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Vendor no longer selling! Can I claim?
beavercalledsteve
Posts: 15 Forumite
We had an offer accepted on a house on 3rd October 2009. The vendor was a tough negotiator claiming for example a horrible 1970s light fitting added value to the house (:rotfl:) - but we got there in the end!
We quickly received news that the vendor had found a house and it was not in a chain. Great news we thought. The estate agent put us under pressure to get things moving at our end, leaving us messages all the time.
We quickly arranged our survey (over £500) and paid a solicitor his initial fee (£250). We then received phonecalls from the estate agent moaning that the vendor's solicitor hadnt heard anything from our end and what was the hold up. Turned out to be a problem at HIS end (he had not responded to our queries) but things finally were nearly complete.
Then BOMBSHELL the vendor pulls out of the house he was buying due to his survey revealing problems in the loft and them not accepting a lower offer.
We then have 2 months of waiting. We are on the verge of pulling out ourselves when we hear the vendor has found another property and can complete within 6 weeks. We are put under pressure and we tell our solicitor we should be completing soon. We carry on packing!
2 weeks later we get a call saying the vendor is not selling full stop :mad:. Things have changed at his work and he can no longer afford to move. I suspect his mortgage application has not gone through - maybe he didn't even have one arranged. This may explain the need to lower his offer on the previous house (the loft problems never did sound serious enough for him to pull out).
Surely he must have realised he could not afford to move earlier than this?! Did he not realise the mortgage company would want proof of his income?!
The whole situation is very frustrating. We have been very pacient, and have wasted time and £100s while he messed us around over the months, all while he could not afford the sort of houses he wanted to buy. We even agreed to let items in the survey go unfixed, in order to keep him happy and to get our dream house and to make sure the money spent at that stage was not wasted.
Our solicitor has finished all his work at his end and requires his full fee.
So is there any way I can claim any of this money back? We are looking at having to wait another 6 months to save the fees up again ready for another house.
A friend suggested a small claims court, but I am not sure if our case is strong enough? I accept this must happen all the time, but as he tried to hide boiler issues and electrical faults, who knows what else he has lied about?
We quickly received news that the vendor had found a house and it was not in a chain. Great news we thought. The estate agent put us under pressure to get things moving at our end, leaving us messages all the time.
We quickly arranged our survey (over £500) and paid a solicitor his initial fee (£250). We then received phonecalls from the estate agent moaning that the vendor's solicitor hadnt heard anything from our end and what was the hold up. Turned out to be a problem at HIS end (he had not responded to our queries) but things finally were nearly complete.
Then BOMBSHELL the vendor pulls out of the house he was buying due to his survey revealing problems in the loft and them not accepting a lower offer.
We then have 2 months of waiting. We are on the verge of pulling out ourselves when we hear the vendor has found another property and can complete within 6 weeks. We are put under pressure and we tell our solicitor we should be completing soon. We carry on packing!
2 weeks later we get a call saying the vendor is not selling full stop :mad:. Things have changed at his work and he can no longer afford to move. I suspect his mortgage application has not gone through - maybe he didn't even have one arranged. This may explain the need to lower his offer on the previous house (the loft problems never did sound serious enough for him to pull out).
Surely he must have realised he could not afford to move earlier than this?! Did he not realise the mortgage company would want proof of his income?!
The whole situation is very frustrating. We have been very pacient, and have wasted time and £100s while he messed us around over the months, all while he could not afford the sort of houses he wanted to buy. We even agreed to let items in the survey go unfixed, in order to keep him happy and to get our dream house and to make sure the money spent at that stage was not wasted.
Our solicitor has finished all his work at his end and requires his full fee.
So is there any way I can claim any of this money back? We are looking at having to wait another 6 months to save the fees up again ready for another house.
A friend suggested a small claims court, but I am not sure if our case is strong enough? I accept this must happen all the time, but as he tried to hide boiler issues and electrical faults, who knows what else he has lied about?
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Comments
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It's just tough unfortunately.
Until exchange it's all possible to go wrong.0 -
I assume that when you were thinking of pulling out you were prepared to pay all the vendors fees to recompense him or did you think it would be all one sided?This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0
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What a nightmare for you - sounds like your just going to have to "swallow" the costs you have spent.
