Buyers caught nosing around

[Lasecretaire]

This is a tricky one.
I think might be being a little unreasonable so I am prepared to get flamed in typical mn fashion.
Our house has been for sale for many months. It's reasonably expensive and there arnt many buyers at this level in this area but it has been reduced by alot to what we paid for it 4 years ago. The buyers kept us hanging for weeks and weeks before finally offering . Theyve offered a good 50k under and continually cited money being an issue. Except we know they are multi millionaires so it's not. We have moved some stuff out and into a tiny rental as we are relocating and needed kids in schools here. They have been difficult and pushy. (Wanting the entire chain to complete in 7 weeks, we have agreed 10 and they are still not happy.)
Today we caught them on security cameras nosing around the property for a good twenty minutes. This feels like a massive infringement - if they'd asked it wouldn't have been a problem but to park up and then nose around for twenty mins feels rude.
We can't actually do anything about this and I need to suck it up but it leaves a sour note. I'm not leaving the curtains.

Not leaving the curtains is a must oh yes !
Yes you’ll have to suck it up unfortunately you don’t want to lose the sale.
Don’t leave the light bulbs either !

We are buying an empty property and still tell the estate agent when we are going to nose around outside

Do you have any £180 candles in the flat they were eyeing up?

Haha! Only Aldi hotel collection candles! They may be eyeing up some of the furniture - but they won't want to pay for it so if they won't buy it we'll take it or sell elsewhere. They definitely want the curtains for free - they've asked 3 times but refused to ask how much we'll sell them for. (I won't, I can never justify spending that much again so I'll have them reworked. They are the most expensive thing I have ever bought) I do wonder if it's a precursor to either asking for yet more off or pulling out (or threatening to).

I don’t think they’ve done anything wrong.

What exactly do you mean by "nosing around"?

I'm not sure I know what you mean by nosing around. Were you home?

Inside or outside?

Did they come onto your property, or were they just peering over fences etc?

I don't think any of the initial stuff you posted about matters. It's not their fault your house isn't worth more or that you are living in a tiny rental!
What do you mean specifically by nosing around?

Nosing around = coming onto the property, through multiple gates and garden gates through the front and back garden around the entire property and standing in front of windows for a length of time pointing at stuff inside.
The previous stuff matters with regard to how we are feeling about it - if they had been more pleasant previously and were now I'm not sure we would be that bothered.
I guess it's one of those lessons we try to teach our kids - if you are polite when you are being pushy or making a point then you are more likely to get what you want without others resenting you.

And I guess others resenting you if you always get what you want doesn't matter if you never need anything back from them.

If you or anyone else is living there, then that's a bit shit. Otherwise, fair game. We're buying a probate property and have nosed around many times!

So they went to look at the outside of an empty house they are buying? That sounds fine to me.
They're perfectly fine to negotiate what gets left behind. And they didn't keep you hanging around before making the offer - they weren't buyers until that point. That you accepted a reduced price isn't relevant either, or their fault. They are also allowed to push for a quick exchange, all perfectly normal.
It's a transaction, they aren't your friends. Don't take it so personally.

I think you are being unreasonable. You resent them because you can’t make as much money out of them as you would like to.

I'd drop a note to the EA to pass on to them that you would rather they made an appointment through the EA if they wish to view the property again.

Polite, but let's them know they were spotted and it's not appropriate.

How odd! Surely you should be doing everything within your power to keep these buyers onside? After all, what if they suddenly decide to pull out and you lose the sale?

I think this is a strange thing for them to do and it would put me off them tbh.
But, your house was for sale for many months and presumably you don't have other interested parties. So if you want the house sold, you will probably have to ignore it.

This is good.

What? You're selling a house you don't live in. Why do you care if they look outside? Jesus. This is mad. Why harm does it do of the people who are giving you 100s of thousands of pounds for a property want to look at it before they pay out? How on earth is this rude?

Our buyers did this. We were away (which they knew, they’d come round with the agent for an additional visit to measure up for furniture etc, all fine) then a few days later I get a notification from my cameras that someone is in my back garden. Property is rural, so I was alarmed, but I looked and there they were and had been for about 30 minutes, nosying round outside.
We contacted the agent and asked if they were going to do that, could they let us know, so I didn’t worry we were being burgled!

We took our curtains with us because I thought we would be able to use them in the next house and we had paid what felt like a lot for them. Big mistake - I would definitely leave them and charge the buyers for them. They never fitted anywhere, wouldn’t have looked great altered because the style was wrong, couldn’t sell them. Ended up having to take them to the textiles part of the local tip despite best efforts to do something more constructive with them and it felt like such a waste. I would 100% leave them if we ever move again. Which I hope we don’t! I do understand you don’t want to leave them when they’ve been difficult though. It could become more hassle than getting money out of them instead though!

Id be more concerned that it's possible to get through multiple gates to have a good nose inside!
If they can, anyone can.

Hope you've got decent insurance.....

Hi OP - re the curtains- they’ll most likely know they are difficult to alter potentially so just offer them a price for them. And anything else you wouldn’t take with you.
We bought a deceased elderly person’s home and the estate agent, via the seller, offered the cooker and the fridge at a particular price. We declined the cooker (and then regretted it) but 5 years later still using the fridge.
I’d do what pp above suggested of telling the EA you’d prefer for them to be escorted for any further viewings. If contracts haven’t been exchanged yet it is a bit cheeky of them.

Front garden is fair game. People who don't own the house shouldn't be going in the back garden. You don't want to lose a sale over it though.