Buyer wants £8k off parents' London flat just before exchange

[LondonSeller]

Parents flat for sale as they passed away in london - Took 18 months to get probate sorted out but finally got it - Property listed with agents and it is in dated ocndition and needs work - Also has a 70 year lease. EA told us not an easy market

After five weeks advertising price agreed at 500K which was a bit lower then we had hope for but EA told us buyer is known to them and this would be very quick sale

Was meant to exchange on Friday and EA has come back and said buyer is ready to exchange, has sent deposit monies to his solicitors but wants a reduction of 8K. EA has said this is less than a 2% drop so not massive and believes we wont get better if we reject the offer

Buyer is cash purchaser investor so quite rare and I worry that if I dont accept property will be stuck for months for anothr cash buyer who might offer lower.

I live in Scotland and the flat is in London so I am miles away - Paid to have the place emptied and solicitor fees so am already down. By contrast buyer has not paid anything other than a few hundred for solicitor fees - No mortgage, no survey fees nothing

Whats the best angle here - Call buyers bluff and risk losing the sale or take the money and run. Feel quite cross as this money was going to be used for real stuff and to clear debts

I would tell them to sod off and put it with a local estate agent in Dulwich - the flat has an EPC C, a large garden, additional storage and is well locared. You can get at least 550,000£ for it

You're letting emotion cloud your judgment OP. If this money is pure inheritance (with no mortgage, just inheritance tax to pay)why on earth are you considering refusing this?
Yes it's a nasty thing to d to demand 8k off at this stage but exchange in Monday and compete this Friday in this financial market is a dream.

Unless you desperately need that 8k, sigh, take the offer and be thankful that a flat with an 80 year lease is no longer your problem.

Take the hit and get rid

We had this with an estate which took 4 years due to Covid and a huge number of beneficiaries, one solicitor went off sick, beneficiaries were throughout the world, by the time we got probate and could get it on the market we just wanted rid

We took the first offer to get it over with.

Blimey OP - how much is the service charge? Service charges are generally high in blocks with lots of common costs and overheads included - but not on conversion flats or maisonettes in two storey houses.

The Zone 2 thing - it is a good area but people generally think of Zone 2 as being close to a tube or whatever - this area (like the one I live in) does not have such sought after fast travel links - it' s a mile walk to the station which does not have the best timetable outside rush hour. Not a criticism - just saying that the 'Zone 2' designation doesn't necessarily mean high value property because public transport makes a huge difference to property prices.

£492k now beats £500k in not a long time thereafter, given the returns you can make investing that.

There are choices here, I appreciate your frustration being so far away and £8k is a LOT when you stand on a shop floor and earn it.

But I'd encourage you to try and see it differently. It's money you had no right to expect, and so is all a gift, and while you may have plans with it, those plans need to be made according to how much you actually have versus how much you might have.

Say no - worst case, they pull out back on the market. Could be there for weeks or months, or not. And get more, or get less still.
Say yes - all gone away but being clear about finalisation and no further reductions
Meet in the middle - feel like you are winning a bit and giving them some leeway so they feel like they win. Final offer and no further. All gone, done and dusted.

Then why haven’t they already got £550k for it?

How many viewings were there before the offer?

If you get an end user who is going to live there you might get more but the short lease is going to stop that - The lease extension takes six months minimum to sort out and the market might drop further

Now think again why the offer is a bloody good one and should not even be thought about

And if her current EA contract is for 26 weeks? As many are? And they won't co-operate as from their pov they have found a buyer.

Quite quickly, too, in this market!

A lot of buyers don't like conversions because of lack of sound proofing between floors.
It's ground floor so there could be a lot of noise from the flat above.

I'm puzzled why you've accepted £500K when that's £100k below the asking price?

You say it's only been on the market for 5 weeks.

If you want to accept £500k why isn't that the asking price?

It's a bastards trick, but if I were you I'd go ahead just to sell and be able to move on.
I'm sorry for the loss of you parents x

Depends - can you take the high moral ground and tell him to fuck iff ?

i would , but i dont know how much you need the money

you are bring played its how much you care ?
i bet estate agents is in bed with developer

If it takes another 6 / 12months to sell how much will service charges amount to? You’ve got a cash buyer I’d just take the money.

That’s a good point about the proximity to a station and I can’t actually think of a station that most people would consider to be within walking distance of this flat.

I’d probably try and offer £4K reduction. The problem is the lease, nobody could get a mortgage and a lease extension could take ages for you to do before being able to sell.

Unfortunately many people have inherited properties that have short leases and realising they’re not easy to sell and much of the money you should receive ends up covering lease extension or you have to drastically reduce the price. All while going through the loss of a parent.

Hapened to me for 4k on my house. Somw cock and bull story about an air brick beeding sorting. I had to agree coz i qas leaving rhe area and had no choice but it still makes me spit to this day and it was 30 years ago. It"s a wellnknown dirty trick. I'd sell anyeay so you can get rid of the flat but ot is annoying.

completely agree with you @pimplebum

I may be mistaken but doesn't this listing include your parents' property? @LondonSeller

But you are getting 492k, yes (minus agency fees)? I mean surely you’re getting so much money that you will be able to pay off any debts you have and have a life of financial security? And this is an inherited flat that you’ve put zero into yourself and which your parents probably bought for about 150k decades ago.

Take it , you will lose that remarketing it , it is wrong but often happens

If it's anything like my late father's place I'm afraid that's unlikely to work

The EA will simply fail to notify OP of any further offers, and if caught out will claim that whoever-it-was wasn't proceedable, showing once again that there's a reason why the sector has always resisted proper regulation

Now I'm really confused with this listing as well.

How weird- what's going on?

Is the flat for sale as a residence on its own OR as part of the entire 5-bed house?

and the house is marketed as freehold.

Look at it another way, it’s ONLY £8k. Even £20k I’d suck it up with that lease. Yes, a cf but if you turn this buyer away your service charges could rack up to more than 8k until you get into this position again. And I don’t understand your comment about them not having to fork any money out yet but you have? Who do you think should pay for removal costs and accumulated service charges? You are going to have a tidy sum in a couple of weeks, don’t blow it for 8k!

This happened to us and I told the estate agent to use whatever words they wanted to the effect of fuck off. I refused to sell to them after that regardless of price and put back on market. It sold for more than they had originally offered.
i couldn’t have done it on principle- how do people have so little integrity.

Hmmm I live locally and think the estate agent was bullshitting you on the original valuation. If you are looking in Upland Road you way as well carry on a bit futher to Forest Hill, get more for your money AND be nearer public transport.

That is before you get to the 70 year lease. You have fallen below the marriage value, things are only going to get worse with that if you hold out much longer.