House seller has pulled out

[DarcyBlue]

The owners of the house that we were in the process of buying have pulled out. We are completely shocked and baffled by it. They are an older couple, and one is a surveyor so we had hoped that they would understand the house buying process and it may actually make it smoother (!). Is it worth making a higher offer in this circumstance? And does anyone have experience of recouping costs from the sellers?

We have two young children (one starting school) and hoped to be settled in the house before September, and we made our position extremely clear. We are chain free buyers, with a very healthy deposit and finances in place. We viewed the house, made an offer then improved the offer after feedback from the sellers. It was a few percentage points below the asking price, but the market in the town is mostly slow, barring the one or two competitively-priced properties in the price bracket that go quickly.

They changed their minds .
Hassle of packing their stuff .
No property they like.
They are scared of the move.

Sorry I can't be any help but I do sympathise as the same happened to us (gazumped) and a friend of mine (same as you exactly). In both cases we'd paid for surveys but we didn't get anything back, we just had to write off the cost.
I know they are perfectly at liberty to do this but it's really low behaviour.
I hope you find something else quickly.

I would ask the Estate Agent if they know why it is been withdrawn.

I think the chance of recovering any costs you have incurred are almost zero unless you can make them feel 'really bad' about pulling out and they make a contribution out of guilt.

Well EAs are normally keen to find out why sales collapse because they lose their commission. So have you asked them why ?

You won’t be able to recover any costs from the sellers; pre exchange of contracts each party incurs constant at their risk. Unless they feel like making a goodwill gesture… Any number of reasons they might have pulled out though, so I wouldn’t be too quick to judge and would simply speak to the agent to see why. Once you’re informed, judge away if necessary!

We have, it was a really weird conversation, I presume they have tried to save the sale on their side, but it was presented as the couple's onward property was not 'viable' for them any longer, and the EA then said it was always that property or nothing for the couple. It was quite a strange update from them so perhaps worth asking again if it's worth holding out any hope for this house.

They probably only wanted a house in a certain area or a certain type like a bungalow. They may have found out it needs too much work , something happened to the neighbourhood , been gazumped, and their attitude is if they can't move there , then they are not moving at all.

OP doesn’t sound as though there is any point holding out any longer. Although a bit of a cryptic response from EA, the main point I took away is that there is only one property they would ever move for and for whatever reason that’s no longer possible for them and so they will no longer be moving. Pretty awful though for you to have lost money on solicitors/surveys though.

This happened to us (luckily not too far into the process). I'd cut your losses OP and start looking at other properties.

Also saying cut your losses - you can tell the EA you remain interested if things change

Not viable could be anything - too much work, one of them has started having health issues which means the property is eg too far from town or family now, they are separating, they were relying on an inheritance to help fund it and probate is taking too long etc etc.

True, we are going to start looking again. It is frustrating but just seems very poor form. I cannot imagine putting a house on the market, doing viewings, accepting offers and moving forward with the process and then pulling out. Such a lot of effort to change your mind.

Sure - and I doubt they have changed their mind on a whim.

If the survey came back costly on the place they wanted to buy, and that seller wouldn’t drop the price - say - then they have also had hassle and cost.

Sure - and I doubt they have changed their mind on a whim.

If the survey came back costly on the place they wanted to buy, and that seller wouldn’t drop the price - say - then they have also had hassle and cost.

Not that this will help you this time around - but might be worth considering 'Buyers Insurance' on your next house - it covers conveyancing, survey fees etc - so if somebody does a similar stunt - you can at least re-cover these costs. Hate the buying process in England as its so open to abuse and lack of commitment until exchange.

Thank you, that may be helpful for our next purchase in that case. Will look into it.

It’s not uncommon. 1 in 3 house sales fall through for various reasons. Sounds like they had their heart set on a house, for whatever reason they can’t proceed with it anymore, and there aren’t any other houses they’d consider instead.

I personally couldn’t do it but it does happen. My buyer pulled out right before exchange, they must have paid around £2000 towards the process.

How disappointing, we were in this position, when we where buying our family house (since downsized) the family we were buying from only wanted to buy one particular property, makes the process even more stressful.

You could try an offer of more money to see if that would tempt them, it could be that they can’t be bothered with the hassle of moving etc and have decided to stay put. I think they should have the decency to speak to you, even if it’s a no tbh. But I would definitely try to save it.

whats your plan B?

It's possible they needed to liquidate some assets in order to afford the new house and that the recent stock market movements made them worth less so they couldn't afford the onward purchase.

At the end of the day I doubt whether they would do this unless they were certain. If they were just missing a few K then probably they would ask you to up your price.

I think best to move on.

They may have had a life-changing event... you wont know that, they're not obliged to tell you and if something bad has happened...they rightly won't give a shit about you....

We did this to our buyers right near the end of the purchase process. The house we wanted to buy had lots wrong with it that wasn’t revealed until really late on - flooding, no building regs (it was a recent conversion), issue with land locking and water rights. I felt bad for our buyers but what can you do? We couldn’t buy a shit house just because we felt guilty. We lost lots of money too. It was our vendors who were to blame for putting a house on the market that was unsellable. In the end they had to rent it out.

It happens all the time! It was probably one house they wanted or nothing. Tell the agent that if anything changes to let you know but you need to look elsewhere. It’s sucks!!

Good point! I think this is pretty likely to be the reason, and/or the older you are the harder it is to take a risk and leave the safety of the nest you have built for yourself 🤷🏻‍♀️
It's a massive kick in the teeth for you though op after you've already incurred costs.
All I can say is that the house buying process needs a proper overhaul (I won't be holding my breath 😣)

You can also bet that the agent due the commission (if there is one) has probably done pretty much everything in their power to try and make the deal go through in terms of suggestions.

It's hard enough to sell houses as it is at the moment, let alone go nearly all the way to completion only to have the sale drop though your fingers.

Maybe there’s a house they always wanted that came up for sale, but for whatever reason legal issues or whatever have come up that prevent them buying it. Maybe one of them is now unwell, there are a multitude of reasons someone may decide not to sell.
It is very annoying but getting viewing other properties as you’re a strong buyer and could still move before summer/school.