Sales memo received but terms altered...

lemonthyme

I wonder whether anyone can advise:
Our final offer on a property was agreed and the agent said that the vendors had aagreed to curtains etc being included.
They now say that the vendor hadn't made up their mind about the curtains, and they have complained about the inclusion of curtains on the agent's sales memo.
The estate agent has now sent a revised sales memo and removed curtains from the list.
We were not aware of the vendor's indecision, the agents said that the terms of the offer had been fully accepted.

What should I do? Have the agents acted unlawfully? I know we're only talking about curtains, but I hadn't factored in this cost as I was assured they were included in the agreed offer.

Many thanks in advance - all advice gratefully received

G_M

Until contracts have been exchanged, nothing is fixed.

If the curtains are vital, withdraw from the purchase.

If the curtains are a 'nice-to-have' then reduce your offer by the amount you believe it will cost you to buy your own curtains. I suggest using John Lewis to estimate the value!

No one has done anything illegal, though you are being messed about. Just show you will mess about in return by reducing your offer.

lemonthyme

Thanks for your advice - it's not the vendors I wish to penalise, but the agent! The vendors have done nothing wrong, it's misinformation from the agents that's made my blood boil. Surely they can't tell me my offer is agreed and then say actually, the vendor had yet to agree to the terms, but we told you they had...?

Many thanks in advance!

not_loaded

lemonthyme wrote: »

…Surely they can't tell me my offer is agreed and then say actually, the vendor had yet to agree to the terms, but we told you they had...

Your offer has been accepted, but any time before exchange you can vary that offer, for no reason at all, or for a reason like the curtains.

The F&F (fixtures and fittings) list is usually resolved at a later date anyway. You’ll probably find that’s the point at which hey presto, you can BUY the curtains for a few grand.

It might be best to find out for sure exactly what you’ve offered on. Are the white goods included for example? You may well have seen them in situ, but it doesn’t mean they’re leaving them.

Hardly any of our viewers asked what’s going and what’s staying. It’s quite important really.

lee636

Could you not ask the agent to ask the vendor how much they want for them? Or even get the EA to sing a line to the vendor that you are now in two minds about proceeding with the purchase as you hadnt factored the additional cost at this stage, having been led to think they were included.

Not sure id potentially loose a 'dream' place over curtains unless it had a lot of rooms and would run into £1,000's to replace.

lemonthyme

The agent said cooker, carpets, blinds and curtains had been agreed in the sales memo. They then said actually, we told you the curtains had been agreed in the offer, but we failed to tell you earlier at the time your offer was accepted (at which point I'd stipulated wanted all window dressings included as a term of the offer) that the vendor hadn't made up their mind.
So the revised sales memo now has the curtains ommitted. the agent shouldn't have said it was accepted when they knew the vendors hadn't fully accepted, right?

or have I got my knickers in a twist?!

DVardysShadow

As you stipulated price to include curtains, it is plain that your offer has technically not been accepted. What is likely to have happened is that the vendors have been totally indecisive and the Agent has tried to railroad both you and the vendors into a sale by sending out the Memo. of Sale.

To some extent, the Agent may be doing the sane thing in that the curtains are too small an issue to prevent a sale. And I tend to think that the main problem is with the vendors being indecisive - if they had said 'No curtains' I think the Agent would have told you. The quiet alarm bell which goes off for me is that the vendors do not appear to be decisive - which may be a problem later on.

In your position I would be deciding whether to insist on the curtains or reduce the offer. And then I would inform the vendor via my agent in writng and i would copy my solicitor in on it. Don't FGS get your solicitor to do your running around on this.

not_loaded

If this matter is what buyers and sellers think is important today, I despair…

:eek: