Seller has withdrawn after survey and memorandum of sale

[BobLobla]

…just after we’ve paid for a survey and received the memorandum of sale . Yes I know they can do this with no penalty in England but I’m sooooooooo pissed off 😭
they said they ‘just changed their mind’ and don’t want to enter into any conversation about it. They won’t answer the phone to the agent either 🙄.

It sucks.

Just keep going.

small claims court?

It's not fun but it is what it is. You don't know if there are other circumstances, a death, a job loss, something they might not want to talk about. You've been told they're pulling out, that's the end of it unfortunately.

No recourse in small claims court.

It is so disgaceful how sellers/buyers are allowed to behave in the English housing market. Without strong and valid reasoning, the law should protect those who now face financial loss and the sellers, in this instance, forced to reimburse their buyers. Sorry you’ve experienced this.

No chan

No chance. Nothing is legally binding until contracts are exchanged.

So sorry OP, we are in a similar position.

it is very unfair

Maybe there was something in the survey that put them off?

Why is this seen as unfair? Isn't it exactly what anyone would do after an unsatisfactory survey or indeed just because they had changed their mind?

@BobLobla you can get insurance for people pulling out but I'm not sure how good it is

You might want to look into that in case it happens again. I really hope it doesn't happen again.

The sellers have pulled out not the buyer which is the OP

They haven't broken any law.

I can’t believe house buying is still like this in England

So sorry OP, it happened to us last year but we’re in Jersey where the system is different, there’s no prior exchange of contracts, just one completion (in court, on a Friday afternoon!) and our buyer pulled out on the Tuesday. We had movers booked and paid for, a survey done and paid for, all lawyers searches done and paid for, a holiday cancelled to achieve the completion date they’d wanted. It had been a long road to get to selling (storm damage when I was pregnant and it was about to go on the market, we had to move out for a year while it was repaired). I cried for 3 straight days at the disappointment and unfairness of it all. We lost the place we wanted as it was probate so they wanted to sell asap.

On the upside we got another buyer in February this year and moved at the end of March. We’d decided not to view anything else until we had a buyer in place but one popped up online and I felt so drawn to it, so we broke our own rule. An offer came in on ours 3 days later and we managed to get it. Things will work out, and hopefully like us ultimately for the better x

Thank you. Yes feels a bit raw now but we know what the uk system is like (massively shit) . Just hurts when you’ve gone a certain distance and have imagined yourself in there etc. oh well. Onwards and upwards 🙄😃

I completely agree. Survey turned up huge issues? Fair enough. Changed your mind? You should have to reimburse the other party/parties their expenses.

I've had this happen to me (not because of a survey) and was so glad I took out that £70 insurance that capped my legal fees at £200 (the excess of the policy)

OP, do you know what issue the survey flagged?

OP is the buyer. Purchase has fallen through because the seller has changed their mind about selling. Nothing to do with survey, other than OP has lost the money she spent on the survey because seller is flaky.

I think you need to read a bit more carefully.

So awful when this happens, especially when they won’t communicate why, but as others have said there is nothing you can do sadly. I hope you find somewhere else very soon. Good luck.

The lack of reading comprehension on Mumsnet is utterly wild.

Read!

On what possible grounds?

Its horrible when this happens.
I think it would be so much better if the vendor had to have a survey done which was available to buyers, so if they do pull out the buyer isnt losing money.
Sympathies, OP.
The whole process in England is broken.