To help me decide I often try to imagine how I would feel if the decision had been made for me, one way or the other. If you’re deciding between two cars, which one would you be disappointed by if you found it had been sold when you called tomorrow?
So, if your solicitor called tomorrow and said the buyer had pulled out, how would you feel?

I think it’s quite common for buyers to pull out, but quite rare for sellers to do it. As a seller you’re usually pretty happy you’ve got what you want for it and happy to get it done and dusted.

I wouldn’t be selling in your situation. Obviously it’s a tough decision now you are part way through. Do you know anything about the buyer? If it’s being bought as a buy to let then it’s a pure financial issue so much less of a moral dilemma.

bit of a **** trick doing that in my opinion.

Is the buyer in a chain? Are they expecting to move their family in?

You’ve made a verbal agreement.
Shafting people isn’t a business decision it’s a twunts trick.
Why should the buyer suffer because of your indecision?

It’s just happened to my brother , he’s down £800. 🙁
The sellers had house on market and decided they wanted to stay put.
Which is fair enough but I think once the survey/searches have been completed the seller should be liable for any fees if they withdraw.

Op – at least tell the buyers before they have packed up & loaded the van.

This one of the main reason people do not pay for surveys. At the very least the law should change so if you accept an offer you a liable for any costs incurred by the buyer.

After sitting down with the wife last night we have decided to carry on with the sale.

As some of you had said it’s a bit of a dick trick to pull out now especially as the want to exchange and complete tomorrow.

It’s not an investor buying it but a family with 3 kids.

look on the bright side. saves you from having to go back to them next week saying you’ve changed your mind, you really do want to sell… 😉

As some of you had said it’s a bit of a dick trick to pull out now especially as the want to exchange and complete tomorrow.

Oh, i thought it was fairly new on in the process… that would have been AWFUL doing it the day before completion

Yep it was sprung onus Friday that they want to complete this week.

We had originally said 1st Dec so we wouldn’t have to pay the early repayment charge on the mortgage.

So now we will be down 3k. Oh and an extra 240£ for the solicitors for completing out with their timescales.

so, stick to your timescales unless they are prepared to pay the difference.

worst case they pull out and you get to keep the house without feeling like a dick.

Keep it. Your buyers will think you are dick but who cares. They will find another, probably better house for them.

Spend the £3k on redecoration and let it again.

At the very least they should be paying your early redemption charge.

Yep it was sprung onus Friday that they want to complete this week.

We had originally said 1st Dec so we wouldn’t have to pay the early repayment charge on the mortgage.

So now we will be down 3k. Oh and an extra 240£ for the solicitors for completing out with their timescales.

No point in you getting stung for their timescales. You don’t need to exchange tomorrow, delay it or ask them to make up the extra costs for you. They will either do it, push it back to the original date or pull out. Win win win for you then

We had originally said 1st Dec so we wouldn’t have to pay the early repayment charge on the mortgage.

So now we will be down 3k.

Ouch!

You don’t need to exchange tomorrow, delay it or ask them to make up the extra costs for you.

I’d say this. If you’re going to have to sell then you certainly shouldn’t be losing £3k because of it. Tell them to pay your fees or rent/stay somewhere for a few weeks. If they say no then you can pull out of the sale.

renton – Member
Yep it was sprung onus Friday that they want to complete this week.

We had originally said 1st Dec so we wouldn’t have to pay the early repayment charge on the mortgage.

So now we will be down 3k. Oh and an extra 240£ for the solicitors for completing out with their timescales.

You’ve done the honourable thing by continuing with the sale despite your reservations, there is no way you should be £3k down for their last minute change of plan too.

make them pay the £3k if it’s that important to them.

If I were your buyer and I’d invested time, money, dreams etc in the house you were about to sell me only to have you pull out at the last moment because, on a whim, you’ve ‘fell in love with it again’ and, on top of that, you can’t actually afford to do what needs doing to it anyway, I’d think you were a dick.

This!

we got to the exchange day on three houses when either buyers or sellers changed their minds at the last minute on a whim costing me thousands of wasted money and a whole lot of stress especially as we were living in a one bedroom flat with two small children.

Think how you would feel if this was the other way around especially if cash was tight.

Unless its an investor adding to their portfolio 🙂

That’ll teach me to type and not send straight away! Good for continuing with the sale, but if they want to bring everything forward they should be paying for your early redemption of the mortgage or wait til the original date.

good luck with it, house selling/buying is such a pain in the arse

Buying and selling houses is crap…..

