Urgent advice please - exchange to completion

[Lavendar01]

We are selling our property and signing contracts tomorrow, which I presume will go over to our buyer some point next week.

We've just received a call from our EA sharing that the buyer wants to come for a final viewing DAYS before completion date.

We recently removed some big trees in the back garden which due to the recent storms became dangerous, but we left the stomps for various reasons, and were told it's so rotten itll just decompose over the year. The cost for this has us set us back quite abit but was certainly required.

Buyer has now requested for a final viewing with a tree surgeon. Whilst I have no issue with final viewing and EA has shared it's purely so he knows how much removing the stomps will cost him (I doubt this), my concern is that if the conversations sway the other way where he wants to renegotiate the price and we refuse and he walks away, we would have already disassembled all of our big furniture in preparation to move, and will have to reinstate everything back to its place to go back on the market. I'm going to request the buyer to visit this weekend instead, before we start flat packing things, however he may refuse

What would you do in this position?

When is exchange? If your buyer is viewing after exchange of contracts, they can’t do any more price negotiating.

Will you have exchanged by the time he comes?

If they haven't exchanged when they come round then there's definitely scope for negotiation...

Why are you worried? Do they know that the trees have been taken down? Did the person taking them down do a good job? Is leaving the stumps in the way that they are standard practice? Ordinarily should they have been removed too?

Im guessing buyer is coming before singing contracts on their side, aka before exchange, should I contact my solicitor to discuss this?

Also I'm guessing hes coming because there are two more trees that we didnt take down because the budget wouldnt allow (this is 2weeks ago) and they were advisory in the future, not immediate danger by the tree surgeon. But I know that not all tree surgeons will have the same opinion

If you're signing contracts tomorrow, no further price negotiations can occur after that so if buyer is coming post tomorrow you have nothing to worry about.

Don't let him view until after exchange as then nothing can be done about price. I would be conveniently 'working' or not available when he comes to visit so you can let them walk around the garden but not really be available to talk

I've had it once on completion that they offered less, so they can still try to negotiate after exchanging. My removal van was loaded up and parked out front and they offered 10k less. It was the most stressful few hours of my life. The estate agent locked their doors to keep me out as I was ranting in the street.

That's not true. Signing is not the same as exchange. The buyer isn't tied in until exchange

This isn't quite accurate. It is the actual exchange of contracts ( done by solicitors usually on the phone) which makes the deal binding. The contracts will be signed in readiness for exchange. Until then, the contacts can be altered. There can often be days if not a week or more between signing and exchanging.

Apparently the exchange can even happen on the day of completion, I guess the only way i'll know for sure is if I call up my solicitor

We've kind of lost the trust and positive relationship with our solicitor over the period of selling, so not sure how much of a help he'll be here

In all fairness I don't want to force or trick someone into a deal they don't feel is right for them, I just dont want to leave that right up until the day of completion because of the inconvenience

That doesn't work though if the buyer refuses to exchange.

OP I think you just have to let them get on with it and accept its a risk. Perhaps send them photos in advance so that they can at least check they're happy with the aesthetics now the trees are down.

Signing the contract is not legally binding exchange is. So buyers want to come round for a final check before exchange to check the trees out. Reasonable enough request. Hopefully all will be ok 🤞

I think you’re right that they are after some money off.

You could try to say no second viewing until after exchange, but in your buyer’s shoes that would be a major red flag, so I’d come back with “I’m not exchanging unless I’ve seen the property again.”

On that basis I’d be letting them view but getting my own figures together for the cost of removing the stumps/ extra tree(s) so you can negotiate with authority.

If the tree stumps look awful I’d consider getting them removed in advance by someone with a stump grinder- they will decompose but depending on the wood it could take years and your buyers are unlikely to want to be looking at that!

You can refuse to exchange and complete on the same day, in fact it can can cause issues with drawing down mortgage funds to do it all on the same day.

You can also stipulate the minimum gap that you will accept between exchange and completion, so if you think there a chance they will pull out, insist on exchanging with enough of a gap to do all your packing and furniture disassembling between exchange and completion.

It's not an unreasonable request to view again prior to exchange though, especially if the conveyancing has gone on for a while or if you know something has changed. I think it's fairly standard solicitor advice to do so.

Re the tree stumps, I had a tree removed from my front garden 15 years ago and the guy assured me the stump would rot in a couple of years. It is still there! Still the same size and shape!

Im not bothered though as I only see it when going out in my car and it’s not too big or in your face.

I once had buyers pull out on the day of exchange, we had signed but the buyers didn’t - two weeks later we were told that they had moved into a new house that they must have been proceeding with while stringing us along.

How big/unsightly are the tree stumps?
Is the buyer aware you were taking down the trees?
Maybe he is bringing his tree surgeon to tell him what sort of price he will charge to remove the stumps.
I'd let him come rather than try to get put of it. It would look far better to just allow him to come as if it's no issue to you. Then hopefully he will be fine with it all.