Vendor asking for more money on exchange day

[cathyburke]

After a long few months we were finally ready to exchange, this was supposed to happen last week but keeps being delayed and we are due to complete on Friday.

Backstory the property we are buying had been on the market for a while, we offered on it and then reduced our offer by 2K after a survey which the vendor agreed to.

Our sale then fell through as our buyer pulled out, the vendor offered to keep the property off the market for a month if we paid them £1000. We said no, thankfully we got another buyer a few weeks later and they had no interest on the property so we were able to proceed again.

Fast forward to today, at the moment of exchange and our vendor is now demanding an extra £2000, reverting to the original offer price.

All contracts have been signed with the renegotiated price ready to exchange, assuming the vendor also signed at the reduced price.

I think it's worth mentioning that a couple of weeks ago we had the boiler serviced and it has been condemned and needs replacing of which the vendor will not reduce the price for or contribute and was pushing for completion despite us not being able to get the boiler replaced before completion. They are quite happy for us with young children to move into a property with no heating or hot water just before Christmas.

We are standing firm with our original offer as we are having to fork out an extra £3000 for the boiler but the seller is adamant that they will not accept anything less than the original offer.

Interested to see what others would do in this situation?

So you serviced the boiler in their house? They should have serviced it! It's not your boiler. We had to replace a boiler in one house because it died just before we exchanged!

Yep, she refused to have it serviced 🙃

Do not give them a penny. They're just calling your bluff.
Absolutely do not agree to this.

I'm stunned. I've never heard of anyone paying for anything in a house they haven't actually bought yet. If the vendor pulls out of the sale they've profited from you.

I'd pull out. That simple. They are trying to hold you hostage. If you pull out now it will cost them more in the end as will they get another buyer across the line before April 1st when SDLT changes?

Really? It's quite normal! As it is empty she isn't legally obliged to have it serviced, our buyer also paid for their own boiler service and electrical check even though they'd been done 2 months prior by us for our previous buyer.

I'd guess there are a lot more problems ahead with this seller TBH.

I'd resolve to pull out AND reduce your offer by £1000.

I very much doubt they will get any buildings insurance if there is no longer a viable heating system in the property and renting it out will be out of the question too.

When we moved house everyone paid for their own boiler service. Not one in someone elses house. But tricky if they refused.

Anyway, Id go back and say you want £3k off as the boiler doesn’t work and you’ll pull out if they don’t exchange on Friday.

Happened to me too. I told them I’d leave my offer on the table for 24 hours and viewed every house in the area that was up for sale.
The estate agent cut a deal with the vendors outwith the sale (no involvement from me) and I bought the house at the price originally agreed.

No offence Cathy but why did you do it.
Its not your property
I wouldn’t allow anyone in to do anything to a property I owned, no matter how near exchange.
I can’t understand why a buyer, seller or their conveyancers would allow that.

Because it's normal? The boiler hadn't been serviced, she refused to service it herself and with a young family moving in winter we wanted it checked? Thank god we did as we would've had a shock otherwise!

I can't believe people would purchase a property without things being checked, £80 for peace of mind, hardly a fortune.

People have all sorts of checks done and legally the seller doesn't have to pay for them so you either pay yourself or run the risk of them not working or having issues after the purchase when they could be used for renegotiating?

Try to stand firm. People who treat others like this are cunts of the highest order. It ought to be an offence.

Jeez OP, your vendors sound awful! Do not give them another penny, cheeky bastards!

You wouldn’t allow a buyer to do necessary checks on the property they’re purchasing? Assuming you are not in England 🤔

Ring the EA in the morning & book viewings on other properties, hopefully this will stick a rocket up your vendors & make them see sense, tell them you will be seeking recovery of all expenses from them if they don't complete. Can you look at rentals short term until you find something else so you don't lose your buyers?

I’d drop my price £1000, tell the agent our offer drops again next week, ask the agent to book us an inspection at every likely local option asap, and say you should tell the vendor that if they pull out they can expect me to make sure every prospective buyer knows the boiler is broken and that will factor into their price, plus of course when the tax comes in (if applicable) if they haven’t closed.

No
OP said she had the boiler serviced.

I suspect that the heating engineer was employed to 'inspect' the boiler rather than 'service' it.
Op said earlier in the evening it was condemned, so I'm guessing the engineer wouldn't waste time servicing it when it was clear to him it was beyond repair.

I’m guessing the same.
If a boiler is condemned, it doesn’t work at all so can’t be serviced.

Not it's not, it's really not.

Your solicitor should be advising you not to pay for anything for the house, until it's yours. Yes your sellers can refuse to pay for the boiler to be serviced, the roof not to be repaired, the fence to be put back up. But if they don't they must also expect for the buyers to seek a price reduction.

Yes you can pay for the house to be surveyed but not to undertake repairs.

I'd absolutely threaten to pull out and if they didn't concede I would indeed pull out.
Id rather take a loss than give it to them.

It's not normal before you own the house! You pay for the boiler service as soon as you own it, if the vendor is too tight to have done it before.

So if your chain collapses you've paid for a boiler in a house you won't own and so have your buyers. Normally nobody pays for anything in a house until they actually own it. Too much can go wrong.

OP someone mentioned frozen pipes and that’s a really serious risk to be aware of. Pipes should stay above a certain temp because otherwise the water in them can freeze, which means they expand, then thaw, and split. A particular issue for loft boilers & pipes. A neighbour had this happen when their hive heating failed to kick in whilst on holiday, when it did, the loft ended up in the lounge.
Also re boiler definitely replace otherwise you’ll be throwing gold money after bad trying to fix the old one.

These people sound awful. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. Tactically, I think you have to find a way to let them back down without them losing face. Idiots like this get off on thinking they've triumphed over you. If you abruptly say no and/or tell them how ridiculous they're being, there's a high risk - I reckon - that they'll dig their heels in and the sale will fall through.

So, I reckon you need to emphasise that you simply don't have the additional £2k. You aren't in a position to negotiate with them over the £2k as you just don't have it. It's really important your estate agent believes that.

If you can bear it, you could say that you've rummaged around and can scrape together an extra £400 only. They'll come back and say they won't accept anything less than £500. And you grit your teeth and say yes. They'll think they've won and it'll all go through.

Good luck. Please let us know how it goes.

This seems like the most practical solution and likely to work.

They are going for a psychological win because they're CFs. This would annoy me no end but you don't have so many options unfortunately.

This gives it to them and also doesn't give them another £2k.

If they refuse this I'm afraid your purchase might just have to fall through.