If I were in your shoes I’d be firmly stating that completion can be the end of the week, but you want the 3k shortfall it’ll cost you.
You shouldn’t be that much out of pocket.

“SE19 here and a flat in my small block sold for £320k right in the middle of brexit. I paid 2/3 of that 18months ago. Stuff is selling, it’s not all doom and gloom, some of bigger properties nearer 3/4million are a bit slower to shift though.”

Yes, the ‘lower end’ (Hard to imagine £320k as ‘lower end’!) is still very lively, and many previously ‘undesirable’ properties have recently surged in price. People are setting their sights lower, just to buy something, anything. I think there’s a bit of a wobble around our way though. Prices have just gone way beyond the reach of most folk, even those earning decent money. It’s insane. Tiny 1-bed flats going for £500k+. Madness. People have to have somewhere to live though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-37696978

So just been into the solicitors and she is of the opinion that it isn’t going to happen tomorrow.

I’ve said of it doesn’t then we are sticking to our original date.

People have to have somewhere to live though.

Which is why we need to get the madness stopped as a matter of urgency – we’re reducing our standards of living at a scary rate and killing our most economically productive region (London and SE), and the economy as a whole by paying such a massive % of our post-tax incomes in ever-greater amounts of debt to the banks… let alone that it’s leading to couples giving up having kids and widening inequality…

My solution in the end, and that of a few other people I know, has been (with very deep regret and more than a little bit of anger) to leave my home and my friends and bail out of London. It really stinks but if you push prices this high, that’s what happens…

Of course this is happening worldwide – Vancouver, NZ, Australia, San Francisco…

OP: good on you for taking the more thoughtful approach but I would make the buyer pay the costs you’re facing as a result of their change of mind (although if they’re in a chain this may have been forced on them by someone else of course)…

Presumably your monthly mortgage payment is somewhat less than £3k so seems a shame the lender won’t let you pay the mortgage up to the date in Dec so they still get the same amount. ‘Computer says no’ perhaps.

mudshark – Member
Presumably your monthly mortgage payment is somewhat less than £3k so seems a shame the lender won’t let you pay the mortgage up to the date in Dec so they still get the same amount. ‘Computer says no’ perhaps.

I’m by no means the biggest fan of the banks, but that is preposterous. A mortgage will have been agreed (rates, fees etc), based on a whole range of criteria, one of which is a charge for early redemption because the bank will lose out on the profit it will have been counting on from the interest payable on the mortgage. You can’t then just bowl in and say “So sorry, I’ve decided to pay it off early, any chance you could rip up our agreement..” They are after all a business first and foremost.

Which is why we need to get the madness stopped as a matter of urgency – we’re reducing our standards of living at a scary rate and killing our most economically productive region (London and SE), and the economy as a whole by paying such a massive % of our post-tax incomes in ever-greater amounts of debt to the bank………………….Of course this is happening worldwide – Vancouver, NZ, Australia, San Francisco…

Too true. I wonder though if they have similar issues in countries like France and Germany where they don’t have the same cult of home ownership that we do. I believe that in Germany only approx. 20% of those who are old enough to, actually own their own homes. Rental is the thing for them. Makes for a much more mobile workforce too..

To the OP, certainly you shouldn’t have to pay the fees if they’re moving completion forward. However we don’t know why that is. If they’re part of a chain it could be forced upon them.

My sister was part of a chain 18 months ago and one [erson at the top was dicking around. Delay after delay after delay for spurious reasons. Eventually she had her solicitor write to everyone else’s to say that if we don’t complete by such and such a date I will take my house off the market and the whole thing will collapse. Suffice to say it then all went smoothly. Not sure what the lesson is other than the greatest strength in any negotiation is the willingness to walk away..

I don’t think you quite understood what I said.

Didn’t realise how close to an exchange you are.

The buyers would have lost ££££’ son solicitor fees and surveys.

You did the right thing.

If you are still debating, this is the get out of jail free card!

Exchange on the basis that you stick to the original completion date unless they pay the early repayment charge.

Either it goes smoothly with either option, or they mess you around and you have the option of pulling out before exchange.

Good on you for trying to not be a dick, though 🙂

Stick to your original date. Why are they dictating to you?

Tbh you’ll probably sell it quickly post do up for even more. Or move your family back in. Round our way prices are going silly. Gobsmacking how much working people are being asked to pay for houses.