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

Don't do it, they are taking you for a ride, and you'll end up angry and resentful for years over it.

Call off the sale and find a different agent. I wouldn't be letting this agent have a penny after this.

All these people on here telling you to just accept it are exactly why so many fucking chancers keep getting away with pulling shit like this on people.

Why are you only mentioning this now? (That you have £100K to pay off the mortgage?)

Anyway, you are still getting a SHED load of money for free. More money than many people could ever dream of having. Over a third of a million. Don't be greedy. Take the offer. Don't pay any attention to anyone saying you should pull out of the sale. This is TERRIBLE advice under the circumstances you are in. (Flat, leasehold with not a huge amount of time on it, buyer's market etc...) It's very easy for people to be all firm and ballsy and all that when it's not their money!

I agree.

Which also explains why it didnt look like an older person lived there, although I gave it the benefit of the doubt because I thought it might have been set up or designed by the adult offspring of the elderly person

It also doesnt need much 'updating' in my view

Not necessarily they may have listed it last year expecting probate to go through relatively smoothly and then taken it off when it dragged on. OP said probate took 18 months.

Idk if this is OP’s actual flat but I am now intrigued to know why this house is marketed as 2 flats and a house instead of house available as one whole or two separate lots.

In our case the EA wouldnt market it until we had probate, we werent allowed to.

Not necessarily. It depends on the local authority. I got no pause when my father died and was paying the monthly council tax for the entire period until the house was finally sold.

Agree with @Puzzledandpissedoff re buyer and EA in cahoots!

Usually a buyer who was going to pull this dirty tactic would negotiate and communicate this through their solicitor, the fact that this is coming through the EA furthers suspicion that they are mates and he’s helping them get it cheap!

My theory is that EA is advising his mate that he should put in £X amount of an offer or ask for a further £X as he knows it’s a probate property and that you need it gone. The fact you are up in Scotland too. EA is then coming to you and immediately advising that he knew the buyer and was basically vouching for him. He used this to coerce you into dropping by a massive £75K with the promise of quick no fuss sale. Then they’ve had the audacity to come back and ask for even more of a reduction.

They saw you coming and are trying their luck!

If it were me, I’d be standing my ground and if he came back and said he’s pulling out I would be responding to the EA with the announcement that I was going to dual list it with another agent. I bet they come back just as quick to say they will proceed once the EA’s commission is threatened!

I would say £500k is way too much for a flat. I'm selling my parents' home for £485k and that's a 4 bed, 2 bath house. Of course you don't have to accept the offer but I would say it is a brilliant offer still.

Unless it is in the same location, this is irrelevant.

What in the same road in Dulwich?

I wouldn’t say that’s common. It can save time to run the 2 in tandem, the only issue is you can’t exchange before probate is granted.

You’re an absolute fool if you try and argue. Take the £8k and run. It’s a nightmare at the moment (friend just sold her flat after a similar late ask for a reduction, and almost lost the buyer).

Try to negotiate say drop 3k, if not accept and get the deal done, you might regret it otherwise.

Over £8k? She’s going to be more angry and resentful when it falls through because she refused and then can’t shift it unless it’s for an even bigger reduction. I feel like all the people saying don’t accept are not people who are looking at flats in london right now? It’s the Wild West and prices are tanking

This is gold - Markets are dead and no flats are selling unless realy disounted - You are lucky you got to sell it - This is a headache for the buyer to deal with and will be expensive and time intensive

People have no morals these days. I agree the EA is in league with the developer.
Id be inclined to say no, out of principle but that could be cutting off my nose to spite my face.
You need to decide if £8k is worth the hassle to you OP. You have my sympathy as people are shite these days

This. It’s 1.5% of the price. Added to which the agent is quite likely to still demand their fees if the deal falls through at this point.

Cash buyer? You are getting in your bank account 500k ...ok, minus 8k

We would not be entitled to afee if the sale fell through because the buyer changed the price - But the seller is being silly to ask for this 8K out of principle - It it was 25K that changes things but single digit reduction is quite usual especially given eveyone knows market is dead

I agree
Although I wouldn’t pull away from the sale I’d just say no
At this late stage, after already paying costs, they’ll buy at the original agreed price or theyll lose money and have to start all over again

Although I love the post upthread of the gentleman that pulled his sale because he didn’t want his lovely neighbours to live next to buyers that do that. Well done him

Yes, the no posters seem to be focusing more on feelings and morals than the realities of the London flat market. Notwithstanding the update about the freehold, which the thread seems to be split on.

Property is only worth what someone is willing to pay. This is not a rising market atm. Especially for a property like yours.

Given the strange sale of the entire property I would definitely say no and say you’re thinking of renting it out. They need you to sell to them, see how they react.

Ask the agent if they will reduce their fee. If you relist with someone else they get zero. If you rent it out they get zero.

Say you will look at remortgaging onto a buy let mortgage, capital raising to extend the lease, and then relist with another agent or rent it out.

Or the agent can reduce their fee by 4K plus VAT.

bloody typos from autocorrect