Vendor is pulling out. Can I get compensation for survey and legal fees?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Why do you people in England put up with this sort of nonsense?

Chains, gazumping, gazundering, vendors or buyers withdrawing from sales, etc.....

How on earth can you live like that?

Switch to the Scottish system, far better.

DVardysShadow

shortchanged wrote: »

... I think a better system would be that as there are costs involved in buying a house even before contracts are exchanged that the liability for any costs should be on the person/s who pulls out of and scuppers the deal.

This system I believe would help reduce the risk of people 'messing' other people around and would maybe also help reduce gazumping.

Unintended consequences: Someone does not like the deal, realises they will be picking up the costs of both sides and sets about being a right royal pain with the intent of making the other side pull out.

shortchanged_2

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Unintended consequences: Someone does not like the deal, realises they will be picking up the costs of both sides and sets about being a right royal pain with the intent of making the other side pull out.

Yes fair point. However there needs to be a better system in place because it is wholly unfair for someone to pay for a survey etc and then for the vendor to just pull out leaving the buyer heavily out of pocket.

And for once in my life I agree with that orrible MCTAVISH man.

Although I do not fully understand the Scottish system from what I do understand of it, it seems a much better system than in England and Wales.

kingstreet

I expect this vendor has deliberately set out to achieve what he has. The OP now has the unenviable decision of pulling out and losing his expenses or renegotiating. The vendor will be expecting the latter. Even if he only gets an extra £500, he will see that as a victory.

If the vendor's claim of ignorance about the actual agreed price is true, why has the incessant foot-dragging gone on over the appointment and instruction of solicitors?

From the buyer's position, I accept the mortgage application and valuation need to be done fairly early, but the local search shouldn't have been requested yet and most conveyancers I know won't charge for an aborted purchase when they haven't done much yet (as long as you retain them on the next property). The "deposit" should therefore be intact.

Hopefully, the mortgage product can also be used for another property, so the worst case scenario is the OP has spent the survey fee. As was mentioned earlier, there is an element of risk in spending the money you do. I'd never buy a car without an inspection and HPI check. That's money I could lose and I have to accept that.

There are problems inherent in any system and as a buyer you have the freedom to pull out at any time before exchange. What happens if the system is changed and you lose your job and have to pay the vendor's expenses? Facing unemployment and a bill for £1,000 drops on your mat?

I wish the OP well in his next move and understand his frustration. It looks blacker than it really is...

kingstreet

shortchanged wrote: »

Yes fair point. However there needs to be a better system in place because it is wholly unfair for someone to pay for a survey etc and then for the vendor to just pull out leaving the buyer heavily out of pocket.

And for once in my life I agree with that orrible MCTAVISH man.

Although I do not fully understand the Scottish system from what I do understand of it, it seems a much better system than in England and Wales.

In the Scottish system, you spend the same money on surveys and searches BEFORE you make an offer. The vendor rejects your offer and decides not to sell after all. Difference?

shortchanged_2

kingstreet wrote: »

In the Scottish system, you spend the same money on surveys and searches BEFORE you make an offer. The vendor rejects your offer and decides not to sell after all. Difference?

Thanks for that. As I said earlier I don't fully understand the Scottish system.

I do know that the system has no gazumping which has got to be a good thing.

pimento

Similar thing happened to me. I discovered after my vendor pulled out that she was a serial offender who had done this to two other previous buyers. I'd spent about a grand too, so wrote her and the estate agent a letter telling her exactly what I thought of her. Not a rude letter, but just pointing out that by continually pulling out how she was affecting our lives. We were moving to another part of the country and had schools etc. lined up that wouldn't confirm until exchange of contracts.

Her solicitor wrote back to me telling me to retract in writing or she would "take the matter further" (by which I took her to mean that she would sue me for libel), so I had to bite the bullet and write an apology to her for having a go after she cost me £1000.

I fizzed for a good while after that one. She still hasn't sold her house. I hope it falls down with her in it.

OP, I feel your pain.

WhiteHorse

Unless the vendor was subject to an agreed penalty clause (uncommon, but it can be done), then the answer is usually No.

You could get a solicitor to examine the correspondence for signs of a firm commitment, but the chances are not good.

DVardysShadow

kingstreet wrote: »

In the Scottish system, you spend the same money on surveys and searches BEFORE you make an offer. The vendor rejects your offer and decides not to sell after all. Difference?

I would say it is more open to a seller pulling the same kind of stunt as the OP has suffered.

However you do it, any process requires an intermediate period where there is some sort of agreement in principle subject to thorough check of all related issues, before a final commitment. And it is in that period that the games can be played.

The crucial difference with the Scots system from the above description is that the offer is made at the end of the intermediate period. This probably gives the intending buyer the perception that it is not a done deal, so all their expenses are regarded as risk money.

All that is required for the Scots system to become like the English System is for the buyer and seller to shake hands on a price at the outset, which has the advantage that the buyer and seller have partial assurances over what the deal might be, but the disadvantage of disappointment when it all falls through

energysavingexp

welcome to the real world
i buy and sell houese a lot and this happens a lot. (even happened to me)
you will have lost the £500 for the survey but not for the solisitors as they have done little or no work for you as yet.
i never pay solisitors up front any money and i tell them if it falls through that they will not get paid. this keeps them on their toes.