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

That’s what I think too.

There’s no way the agent would have cocked up and listed it as share of freehold when it’s leasehold with only 70 years left on the lease. And if they did, it would have been rectified straight away.

I do wonder if that is the case here. @LondonSeller you can ask your solicitor on Monday who the buyer is and he can investigate whether or not that person is also the leaseholder of the flat upstairs and also the freeholder. Very easy to find out from Land Registry for just a few £. Well worth checking out the shenanigans going on with the property before you agree and exchange yourself.

Then You'd be a fool. Losing a sale on this short lease property for £4K would be extremely foolish

What is the justification for an £8k drop? Work? Unforseen costs extending the Lease? Or just plain being cheeky thinking they have you over a barrel?

Anyhow, for £8k to get this off your desk might be worth it.

But if you decide not to go ahead, sack your agent. Chances are they knew this was coming if they have worked with your buyer before. They buyer probably has form for this sort of thing. 'I've sent the deposit over but...' totally planned.

Already asked & answered, just read the OP's posts if you can't be bothered to read the thread

But they sold it within 5 weeks, which rather indicates that even with the pathetic lease duration - it offers something tasty

I'd this is the flat op is selling then they can't proceed with the sale of the whole house unless op goes ahead so there's no need to reduce the price. Op, is this the actual,flat you are selling?

Don't be taken by the idea that you're dealing with a "cash buyer" - IME it's really not a reliable piece of information to make any decision on - I would want substantial proof. The situations I've encountered with cash buyers have always fallen through because basically - they weren't cash buyers! They say that to jump to the front of the queue. I have had buyers with a property portfolio which left them financially overstretched in 2 senses - 1) they actually didn't have the cash - they would only have it once they managed to sell a property and also 2) that their bank would not lend them the full mortgage amount - not because they didn't think the property they were buying wasn't worth it but because the person they were lending to was already so financially overstretched. The EA does not have your interests at heart - I suspect a buyer "known to them" has a portfolio of properties and a history of turning them over the the EA so they are actually more valuable to the EA that you are with your one property to sell - don't trust the EA. I had another property where the "cash buyer" actually didn't have a mortgage in place - that's how and why he told the EA he was a cash buyer as the excuse for not providing evidence of a mortgage offer - the lack of a mortgage only came to the surface on the day we were supposed to exchange contracts - he was forced to get a bridging loan - which he had (understandably) been fiercely resisting. I do think it might be wise to always keep a second interested party in the loop on the basis that if the main buyer tries to pull any of these well worn last minute stunts that you might have an option to try someone else who is interested and waiting in line... of course they may sense your vulnerability and try and pull the same stunt. Personally I will instruct the EA when I come to sell my house that I will immediately permanently reject any buyer that tries to reduce the purchase price after it's been agreed following surveys and searches etc. Can you look to take it off the market and rent it out short term? I would change your EA too.

Funny how they only concluded on exchange day that the lease and refurb costs exceeded estimates

From experience, @Pigeonatthewheel, the timing will have had little to do with these expenses - which a developer would know only too well - and everything to do with panicking OP into acceptance

you are being an idiiot - You want the OP to become a landlord when she lives miles away and the lease continues to tick down - Are you serious - OP take the offer

Whose probably the person who 'knows the buyer' (IME).

and OP mentions mortgage debt outstanding. An equity release lifetime mortgage on the property will have to be repaid, they won't get permission to rent it out from the lenders. When people take out equity release on property, it limits what those who inherit can do.

Buyer known to EA?

I wonder……….

Suspect the people who've said this is a comparable listing not the real one are correct.

If it's not the actual listing, while I do think we need to do something about the way the system allows for gazundering, it's also probably a red herring in this situation. It sounds like the 500k was never a real, intentional offer in the first place and was offered to try and reel OP in. I get why people object to that, but I think if the system didn't allow for it, the seller would probably have gone in with a lower offer in the first place rather than offered the 500k and stuck to it.

If it is the real listing, the plot is very much thicker so ignore the above.

Thsi sounds like a right cosy stitch up between estate agents and developer.
They are supposed to be acting in your interests..
Ask if they would consider a 2% reduction in estate agents fees; it is only 2% after all and such a piffling sum. Surely they wouldn't mind ?

The flat OP has posted was marketed for several months last year by another agent, which doesn’t fit with her probate situation. I think ‘comparable listing’ is the most plausible explanation.

Exactly !

OP has said that the 'share of freehold' stated by the estate agent is a mistake in the listing.

Are you ok?

Please don't reduce. I would re advertise . You should get at least 55000 the 2 bed flats market is not slow and they are behaving like leeches

Offer a 4k discount, and try to negotiate the estate agent fees.

Offer a 4k discount, and try to negotiate the estate agent fees.

Though despite needing updating and having a very short lease the flat actually sold within five weeks!

what took time was the probate.but that has been done now. I reckon a developer ( or the buyer known ahem to the EA) has spotted a bargain. Maybe there is space to extend up into the roof space for an extra bedroom / bathroom. Maybe they know the other flat in the building is likely to come up for sale shortly, who knows.

But only five weeks to advertise and sell when the rumour is that flats are sticky ? Hmm.

Absolutely NOT.

I'd call off the sale and change agents. They had it planned from the start.

This is becoming more and more common, these dirty tactics.

We did have a cash buyer try this with us, we told him to go fuck himself and ended up better off in the end.

Have you considered getting a Letting Agency to get a tenant and let it out instead?

Oh for god's sake - London flat, buyers market, short lease, needs upgrading, you're 500 miles away and it's not like it's your own home and you need every penny for your onward purchase. I hate gazundering and have had it done to me so I feel your sense of grievance, but this thread is like one of those relationship ones where posters pile on to encourage someone to LTB after a bit of a squabble. Take the money and move on with your life @LondonSeller.