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

@LondonSeller

In your case, I would take it. £8K off half a million isn't a big drop. It's leasehold - and a flat, they are quite hard to sell.

Seriously, you need take it. Annoying that they've done it, but quite honestly it could have been a £100K drop!

You're about to come in to a life changing sum of money, you'd be very silly to pull out now.

Try for £4k , if they don’t accept just accept the drop.

A cash buyer investor has their pick of the market right now. And starting again will cost you 6 months costs in insurance, CT, etc, and lost interest on the capital.

They are fuckers but it is a business transaction not a moral / emotional contest.

Take the money and run. Flats hard to sell, short lease and in dated condition? Bite the sellers arm off!

Deplorable practice but it’s not worth losing the sale and all the stress that would involve for 2% of the sale price. You’ll still be left with a very healthy sum, enjoy the benefits that will surely bring

Dirty tricks are getting more common, it seems.

Negotiate? £4000 off.

It sounds like the advice is to accept and move on though. Considering the amount of money it isn’t a big loss.

The buyer knows they are in a very strong position. You are not. The flat is only going to lose value every day given the lease. The market for flats in London is terrible.

As much as it would irritate me I’d still take the reduction.

If it does take a while to sell you are at risk of your costs to keep it increasing. At any time there could be a communal maintenance bill that the flat has to pay its share off. I’ve just been given two notifications of upcoming maintenance work and my proportion of the bills amounts to £6k.

And that’s not taking into account the mental headspace needed to keep dealing with it. I’d take it and move on.

Not really a dirty trick when the flat is a ticking time bomb with the lease expiration looming.

As much as it would stick in my craw I would just take the reduced price - on the condition of immediate exchange. It's a deplorable practice but the market is not kind at the moment and the short lease is a PITA for the buyer.

And so is greed.

Normally I’d agree.

However the fact this is a short leasehold flat changes the situation somewhat, as they are difficult to sell with a limited market.

I’d be inclined to try and negotiate and meet them half way. If they don’t agree the I’d probably begrudgingly agree to £8k off. The OP is still getting close to half a million pounds of inheritance, and it’s probably worth £8k to avoid the costs and hassle of remarketing and trying to find a new buyer

Look at another thread on here about properties not selling. The London flat market is pretty much dead. £8K off £500k is nothing given the leasehold position which would make it very unattractive to most buyers. If you don’t get another buyer for months, how much will it cost you in maintenance, council tax etc in that time plus the lease is getting ever shorter. You were very lucky to get this offer after 5 weeks. Maybe counter offer with £6K if you must but I’d just go with it.

Fucker!

but I'd take it,

it seems like a small amount (to him) for them to have asked for on a £500,000 property? It makes me wonder if the WA has said you might accept that but no more?

id be properly pissed off, but couldn't face going back on the market over it (& maybe getting a lower offer anyway)

you'll still be getting a big chunk of money to sort your debts & suff out with. Just accept if & move forward x

compromised on £4k

You're getting half a million from no graft of your own and you think 8K skimmed off that when theres only 70 years left on the flat is cheeky?!

If you lose this buyer you will regret it.

I’d move pretty fast to completion. As a pp said, ask for immediate exchange and get the buyers deposit out of them, slightly less chance of another request before completion.

Tbh my advice would have been the same for £50k off in this market so I think just do it.

For probate sake of a short lease flat, I would take it rather than risk ut not selling if it goes back on the market.

Yep, back to the old days of thousands off at the last minute. It’s a buyers market now.

How much to increase the lease? If the buyer is going to have to spend money on that, I’d take the hit on the 8K.

She can try, but I wouldn't lose the sale of a short lease London flat by for £500,000 over £4000.

It's very annoying, but I would take the offer. If you bluff and lose the sale, it's going to be extremely stressful and could end up costing you more in the long run.

Easy to say when it’s someone else’s flat.

" EA says buyer is known to them" .....yes, I bet they are