That is why the UK law of buying/selling houses is a nightmare, anyone can pull out at any time before exchange without any onus on paying the seller/vendor, the Surveyor and Solicitor win all round though !!!
I think a bit unfair on previous comment "did you think it would be all one sided", sounds like you were being messed around by Vendor and bowing to his every need so you could get his house and he still wasn't being honest with you - I would have pulled out without a whim, you will have both lost money and why should you feel guilty or loyal to someone who you are just trying to buy a property from, especially when that loyalty was not mutual.
Good luck with buying a new home - hopefully a better property will be there for you now or soon and you will think in hindsight thinking what a lucky escape!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:0 -
Nothing you can do.
No point in going to the small claims court.0 -
beavercalledsteve wrote: »We had an offer accepted on a house on 3rd October 2009. The vendor was a tough negotiator claiming for example a horrible 1970s light fitting added value to the house (:rotfl:) - but we got there in the end!
We quickly received news that the vendor had found a house and it was not in a chain. Great news we thought. The estate agent put us under pressure to get things moving at our end, leaving us messages all the time.
We quickly arranged our survey (over £500) and paid a solicitor his initial fee (£250). We then received phonecalls from the estate agent moaning that the vendor's solicitor hadnt heard anything from our end and what was the hold up. Turned out to be a problem at HIS end (he had not responded to our queries) but things finally were nearly complete.
Then BOMBSHELL the vendor pulls out of the house he was buying due to his survey revealing problems in the loft and them not accepting a lower offer.
We then have 2 months of waiting. We are on the verge of pulling out ourselves when we hear the vendor has found another property and can complete within 6 weeks. We are put under pressure and we tell our solicitor we should be completing soon. We carry on packing!
2 weeks later we get a call saying the vendor is not selling full stop :mad:. Things have changed at his work and he can no longer afford to move. I suspect his mortgage application has not gone through - maybe he didn't even have one arranged. This may explain the need to lower his offer on the previous house (the loft problems never did sound serious enough for him to pull out).
Surely he must have realised he could not afford to move earlier than this?! Did he not realise the mortgage company would want proof of his income?!
The whole situation is very frustrating. We have been very pacient, and have wasted time and £100s while he messed us around over the months, all while he could not afford the sort of houses he wanted to buy. We even agreed to let items in the survey go unfixed, in order to keep him happy and to get our dream house and to make sure the money spent at that stage was not wasted.
Our solicitor has finished all his work at his end and requires his full fee.
So is there any way I can claim any of this money back? We are looking at having to wait another 6 months to save the fees up again ready for another house.
A friend suggested a small claims court, but I am not sure if our case is strong enough? I accept this must happen all the time, but as he tried to hide boiler issues and electrical faults, who knows what else he has lied about?
Nothing you can do. I got stuck with a £450 Solicitors bill when my buyers pulled out in November.0 -
PottyHouse wrote: »I think a bit unfair on previous comment "did you think it would be all one sided",
Nicely taken out of context or not understanding my post. The OP didn't appear to be worried about the vendor losing money if he called off the sale but wanted compensation because the vendor pulls out.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
I lost loads when the silly woman I was buying off hadnt realised she had to pay the council (as she hadnt owned it 5 years when she decided to sell after using right to buy)- it went to about a week before!!! I really would think that the EA should have checked this. But apparently it was just tough for me!!!!:eek:0
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There's been another thread recently on this sort of thing. I do think that it would be useful to have an agreement at the outset between buyer and seller to compensate the other for fees incurred (up to say £500 or £1000 limit) if one pulls out. The general concensus seemed to be 'no vendor is going to agree to that'.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?0
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Yes, take him to the life's not fair court of appeal, where a judge will tell him he is naughty and must compensate you with a nice cup of tea, and biscuits.beavercalledsteve wrote: »So is there any way I can claim any of this money back?Been away for a while.0 -
There's been another thread recently on this sort of thing. I do think that it would be useful to have an agreement at the outset between buyer and seller to compensate the other for fees incurred (up to say £500 or £1000 limit) if one pulls out. The general concensus seemed to be 'no vendor is going to agree to that'.
Or move to Scotland where the law is different...:)0
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