Any positive stories of mistakenly being told your vendor is pulling out, only to find out they aren’t? Help me delude myself until I hear back tomorrow morning 😭😭

[NameChangedForTheUmpteenthTime]

8 weeks into our house purchase and received an email from our solicitor this afternoon advising that the vendor’s solicitor had contacted her to request all contracting documents be returned “as we understand the transaction is no longer continuing”. Our solicitor wanted to confirm this with us, however this was the first we had heard about it, and after ringing the estate agents they were totally unaware of the vendors wanting to pull out too. They have left a message with the vendors but are yet to hear back from them, I’m expecting an answer tomorrow morning as this all happened at 4.30 today.

I feel in a horrible limbo, where I know the outcome tomorrow is going to be the vendors pulling out, but I can’t quite come to terms with it as I have no idea why. I’m clinging onto a desperate hope that it’s a mistake at the solicitors end as I can’t understand how the estate agents wouldn’t know. Has anyone ever been told their purchase/sale was imploding, only for it to be a mistake? We will be so gutted to lose this house, not to mention the money forked out for brokers/solicitors/surveys.

I have not experienced this, but am sending you my best wishes. I.hope this is simply an error.

It’s not looking good. You’ll be ok OP. I know it’s gutting but you’ll find something else and probably be thankful it all happened the way it did.

Yes!
We recently sold my Mums house after she died. We were a few days away from completing and the solicitor emailed to say there was an issue with one of the search results and so the sale was off.
I wrote a ranty email to the solicitor (who had been crap!) Demanding they find out details and copied the estate agent in who then rang me the next day and said they didn't know what the solicitor was talking about and that as far as they knew the issue had been sorted and everything was still on!
We did complete, just a couple of days later than expected.
So stressful and this was an empty house with a very short chain!

So you never know it might be sortable. You need details of what the problem is to see if it can be fixed/negotiated.

Fingers crossed for you this morning.

Thanks everyone,

Slept terribly and have woken up with a horrible knot in my stomach. I was feeling fairly o.k and pragmatic last night, even despite a depressing search on rightmove, but am feeling really sad and defeated this morning.

Absolutely loved this house. Great location in a nearby village that rarely has listings, good amount of land, gorgeous setting that was private but with lovely views. We will struggle to find something similar I think, especially now we are out of the busy selling season.

No, I have not experienced this before but I couldn't just read and not say that I am sorry OP. It sucks.

I have been in the position where I have lost the house of my dreams (detached cottage by the sea) and it was right at the point of ready to exchange. I was heartbroken. It was honestly gutting. We put the house back on the market and it took a while to sell again, by which point our dream house had sold to someone else. We never thought we would find anything again that we loved as much but we did (cottage in the country with land and amazing views)

However, I won't lie, that house has always stayed with me and will always be the one that got away. It was in a different area than where we are now. Our kids would have gone to different schools etc and I often think about what our lives would have been like if we moved there.

But we are happy where we are and have loved raising our children here (although we have now sold and are buying again by the sea) but I have no regrets about the time we have spent here. We always took the view that the other house, for whatever reason, was just not meant to be. We feel we were meant to live here, if you know what I mean. My mum always used to say 'everything happens for a reason'

So, if it has fallen through, try and look positively and think that maybe, just maybe there is something better out there just waiting for you to find it and that one day you will look back and be glad things worked out the way they did.

Good Luck today xx

Yes, i ended up phoning the vendor's agent who told me it was nonsense. Good luck!

Fingers crossed for you op.

It definitely sounds odd if the estate agents didn’t know about it.

Hopefully it’s crossed wires.

Oh good luck, I do hope it's just crossed wires. House buying/selling in this country is so stressful even if nothing goes wrong!

Thank you everyone,

it isn’t looking good, I just rang the agents and the guy dealing with the sale was on the phone to the vendors when I called, he has said he will call me back after but “is likely to be on the phone to them for a while”. Doesn’t sound like the solicitor made a mistake, and even if the agent convinces them to carry on with the sale I’m not sure I’d be very confident continuing. Urgh I just want this limbo to end so I can tell the kids and we can all start processing the disappointment.

