Vendors pull out AFTER exchange of contract

Welshwoofs

clutton wrote: »

i am a great believer in fate - i think this weekend gives you an opportunity to examine if you do really want this property ?

Well that is something we thought about, however it's a village (I grew up there) and houses don't come on the market there very often. The only other houses for sale at present have no parking and don't have enough bedrooms so there would be major compromises for us. In my current mind frame I really don't see why I should have to give up a house which ticked all the boxes for one which ticks only a few...and we have to do something as my other half was already a good way down the line towards setting up his business where we're moving to...and currently we're nearly 300 miles away, so not exactly commutable!

It may actually be that we have to rent in the area whilst it all gets sorted out.

Ulfar

If it is possible to prevent them selling to anyone else while the legal action ongoing as others have stated, this I would think force them to sell especially if they have put a deposit on a new build.

They really are stupid people to do this. I wonder if you do force the sale will you get to keep the costs of legal action from the funds.

I am surprised there isn't some comeback on their solicitor as well, given that he arranged the contracts.

Cliveski2009

Terrible news - hope it can be resolved.

We were due to exchange and complete on the same day for the bungalow we recently bought (it was empty and being sold by next of kin). On the day it was supposed to happen the next of kin would not sell as they had received a better offer - we were really annoyed! thankfully we could stay longer in the rented accommodation we were in and the seller reconsidered and we exchanged a few days later and completed 3 days after that. We were told at exchange of contracts that if they changed their minds and didn't then complete we could sue them for lots of money!

The angle of 'attack' I would take would be to ask for compensaion to walk away. Make your claim big enough to make them think twice, and big enough for you to be prepared to let this property go.

Trollfever

I would suggest that you download a copy of the title register as it may reveal some nasties:

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/Property_Search

hazey31

What an absolute nightmare! Don't have anything too helpful to add but I'll be rooting for you over the weekend.

Welshwoofs

Trollfever wrote: »

I would suggest that you download a copy of the title register as it may reveal some nasties:

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/Property_Search

Hi there - thanks for that. I've downloaded it and all seems in order as far as I can tell. Registered owners are the vendors. Price paid 4 years ago was £10k more than the offer they accepted...so I'd guess they're in negative equity.

carefullycautious

welshwolfs have you had to stop the buyers from buying your house? What would happen if you were selling your property but couldnt move into the house you are buying. It seems a nightmare situation. Hope you can get to a resolution. It seems like they are trying to hold you to ransom to get more money out of you to fund their london new build but what a way to do it. I expect if they are in neg equity they havent got the extra money to pay this off before being able to buy the new build house. How mad are they not sorting this out before getting to this stage.

Welshwoofs

carefullycautious wrote: »

welshwolfs have you had to stop the buyers from buying your house?

Luckily I was not selling, I was going to rent mine out. If I'd been in a chain I can't even begin to imagine the problems - I'd either be homeless or having someone sue me for not moving. As it is I can stay put until it's sorted out which is one positive out of this!

silvercar

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Hi there - thanks for that. I've downloaded it and all seems in order as far as I can tell. Registered owners are the vendors. Price paid 4 years ago was £10k more than the offer they accepted...so I'd guess they're in negative equity.

Not necessarily negative equity. If they only had a 50% mortgage in the first place then there would be plenty of equity. It does suggest that maybe they were hoping for a profitable sale.

I do feel for you. When we bought, we knew the sellers were only selling because of money problems and we did have hypothetical conversations about what happens if they refused to move out. Our solicitor assured us it was a 1 in a million chance.

Welshwoofs

silvercar wrote: »

Not necessarily negative equity. If they only had a 50% mortgage in the first place then there would be plenty of equity. It does suggest that maybe they were hoping for a profitable sale.

Oh they were absolutely hoping for a profit - we had those whinges relayed via the EA on several occasions but our position has always been that you can't expect a buyer to bail you out if you bought at the top of the market and sell at the bottom - that's your risk. I too bought at top of the market and if I sold right now would lose approx £30k...which is why I'm renting it out, not selling.

They had the choice - they decided they wanted to sell and move to a nice, shiny new house and they accepted an offer which was lower than original purchase price. They had plenty of time to consider all these factors before exchanging contracts...and it seems they didn't.

It does enrage me because it seems to me that it's symptomatic of the general lack of personal responsibility around these days. Too many people expect others to clear up their mess or bail them out when they've made bad choices - in this case it appears that they expect us to walk away nearly £5k out of pocket because they've had a change of mind. That's just not happening and every hour which goes past I'm more and more inclined to go after them so hard they'll learn a lesson they'll keep for life :mad: