Threatening letter from unsuccesful buyer

Soubrette

I think the OP has received two letters asking for compensation.

Sou

Milliewilly

Soubrette wrote: »

I don't think we know how far along the FTB's were do we? We know they sent round the valuers, we have no idea if their mortgage was agreed in principle or anything really, so perhaps their sols told them they were imminently due to exchange or some time from exchange.

Although I personally don't agree with making nasty or overinflated demands - I agree with every comment Catblue has made, the OP deliberately kept the FTB in the dark and then when the OP felt like they were being used as a cashcow by everyone (including apparently the people they'd deliberately ripped off for a few hundred pounds), they feel injured and overwhelmed despite the £10K extra they had just made.

Imagine how you'd feel if you were the one down on the deal?

On a different tack - it does seem weird how the FTB managed to find their new address and how they bought - does the land registry update that fast?

Sou

We know that the SPIF form and F&F forms had not been sent to them - thes documents are two key documents you look at when you start the conveyancing process. The fact that these had not been sent to the FTB's is a clear indication that the conveyancing had not got any further than solicitors being instructed and on the other side a mortgage survey being carried out.

The mortgage arrangement fee is not wasted as they can simply transfer this onto the next house. The survey fee and and (minimal) solicitors costs will be lost unless they cut a deal with the solicitor to use them on their next purchase.

How the FTB's could have thought the sale was effectively theirs when they were told the property was still being marketed (in the knowledge that their offer was £10K under asking) is beyond me.


It sounds to me that if the survey costs were paid the FTB's would have used this as an admission of guilt to try to extort more money.

pinkshoes

toffe wrote: »

O.p. DO NOT i repeat DO NOT send this letter under any circumstances, you owe them nothing!

This is a "moneysaving" based website, i find it all the more bizare therefore that we are now advising forum users to write letters offering to pay thousands of pounds merely for "hurting someones feelings" if we start listening to advice like this we'll all be posting on the bankruptcy and living with it board before too long.

This isn't just a case of hurting someone's feelings; they were dishonest! Buyer 2 might have a loophole here to claim something, so it would be more money saving to cough up £1200 now, than added court and solicitors costs later!

Theogirl_2

The key here is not that you continued to market the property. It's that you did not tell them that you had accepted another offer when they arranged their survey and that you told your Estate Agent not to do so. It's just an underhand way to go about. They were not given all the info so were unable to make a decision to pursue the property fairly (for example by increasing their offer or not bothering). Really a pretty poor show.

Their solicitor should have been told by your solicitor that there was another offer and they were in a race (one that you would rather they didn't win due to it being a lower offer). On that basis they could have decided whether to continue. Since they didn't have that info what you did was underhand.

toffe

pinkshoes wrote: »

This isn't just a case of hurting someone's feelings; they were dishonest! Buyer 2 might have a loophole here to claim something, so it would be more money saving to cough up £1200 now, than added court and solicitors costs later!

There is no loop hole.

You can not sue someone for selling a house to someone else just because you had an offer accepted, untill exchange the vendor has a legal right to change their mind at any time.

I've read the clutching at straws argument about maybe the vendors legal represenatives or estate agent breached some code of conduct but that would not make the vendor liable it would make the profesional concerned liable and so the o.p offering to pay this amount as per your advice is still wrong as there is no reason why the o.p should pay for a very tiny chance that either their solicitor or estate agent acted improperly.

When a house sale falls through, you pick yourself up, you get back out there and you keep looking, you don't start sending threatening letters demanding stupid amounts of compo.

Milliewilly

Theogirl wrote: »

The key here is not that you continued to market the property. It's that you did not tell them that you had accepted another offer when they arranged their survey and that you told your Estate Agent not to do so. It's just an underhand way to go about. They were not given all the info so were unable to make a decision to pursue the property fairly (for example by increasing their offer or not bothering). Really a pretty poor show.

Their solicitor should have been told by your solicitor that there was another offer and they were in a race (one that you would rather they didn't win due to it being a lower offer). On that basis they could have decided whether to continue. Since they didn't have that info what you did was underhand.

The original buyer came back the day after the FTB's had had their survey done so this fee would have been lost even if the vendor had told them the next day the deal was off. This was always a risk to the FTB as they were told clearly the house was staying on the market. Any subsequent FTB's costs looking at the paperwork exchange via solicitors (i.e none) I have mentioned in my previous posts would have been negligable.

