Help - seller changed their mind...

Home2011

Hi all,

Been reading stuff on this forum for a while but this is my first post as I really need some advice on this one. It is a bit of a long story, so sorry if a bit boring, but I think it's important to get the background story.
Anyway, couple of days ago EAhas called to tell us that our seller has decided to take their flat of the market, thus putting an end to our purchase. This was literally within an hour of that same EA leaving a message on my phone to inform me about progress and everything going smoothly with solicitors etc. We are really disappointed and can't understand how this has happened, and as EA is being very odd about the whole thing since saying thay haven't spoken to vendor at all after that and theat they don't have any further info for us, we don't know what to think and who to believe.

Basically we've been negotiating with them for quite a while as there were some issues with some works being done on the building that the seller was responsible for, but finally we've agreed the price and the whole thing was rolling... Or so we thought...
That is until we were first asked to suspend the purchase because the seller was having a surgical procedure done. As she's an elderly lady who we didn't meet at all, as her daughter lives in the flat and she was really dealing with everything around sale we were sympathetic about it and could understand that they needed time to deal with that. Once the operation was out of the way, they gave us a green light so we proceeded with the valuation, got mortgage offer in place and then it was BANG!! EA called to tell us that vendor just called (vendor's daughter that is) and that the flat is been taken off the market as the vendor (the above mentioned elderly lady) has decided that she didn't want to sell the flat!!! EA says she's an old lady who doesn't speak English and that's why the daughter dealt with everything, but the EA isn't giving any more info. The daughter didn't have power of attorney in place so that's that. Acording to my solicitor that's not unusual as relatives often deal with these things and power of attorney wouldn't be required if solicitor isn't aware of the circumstances?!
My problem is that a whole lot of it doesn't make sense... the old lady just changing her mind like that - the flat's been on the market for a long time and they need to sell in order to pay for the works that are being done... we were also told at the beginning that they'd be moving abroad. Of course none of it is necessary the truth but still.

Now - I have tried speaking with EA to find out more and possibly obtain vendors phone number so that we could speak to them directly to see what the problem is, but the EA is having a sort of "they're off my books now, so not my problem any more" attitude. The EA is the big national firm and they charge more that the others, could that be an issue? It is just that their attitude makes me suspect that it might be some sort of dispute between them and the vendor? Or is that just my wishful thinking? On one hand I understand they might be just following the rules, but on the other I'm thinking surely it would be in their interest as well to encourage us to try and find out if vendor will possibly change their mind again?
What are people's experiences regarding this - do EA normally give out phone contact for the vendor/buyer?

I'd really like to be able to speak to the vendor and see what's going on, in a normal civilised manner, see what their plans are, do they intend to put flat on the market again, what is going on? Should I just go round their place and try to do that? Any seller's out there - what would your reaction be to something like that? I am not angry, I am just really disappointed and perhaps naive as I believe they'd sell after all....

Gwhiz

Could be a million reasons for all this. If you really think talking directly to the vendor is a good way forward then try - but most people employ EAs because that's the last thing they want.

Personally it sounds like she was never really sure she wanted to sell and has changed mind.

If it were me I'd move on.... but only you know how much you want this place and what you are willing to do to TRY to get t the bottom of it all. Don;t forget, even if you do she may still not be selling.

CloudCuckooLand

The EA acts for the vendor. They have to respect what the vendor has said. If the vendor has said "I want no-one to be given my details" then they should not do so.

There's a thread on here, today, about a tenant complaining that their landlord wants to protect their life, by getting the gas checked, but it involved giving their number out...some people like their privacy a lot.

How would you feel if the situation was reversed and a stranger rang up expecting an explanation? Depending on the reason, which might be personal/embarrassing... Doubly so with the language barrier.

Could be the daughter at fault, assuming she could get Mother in a home, or some other family dispute...could be the old lady has found out she has six months to live, and has decided to see it out somewhere she knows...

I'm afraid you should just put this one down to experience. Let them have their privacy.

azkaban420

Hi, awful thing to happen, it has happened to us when seller pulled out on the day of exchange deciding not to sell house - so utterly disappointing. You could put a note through their door or post them a letter with your details and number, asking them to call you if they don't mind discussing the situation. If they call back, you may be able to convince them to sell, or at least get a decent explanation as to why they're doing this.

If they don't respond to you, then you'll just have to chalk it up to a bad experience and move on. We have since found a much better house to purchase, so in the grand scheme of things it is better that the first house didn't work out. It may not seem like that to you now, but there are other houses out there, and you will find something soon

Good luck,

Az

Home2011

azkaban420 wrote: »

Hi, awful thing to happen, it has happened to us when seller pulled out on the day of exchange deciding not to sell house - so utterly disappointing. You could put a note through their door or post them a letter with your details and number, asking them to call you if they don't mind discussing the situation. If they call back, you may be able to convince them to sell, or at least get a decent explanation as to why they're doing this.

