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

Friend was in a similar position, rejected the reduced offer and it took a further 14 months to sell. All the while she was paying insurance, council tax and utility provision.

I would accept the reduction. You could take a year to sell it again for the sake of £8k - paying bills/maintenance etc would cost you that during the year.

Its a shitty move, but I would accept it (negotiate to see if they’ll split the difference at £4k first).

Yeah London flats are a nightmare at the mo to shift. And many people wouldn't touch that short lease with a bargepole. They're a cash buyer, so it's fair enough they haven't got a mortgage?

Leaving it on for several months will cost you and be a pain. Can you counter offer a smaller discount? But I'd probably end up just going ahead to get it sold.

500k is a good price for that in the current market. £621 per sq ft with the cellar, £708 without.

The buyer may extend and dig a basement.

But you should still refuse the 8k drop first up. See what they come back with.

Have you ever sold a probate property that is not your home? The costs of running it indefinitely while it’s on the market will far likely outweigh (or at least match) the £8k loss.

Offer £5k

Not read thread but you should COUNTER OFFER - offer them £4000 off or another figure if you really only want a quick sale. Haggle.

It’s a lovely flat, much better decorative order than I expected from your description. Very sorry for the loss of your parents OP.

But I guess that the lease is the dominant factor here.

To give you a comparison, I live in a similar terraced street in North London. The full houses in the street are valued at approx 1.3 million. There is a similar sized ground floor conversion flat to this on my street about to go up for auction. It is completely derelict but that makes it a blank canvas. Long lease. Guide price 300k.

Take it. Bird in the hand. It’s a tiny % and worth it to finalise the sale.

EAs build up long term relationships with developers and why not? It supports the seller

Perfectly true, @aurpod1980, and that's absolutely fine if both behave in a decent manner. Unfortunately anyone who's been burned will know only too well this doesn't always happen, and the lack of regulation EAs enjoy doesn't help

FWIW I think OP's doing the right thing in accepting the offer - as a PP mentioned they'll make back the £8k in interest soon enough - but as said I just hope they don't come back for another £10k on completion day

And developers don't "make mistakes" about the costs of leases and renovations, @LondonSeller. Most know exactly what these things cost, but it's all part of the game to them

is it an idea to put it wth another agent or in a secure auction type agent - I am in two minds about being taken for a ride - I work in retail and my husband is a coach driver so 8K is a lot of money to us - On the plus side it is not getting shared as I am only daughter but still quite angry

If 8k is a lot of money then surely so is £492k? Don’t be so greedy. London flats are dropping like flies in value. I know this area and it was overpriced to begin with. I wouldn’t be surprised if you refused the offer and it sat on the market for another 12 months, especially with a 70 year lease. That’s going to massively narrow your pool of buyers.

It sucks but consider the sale as money you will gain rather than losing what you could have got.

Its really not, its only 14% less than the initial asking price. The market is not supporting prices that were achievable in the last few years, particularly for London flat prices. I would say its close enough given the state of the market.

It's still a lot of money that you didn't have, you'll pay auction costs, is it the property a poster has linked, if so there's no mention of the lease, it's share of freehold and perfectly liveable.

Normal response would be to tell the purchaser to sling their hook.

However that assumes freehold house and probably part of a move of home.

Here you have a probate sale in a difficult market and with a lease sufficiently short to be a real problem for any 'normal' purchaser who would need a mortgage. There also seems to be real evidence in the published monthly numbers that prices are far from buoyant; actually slipping back.

In those circs I'd take it on the chin.

Just go with it.

You won’t get a better offer from another agent. This is a very good offer.

I understand why £8000 is a lot of money to you, but it's really nothing when compared the the proceeds of sale which will land in your bank and allow you to get on with your life. The property market is dire right now.

If you intend to refuse, you’ll have to negotiate an extension on the lease to get top dollar. And it’s still a risk.

And you’ll likely need to redecorate and install a new kitchen.
It’s a lovely flat tho but you the energy and time to do that?
Offer £5k.

But you could lose the best part of £500K and all the interest that could accrue (by waiting for another sale.)

You don't seem to be reading the signs- flats in London are not selling.
Flats in London with a short lease are a nightmare to sell.

You're very lucky to sell it at all.

You'd get less at an auction.

A flat renovation will cost a lot more than 20k. I assume it needs a new kitchen, bathrooms etc?

Yes and a mortgaged buyer is unlikely to get a mortgage offer on that short leasehold.

That is a lovely flat in a good area, OP.

Was the offer made before the tenure was clarified? Because Share of Freehold and Leasehold are very different things. If I was buying that flat I would want to buy a share of the freehold (I think leaseholders have to agree?). But that would likely be expensive.

In the end I think your problem is that the relatively short lease limits your market and therefore the price.

You may also find it hard to change agents quickly, depending on your contract with them? Some agents are demanding a 26 week contract because of what it costs them to get the credentials together (EPC) and it costs them a lot to advertise on Rightmove.

Sorry, I’d missed your link. Nice flat! & popular area of London.

So are similar properties in that area and others near it, selling for over £492k, recently, and if so for how much?