Ultimatum/proposal for vendor.

moneysavingplumber

Evening all,

I'll try and keep this brief and clear.

We had offer accepted on a property at the beginning of August of £182,000. We since had a HBR survey completed and instructed solicitors. Total spend so far £1300, of which £649 is theoretically refundable on no completion/no fee basis. The offer was made on the basis that the vendor was already in the process of buying an empty property.

Just over a fortnight ago, the agent advised us that the vendor had pulled out of the one they were buying due to their son not being guaranteed a place at the chosen secondary school if they moved. At this point they declared themselves out of contact for two weeks whilst on holiday. The agent said there wasn't a lot that could be done until the vendors return, but advised us to resume viewings, which we did, and even made an offer on another in the meantime, which was trumped by a higher offer. The reason for this was that we'd begun to lose confidence that the vendor was actually serious about selling. Draft contract was requested by our solicitor (who has since been put on hold) several weeks ago and has not been received by their solicitor.

The vendor has been back from holiday for several days, and I spoke to the agent yesterday who claims to know no more about the vendor's current position than we do. We have a full mortgage offer for the property which expires on December 2nd. The agent made it clear a couple of weeks ago that he could not envisage them vacating the property on a deadline.

We really like the property and notwithstanding a slight renegotiation over a survey issue, it's at the right price, and there's not much else on the market at the moment. Obviously we're not going to wait forever for them to pull their fingers out. We're considering making proposals, assuming they don't want to pull out of the sale themselves (apparently they are still viewing properties, at their leisure), that would compensate us should we not complete by the time the mortgage offer expires, which is beginning to look inevitable. We will have the cost of another application and valuation, as well as the fact that we are currently renting which will be dead money spent while they twiddle their thumbs, pay off more of their current mortgage whilst looking for the perfect property for them.

I'm wondering what the general formula for calculating these figures would be, assuming that there is one.

Thanks all.

Yorkie1

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at?

Are the two sides of your ultimatum to the vendor to be: a) get a move on with the sale, versus b) pull out and here's a bill for what you've cost me?

If so, they have no obligation at all to recompense you, and their EA / Solicitor will tell them as much.

The only point at which a 'deadline' is set, is at exchange. Up to then, there's nothing you can do other than say you want to exchange by a certain date, and be prepared to walk away at that point. No compensation entitlement.

moneysavingplumber

I appreciate that there's no legal obligation, but it's certainly something that I've seen discussed and suggested, and have broached it with their agents who certainly didn't think it was unreasonable. If they're not willing to show any commitment and are happy to drag us along and cost us more and more money while they don't spend a penny, then of course they'll be looking for another buyer.

Edit: Just realised what you meant. No the bill would be to keep us as buyers and compensate us for hanging on, not if they pull out. Obviously this wouldn't be a binding agreement, just at least a sign of serious intent to sell as soon as possible. Not necessarily a bill as such, more a reduction in the sale price to reflect the loss of value and increased costs to ourselves the longer it takes beyond the initially expected, brief timescale.

Yorkie1

I can understand your frustration at their dilatory behaviour. Must be really annoying.

However, whatever their agent may say, I suspect you'll be on a hiding to nothing. I don't think they'll agree that you are having increased costs by having to wait. Yes, you're paying rent - but you're not paying a mortgage at the same time. Yes, you've paid out a lot for surveys etc, but you'd havethose expenses irrespective of time until sale goes through.

You've also mentioned wanting to renegotiate owing to a survey issue. I think that is often hard enough, and you risk muddying those waters by your other proposal.

My feeling is that these vendors are in no hurry to move and that you need to focus your mind on a date by which you must be exchanged / completed, or pull out. That may focus their minds but it is still 3 months till your mortgage offer expires (and it may be extendable if you have an imminent exchange / completion date by then, do check) - and it will take even longer to go through the process again if you do pull out and start elsewhere.

moneysavingplumber

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Yes, you're paying rent - but you're not paying a mortgage at the same time. Yes, you've paid out a lot for surveys etc, but you'd havethose expenses irrespective of time until sale goes through.

If we were paying a mortgage it wouldn't be a problem, as that's an investment, rent isn't. Yes we'd have the current set of expenses, but we'll be looking at an additional booking fee and a second valuation if the mortgage expires and we are forced re-apply.

The survey re-negotiation is due to a 50 year old crack in the flank wall rendering from top to bottom that they admit they ignored on their survey, and have done nothing about for the ten years they have owned the property. On the advice of the surveyor and friends within the building trade (of which I'm a part anyway) we'd like them to have it repaired professionally or to reduce the sale price by £700. They still haven't actually responded to that as yet, other than to say they'd have their builder (i.e. the vendor's Dad) look at it, as the pulling out of their purchase somewhat over-shadowed that issue for us. Due to my own expertise, several other plumbing and electrical red-flags from the survey they've got away with, which they probably wouldn't have with many other buyers acting directly on the survey's advice.

However, I think you're right that they are in no hurry, and we are prepared to walk away. The idea of the proposal and ultimatum is to smoke out their real intentions as much as to get them to shift their backsides into action.

Thanks.

Eric1

moneysavingplumber wrote: »

We really like the property and notwithstanding a slight renegotiation over a survey issue, it's at the right price, and there's not much else on the market at the moment.

That's your main problem. They are unlikely to agree to any ultimatum without a real threat of losing the sale.
Not worth wasting your time on ultimatum formulas, IMHO, just wait for a better house without withdrawing from the current deal.

moneysavingplumber

'Twas all academic. Vendor pulled out, although wasn't straight about it, just mumbled something to their agent about putting it on hold for personal reasons, and then stopped taking their calls. Could have done a lot with that six hundred quid... hey ho!

Thanks all for your input.:beer:

jw2003

such a shame, hope you find something else suitable soon enough

azkaban420

How frustrating, but at least you know now, and can move on. Hope you find something even better round the corner

Az