If they don't respond to you, then you'll just have to chalk it up to a bad experience and move on. We have since found a much better house to purchase, so in the grand scheme of things it is better that the first house didn't work out. It may not seem like that to you now, but there are other houses out there, and you will find something soon

Good luck,

Az

Thanks Az - really appreciate your advice. We are trying to look at it from that point of view, but at the moment it just feels like a personal failure... it took such a long time and so much hard work to get to this point and having to start looking again just doesn't appeal at all.
The idea of a letter sounds good, might just try that. They seemed like such decent people, so it just seems unlikely, that's all...
That's also one of the reasons why we feel the need to get to the bottom of this one, to understand...

Home2011

CloudCuckooLand wrote: »

The EA acts for the vendor. They have to respect what the vendor has said. If the vendor has said "I want no-one to be given my details" then they should not do so.

There's a thread on here, today, about a tenant complaining that their landlord wants to protect their life, by getting the gas checked, but it involved giving their number out...some people like their privacy a lot.

How would you feel if the situation was reversed and a stranger rang up expecting an explanation? Depending on the reason, which might be personal/embarrassing... Doubly so with the language barrier.

Could be the daughter at fault, assuming she could get Mother in a home, or some other family dispute...could be the old lady has found out she has six months to live, and has decided to see it out somewhere she knows...

I'm afraid you should just put this one down to experience. Let them have their privacy.

I totally understand your point, the only problem I have is the assumption that the vendor wants their privacy protected, which was never implied by the EA. They simply said that it is their policy and that's that. Like they said it was their policy not to allow viewings unless they (EA) is present, even though that meant we had to wait a while for our second viewing as EA couldn't fit it in, not because vendor or us couldn't find time. So it does seem that this will vary from EA to EA, as with other EA we were doing viewing just with vendor?
Likewise I have no problem protecting vendors privacy, that's why we asked EA for an explanation but as I said they were not willing to discuss the matter at all. It's off their books... not their problem any more?!

Home2011

Gwhiz wrote: »

Could be a million reasons for all this. If you really think talking directly to the vendor is a good way forward then try - but most people employ EAs because that's the last thing they want.

Personally it sounds like she was never really sure she wanted to sell and has changed mind.

If it were me I'd move on.... but only you know how much you want this place and what you are willing to do to TRY to get t the bottom of it all. Don;t forget, even if you do she may still not be selling.

Hm, it does seem unlikely though that she would just change her mind - the flat's been on the market for a long time, mostly because of the type of the building (not many lender's will lend on it) and this issue of the works. So it took a while to ensure that's all ok and now she changes her mind? After daughter has worked hard getting all sorted, after they incured solicitor's fees? Huh, it just seems unlikely, no? I know people put houses on the market to "test the waters" so to speak, and see if there are potential buyers, but surely it is an expensive exercise to get solicitors involved.
Oh, I don't know

Nicki

This happened to us a few years ago, also with an elderly vendor. We wrote a letter seeing whether she could be persuaded to change her mind, and the estate agent also told her how disappointed we were, and how it was unfair to a young family to let them incur all the expenses of a purchase and pull out for no reason. The vendor ended up phoning us to apologise, although not to explain her decision, and also offered to pay our survey costs. I am afraid old lady or not we bit her arm off at the elbow accepting that!

Jenniefour

Disappointing for you. I would be inclined to let them have their privacy - any number of things could have happened - I know of two instances where purchases were well under way and then the property withdrawn - on where the elderly owner suddenly died and the other where a child in the family had been killed in an accident.

If you do decide to contact them I would be extremely careful how you go about this just in case something untoward has taken place.

In such instances the sellers have every right not to disclose what has happened.

Home2011

Nicki wrote: »

This happened to us a few years ago, also with an elderly vendor. We wrote a letter seeing whether she could be persuaded to change her mind, and the estate agent also told her how disappointed we were, and how it was unfair to a young family to let them incur all the expenses of a purchase and pull out for no reason. The vendor ended up phoning us to apologise, although not to explain her decision, and also offered to pay our survey costs. I am afraid old lady or not we bit her arm off at the elbow accepting that!

Thanks for your advice. How lucky for you... at least you covered the cost. Mind you, we are more gutted about loosing the property and would rather they just change their mind back. Will be writing that letter soon. Fingers crossed...

Home2011

Jenniefour wrote: »

Disappointing for you. I would be inclined to let them have their privacy - any number of things could have happened - I know of two instances where purchases were well under way and then the property withdrawn - on where the elderly owner suddenly died and the other where a child in the family had been killed in an accident.

If you do decide to contact them I would be extremely careful how you go about this just in case something untoward has taken place.

In such instances the sellers have every right not to disclose what has happened.

As already mentioned have no problem with them having their privacy, although seeing they were quite forthcoming about other things before simply can't help this nagging feeling that it is not their privacy that's the issue... Might be wrong but see no harm in trying to contact them... they don't have to reply if they don't want to do so and at least I know I have tried, no?