was kind of glad he didn’t go through it and purchase our lovely home.

We put the house on the market the same day and quickly sold. Thankfully we were still able to go on to buy the house we wanted.

Sorry OP, it sucks.