Need to pull out of house sale

Topbird

Hi

We currently have an offer on our house, which we have accepted. There have been no surveys carried out and the legal side will be started on Monday.

Unfortunately since accepting this offer things have changed to a point where we need to stay put. Long story short... in the last two months two pets have had extremely costly trips to the vets and a large metal clunky thing fell off my car! The deposit we had managed to get together has been significantly reduced.

Having read through the forum for most of the day, I understand that we *may* be liable to pay the estate agent fees based on if they had a 'willing and able purchaser' clause. However as I don't have a copy of the contract I am unable to see what it says in this instance.

The EA (Burchell Edwards) took pictures but they were never put on Rightmove (my instruction due to waiting out termination of sole agency rights with another EA) and we never received a For Sale board. They contacted one person who viewed and placed an offer a few days later. Which was great and we feel lucky to be in that situation given the current climate. We were going to be moving in with my parents for 6 months following the sale but with everything that has happened that time would be increased to 12 months plus.

Basically, due to circumstances and the relatively low cost to the EA's in selling the house, do you think that if the contract states that I would be liable (won't find out until tomorrow I guess) they would not go down that route or would most EA's pursue it regardless?

I really do feel awful about the buyers and know that they will be upset (as I would be in the same circumstances) but I really feel like we don't have a choice now.

Any advice on this would be welcomed!!

Many thanks

TB

Jowo_2

Topbird wrote: »

We were going to be moving in with my parents for 6 months following the sale but with everything that has happened that time would be increased to 12 months plus.

How about moving into rental accommodation in order to give you breathing space compared to living with family and to allow you to build up your deposit?

A lot of threads coming onto this forum are from sellers who aren't get any offers or viewers, or from buyers wondering whether to postpone their purchase to take advantage of greater property price falls.

You've pitched this as the inconvenience of living with family as interim accommodation and less available deposit but if the housing market is going to be subject to a price crash, opting out at the moment could you cost you dearly.

PasturesNew

You will most likely have to pay the full fees of the EA (+VAT) if you pull out.

Any agent would have been mad to have not included it in their contract - and so I expect it is a standard clause.

vet8

If you signed the contract with the EA, I think you will be liable unfortunately.

Topbird

Jowo - rental accomodation is not really an option as we have one dog and two cats. Moving in with parents for longer than 6 months means that they would be living at kennels/cattery for that time period.

Moving in with my parents would not be an inconvienience really, it just wasn't planned for longer than 6 months. The whole reason we put the house up for sale in the first place was because we saw a house that we wanted, lost it to first time buyers, saw another one and lost it again to first time buyers. We are not unhappy where we are, nor do we need to move. It was only when we changed EAs that we had an offer and made the decision then to move in with parents in order to be in a better position. In this time we have had in excess of £3k of unexpected bills. But on the other hand, we wouldn't be able to pay the EA's fee's if we didn't sell the house.

pinkshoes

Topbird wrote: »

In this time we have had in excess of £3k of unexpected bills. But on the other hand, we wouldn't be able to pay the EA's fee's if we didn't sell the house.

If £3k is preventing you buying another house after selling yours, then yikes!!! £3k is nothing compared to what could go wrong with a house!!!

I'm 99.999% sure you will be liable for the EA fees if you pull out.

Not all rental properties refuse pets, they just require you to pay a larger deposit up front incase your pets trash the place!!!

SusieT

I doubt very much there would not be a charge from the estate agent, so it may be better if you were to carry on with the sale and get the next house for £3k less than you are budgeting at the moment. Perhaps get one that needs a bit of work on it but thats still ok to live in until its done, that way you can pay off the bills and save for whatever needs doing on the new house.

Topbird

The reason we were going to move in with my parents was to save more towards a deposit so there is no new house to move onto at the moment.

I guess we will find out when I speak to the EA in the morning if we're liable for the full amount or just a partial amount. It's not looking hopeful though I guess.

MobileSaver

Topbird wrote: »

The whole reason we put the house up for sale in the first place was because we saw a house that we wanted, lost it to first time buyers, saw another one and lost it again to first time buyers. ... and made the decision then to move in with parents in order to be in a better position.

I've highlighted what seems to be the most important point here.

You've lost two houses you really liked already because (presumably) you were in a chain. You now have a buyer for yours but are thinking of pulling out which will put you right back to square one!

I think you're mad, especially in the current climate.

If you go through with the sale now then when you find your next dream home you'll be in a much stronger position than most people - seems a no-brainer to me!

Jowo_2

Any chance that your family would pet sit for the period you are in rental accommodation? I inherited my mother's cat on a temporary basis when she moved but then she decided the cat shouldn't be disturbed again and I got lumbered with it.

PasturesNew

The cost of putting THREE animals into kennels/cattery is huge. Have you checked how much? Probably more than renting a place for you to live.

Some landlords do allow pets. One place where you might find a landlord that does is the Sun newspaper classifieds (online), where there's a "pets" box you can tick. Have a look: http://apartments.local.thesun.co.uk/for-rent/homes-for-rent/pets_allowed_dogs/ (this has selected houses, for rent, accept dogs), but you can fiddle with the settings yourself from there.