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

if it is the buyer's second property, they are British citizens and not buying through a company, the stamp duty on 492k is £39,200. However, who knows now. Looks like there are murky things happening

I’m half convinced this estate agent is in cahoots with the buyer that is ‘known to them’. This sounds increasingly suspicious to me and I would be v cautious

Take the money and run. Another purchase isn’t dependent on it and inheritance is a windfall.

Ouch!

Personally I wouldn’t take the hit, knowing they’ll buy up the lease, paint the flat white stick some carpet down and relist for 100 k plus or more.
To me 8 grand is an huge amount of money after already taking it down from 575 is more than taking the p.
This estate agent knows the buyer ?
Very convenient and is certainly not working in YOUR best interest. I’d take the weekend to think, me personally I’d find a WAY to boost up the freehold, redecorate and sell it for what it’s really worth.
But then I’m stubborn as hell. And I’m not giving away an asset for someone else to reap the rewards.

This. I’d definitely not cave to 8k - I’d also be pointing out to the estate agent how disappointed you are in the buyer and make sure they know this is the last reduction you’ll accept. I‘m wondering if the estate agents put the investor up to this last minute offer.

That being said: the housing market is slowing.

Friend says you'd be bonkers not to go with this even though its a further reduction.
I.so didn't want her to say this but she has a good grasp of them market .
She says it's falling

Delighted to hear of your friend Piglet89.

A friend of a friend tried to gazunder the day before exchange as well. The elderly gentleman they were buying from was disgusted and told them to get lost at any price. He said he didn’t want to leave his nice neighbours of forty years with such apparently dodgy new neighbours.
The fri of the fri had to start from scratch and lost out massively.

Total respect to the seller.

Interesting update. Puts OP in stronger position.

If the flat is not in fact freehold and the freeholder is buying the lease and selling the freehold - were the parents given RFR - ie right of first refusal to buy the freehold?

The freeholder is legally required to offer the right to buy the freeholds to qualifying leaseholders before they can sell it to a third party.

So get your solicitor to look into this to determine:

• Is an RFR applicable in this case (must contain at least 2 flats, no more than 50% is non-residential use, 50% or more the flats must be owned by qualifying tenants - ie on long leases - original term over 21 yrs) etc

• If so was a Section 5 notice served?

Given that the same agent is selling the property freehold and the lease - they should have been fully transparent.

Not quite the same situation but I sold a probate property a few years ago now and we had the same request to drop several thousand at the last minute. (Like you we had also dropped the price significantly already). The difference is we weren't really in a particular hurry to sell so my answer was "absolutely not, we've dropped the price already and we're not in a hurry. Can you put it back on the market please". Suprise surprise they agreed to our original price immediately. Personally I would refuse, but I don't know the current market and if you need a quick sale I guess that changes things. Good luck though, it's infuriating.

Yes, and that profit is in effect their 'pay' for doing the work and taking the risk. If you're not prepared to do the work or take the risk, you don't get the pay.

If you were feeling confident I'd offer to split it...but in reality for an unearned input of half a mill if just let the £8k go and move on.

Oh I should add some freeholders try to work round RFR by selling the company that owns the freehold rather than the title itself. So just be aware of that.

If this is the case, I’d refuse to accept a reduction.

20K in service charge arrears build up during parents ownership and for last 18 months whilst probate granted

So you’re saying you want to keep paying (accruing) this charge while looking for another unicorn cash buyer?

That seems remarkably cheap. Have you got a proper quote for the extension?

This. How long would it take for the arrears to accumulate another £8k?

But surely that's accounted for in the price originally agreed? It's not like the buyer has only now discovered the shortness of the lease!

I'm confused by all the people saying how lucky the OP is to have a buyer in such a hard market and how she should snap up the reduced offer, when all we know about the property is that it's "a flat in London".

It could be a luxury apartment in Hampstead going for a steal or a shabby studio on the outskirts, or anything in between. The fact that it's only been on the market for a month suggests plenty of scope for waiting for a buyer who isn't a game-playing arsehole.

You're not looking to move and, it appears, don't need a quick sale. I would tell them to go jump out of principle.

RTFT

OP has posted a link. It is a good size but rather bland and cheaply decorated maisonette on the far edges of East Dulwich.

And there is a short lease and possibly some freeholder fuckery

The OP posted a link to the property - it’s a two bed conversion in East Dulwich, so hardly a luxury Hampstead flat. There are literally dozens of other similar flats for sale in this area, most of which have long enough leases to be mortgageable, and many of which are cheaper. Apart from which, it now seems thst the agwnt is also trying to sell it as part of the listing for the entire house before the sale has even gone through.

The market is falling, especially in leasehold, and a lot of buyers wouldn't even consider a short lease.

I would either just agree or suggest splitting the difference. It's a pain but losing the buyer will be more of a pain. If he's an investor he won't be emotionally committed and will be aware of what's happening with prices.

Oh sorry, missed that.

Weirder still, if the dates on RightMove are to be believed they marketed it as a full house before marketing either of the other flats, which coincidentally were listed on the same day. OP's flat was also marketed for a few months last year with a different agent.

Either there's more to this, or if OP posted the wrong link to the Winkworth listing.

the EA knows them because they're property developers. It's down to you and how quickly you want to seel. We had this once and decided to wait simply because we didn't like the dirty tricks and didn't want to or have to engage with that.