Thanks erling

You are right and I know that we will find somewhere we also love as that’s just how life goes, there are always setbacks that change our paths and we adjust/adapt to find a way of working it out. I think this was my mindset last night but I just feel a bit defeated today. Hopefully once the axe has fallen on this purchase I’ll pull myself back together.

Hi @NameChangedForTheUmpteenthTime
im buying and selling at the moment …
I’ve lost 2 buyers so had to pull out of two purchases which I then lost before I found another buyer ..,
I have now just exchanged and am completing next week. The 3rd house is by far the best even though I genuinely never thought there would be a better one when I was going through it all.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t fall through but if it does I genuinely believe you will find another one that you love equally if not more!

Oh man I’m sorry. I was hoping for the best for you. The whole process is so brutal. I really feel for you.

Really sorry if they have done this, it’s truly awful when you’re going through it and you are so close to actually moving. sending big big hugs and I hope they get their act together!

Oh that sounds stressful lilac

it’s so difficult when there are so many moving parts (ironically, when it feels impossible to actually move!), but glad to hear you’ve ended up in a positive situation, it’s helping me get back on Track mentally!

It is truly a horrible disappointment when it happens. Especially when you are in love with your forward purchase, as we were. Our children loved the house too with it being by the beach/sea and we talked about spending our weekends on the beach. The kids chose their bedrooms and we were all so looking forward to the move. Having to break the news to the children was bloody horrible. Tears all round. I honestly feel for you.

But ultimately for me, once the initial shock, disappointment and tears were over, it was a case of, well there is nothing I can do, its out of our hands, so onwards and upwards, so I am sure you will also get there when the dust has settled.

xx

Thanks happycrochet and unicorn it’s absolutely gutting!

Yes it’s breaking it to the kids that I’m really dreading 😟 we’d also had a quite a few chats about the lifestyle changes that came with this house, I’m not sure we will find somewhere we can replicate all of them but hopefully they will like whatever we end up with.

Once everyone had chance to feel their disappointment we tried to get the kids excited in the next house we would find and maybe we would find something even better than this one. To be honest, they did soon get over it.

Then when we sold again and came with us to view the house we were in now, seeing their excitement again over their new school, the big garden, the forest and woods and old quarry buildings they could explore, and the long road where they could safely ride their bikes, they were really excited. Luckily this sale went through and we lived here happily while they grew up.

Its hard initially but there is something out there better for you. It doesn't feel like it now, but there is.

Have you had confirmation from the agent yet?

Have had a chat with the estate agent, don’t want to get too ahead of myself but things might be back on track, albeit with my nerves and confidence pretty shook up!

The vendor had previously offered to go into rented accommodation to complete the chain but is having second thoughts about this (understandably, I wouldnt do it and we didn’t ask them to do it). They are also going through something very stressful at the minute which I won’t go into here as it’s not my info to share, but everything seems to have added up and they panicked and decided not to proceed at the weekend in a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. The estate agents had since spoke to their child who is helping them with the sale, the child is very keen to keep the sale on track and we have reiterated that we don’t mind waiting for them to find a property to buy, providing if the current chain falls apart that they wait for us to rebuild it. Their child thinks this will be enough to soothe their anxiety and continue with the sale, they are going to speak to their parents tonight so I will have confirmation tomorrow morning.

so no definite answer, still very wobbly, but there is a hope it’s still on track. Also the estate agent has said they have a property coming on the market today that their child thinks will be perfect for them.

Oh this sounds like there is still some hope.

What a horrible wait now for you to find out if its on or off. I don't envy you. Try your best to keep busy and not think too much about it.

I really hope you get some good news tomorrow and its back on track.

Keep us posted. I think some of us here are properly invested in this now. 😂

I really hope I get some good news too! I am quietly optimistic, their child is confident the parents will agree if the move into a rental is taken off the table, and theyve realised their parents need a bit more support with the sale than anticipated so hopefully with them onboard it will steady the ship. I’m definitely keeping my eye on rightmove though….

yes will update tomorrow, am off out now with the kids to try and fill my head with other thought!!!

Oh that's a bit of hope. Good luck OP.

My vendor listed the flat for rent in a tantrum as she was upset it was taking ages but still sold it to me