Milliewilly

toffe wrote: »

There is no loop hole.

You can not sue someone for selling a house to someone else just because you had an offer accepted, untill exchange the vendor has a legal right to change their mind at any time.

I've read the clutching at straws argument about maybe the vendors legal represenatives or estate agent breached some code of conduct but that would not make the vendor liable it would make the profesional concerned liable and so the o.p offering to pay this amount as per your advice is still wrong as there is no reason why the o.p should pay for a very tiny chance that either their solicitor or estate agent acted improperly.

When a house sale falls through, you pick yourself up, you get back out there and you keep looking, you don't start sending threatening letters demanding stupid amounts of compo.

These are the cold hard facts of house buying.

Survey done at FTB's own risk as house continues to be marketed.

FTB gets gazumped.

FTB tries it on for £5K.

FTB would be crowing how they got £10K off market value if the other buyer hadn't beaten them to it.

Some you win some you lose.

StevieJ

pimento wrote: »

A few years ago I was buying a house. I'd paid for the searches and surveys (about £1000) and my vendor pulled out. I found out from the EA that I was the third prospective buyer she had pulled out of a sale with and I saw red.

I wrote her a letter telling her that I was furious that we had spent money when she obviously had no intention of selling her house (10 years later she still lives there) and how I thought she was being a bit dishonest. I never asked her for money though. I cc'd the EA.

A couple of weeks later I received a letter from her solicitor saying that I had libelled her and that if I didn't want further action on her part, I was to write a full letter of apology. I did write the letter but it stuck in my craw that she could get away with it.

Struggle to see how a letter from one person to another is libel, I thought proof of loss (e.g. reputation) was required I am not sure what loss could have been made when she should have been the only one to have seen the letter.

Soubrette

There is no 'tiny chance', someone most certainly acted improperly. Here's another link with a quote.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/housing/problems_with_buying_and_selling_a_home.htm

The solicitor must inform all potential buyers that more than one contract has been sent out and that the first contract which is returned, signed and ready for exchange, will get the house. This is known as a contract race and is quite legal. There is nothing you as the buyer can do except withdraw if you do not want to incur the necessary costs in getting the contract completed quickly.

The second buyers were not given the chance to decide to continue or withdraw.

However I also agree with millie - from the info given in the OP, the surveyors fee would not be claimable as this was before the first buyer was reaccepted. I, however, am not so sure that the work done by their sols would be negligible or otherwise but whatever it was, that is what is claimable.

I also think though that the fact the OP behaved unreasonably makes the behaviour of the second purchasers to date far from harrassment (bearing in mind we have apparently been spared the details so it could be worse than the impression we've been given).

How would the buyers know it was £10k off market value though? Market value is what someone is prepared to pay for it and the buyer who originally offered that not only mucked the sellers about so much that they put the house back on the market but later on had to deal with the hassle of the buyer wanting sweeteners like furniture left. When I've bought a house in the past, there's the offer price and the price myself and buyer have negotiated, I don't believe I've ever crowed about it. When I've put my house on the market it's always been on the understanding that offers will be lower (been luck never to buy in a housing price hotspot).

As to why the second buyers allowed the property to still be marketed - naivity I expect, I also suspect that next time they'll offer subject to contract and removal from the market. They might even go so far as to ask for a non returnable deposit. Unforunately if you experience a crappy seller (or buyer) then it colours your view of everyone else

Sou

Theogirl_2

Milliewilly wrote: »

The original buyer came back the day after the FTB's had had their survey done so this fee would have been lost even if the vendor had told them the next day the deal was off. This was always a risk to the FTB as they were told clearly the house was staying on the market. Any subsequent FTB's costs looking at the paperwork exchange via solicitors (i.e none) I have mentioned in my previous posts would have been negligable.

The vendor or their solicitor or their agent should have told them a deal was already on the table though and then they might not have arranged the survey or might have upped their offer. It is not a case of continue to market. The buyer was already there!

I disagree with the letters as the law supports this kind of underhand behaviour and it isn't a nice way to conduct oneself. However I stand by what I said, what the OP did was very underhand and I can honestly say I would never knowingly behave in this way.