Problems with buyers changing the price

cantthinkofanickname

Has anyone had the problem where a buyer tries to change the agreed selling price either after exchange of contracts or at completion? I have a difficult buyer and have heard of these cases and was trying to determine my options should this occur.

PS; yes, I understand about things like sueing them but I am looking for practical solutions to this type of problem. I am also buying at the same time. Thanks.

Gwhiz

cantthinkofanickname wrote: »

Has anyone had the problem where a buyer tries to change the agreed selling price either after exchange of contracts or at completion? I have a difficult buyer and have heard of these cases and was trying to determine my options should this occur.

PS; yes, I understand about things like sueing them but I am looking for practical solutions to this type of problem. I am also buying at the same time. Thanks.

They cannot change the price after exchange as the price is in the contract.

Doozergirl

Are you talking about before exchange?

They can't do it afterwards. We had someone try to pay us £15k less on completion day and his solicitor must have told him he was an idiot. He had to pay it all, plus interest on the whole sale amount for completing late when he had to transfer the extra money. We got £250 for doing nothing, which made me smile.

In terms of before exchange, if you are worried about them trying it at the last minute then you need to protect yourself by demanding as much of a gap between the anticipated exchange day and completion as possible. Don't be lured into doing it with a very short time span between both as this is where you leave yourself open. At least if they try it on and you're not entirely packed up, you have more opportunity to tell them where to go...

[Deleted User]

Doozergirl wrote: »

Are you talking about before exchange?

They can't do it afterwards. We had someone try to pay us £15k less on completion day and his solicitor must have told him he was an idiot. He had to pay it all, plus interest on the whole sale amount for completing late when he had to transfer the extra money. We got £250 for doing nothing, which made me smile.

In terms of before exchange, if you are worried about them trying it at the last minute then you need to protect yourself by demanding as much of a gap between the anticipated exchange day and completion as possible. Don't be lured into doing it with a very short time span between both as this is where you leave yourself open. At least if they try it on and you're not entirely packed up, you have more opportunity to tell them where to go...

That said - just playing devil's advocate - I'd put the case for the buyer being perfectly within their rights to change their offer pre-exchange: you should be prepared for this and understand how this might affect you.

During conveyancing, all sorts of issues might crop up which - in the eyes of the buyer - might affect the price they're willing to pay for it. I see no problem with the buyer reducing their offer is adverse information comes to light. In fact, it would be quite a sensible buyer who uses their position of strength to renegotiate a better price when things like the survey come back.

My biggest regret in buying the house we've just moved into is that we weren't tougher in driving down the price during conveyancing and for letter the sellers bully the transaction through. We had opportunities to go back and 'politely recommend' they accept a reduced sum given a number of issues that came to light, but instead we just shrugged our shoulders and assumed that 'that's life'.

From your perspective, be firm, however. Our own buyers came in with a £15k reduction in value after their survey, but we politely told them to look elsewhere if they were concerned about the price they were paying. They soon gave in - it's a game of poker in some ways!

maninthestreet

cantthinkofanickname wrote: »

Has anyone had the problem where a buyer tries to change the agreed selling price either after exchange of contracts or at completion? I have a difficult buyer and have heard of these cases and was trying to determine my options should this occur.

PS; yes, I understand about things like sueing them but I am looking for practical solutions to this type of problem. I am also buying at the same time. Thanks.

The buyer is contractually obliged to buy your house at the price stated in the contract, once signed contracts have been exchanged, and will be subject to the penalties outlined in the contract if they fail to do so on the agreed completion date.
If your buyer is contacting you directly with demands to pay less than the contract states, refer them to their own solicitor, who will advise them accordingly.

tinkerbell84

maninthestreet wrote: »

The buyer is contractually obliged to buy your house at the price stated in the contract, once signed contracts have been exchanged, and will be subject to the penalties outlined in the contract if they fail to do so on the agreed completion date.
If your buyer is contacting you directly with demands to pay less than the contract states, refer them to their own solicitor, who will advise them accordingly.

Eh? The OP is the seller!

maninthestreet

tinkerbell84 wrote: »

Eh? The OP is the seller!

.....and it's the buyer trying to change the price they want to pay the seller (OP) for their property. Please re-read my post.

cantthinkofanickname

Interesting responses, thanks. Of course, there's nothing wrong in attempting a price reduction. I would expect the buyers checks and surveys to be done before exchanging contracts. Assuming that it were possible to stop the process by attempting a price reduction I would want a clause in the contract that allows me to cancel the contract should the buyer for whatever reason refuse to pay up (maybe in a certain time). One problem area is of course one's own purchase which must link with the sale and therefore the movement of money over to do the purchase. Maybe the solicitor takes the money into their own account to do this.

I don't quite understand the logic of keeping the period between EOfC and Completion as long as possible unless it's just a logistic factor. But how does it affect anything that may go wrong.

Our buyer has taken ages to arrange a mortgage (after supposedly loosing the 1st one because he let the time limit expire). Finally 3 mths after agreeing a price his BS surveyor has been! He has however asked lots of silly questions which we've answered in a non committal way.

We have chosen a place but have instructed our solicitor to do nothing untill our buyers solicitor appears on the scene. That way we know he's finally signed his mortgage deal and is ready to move ahead.

PS don't have money available for the deposit. Is this a problem?

Comment welcome.