Help! Purchase falls through!

porl99

Hi - My girlfriend and are (or should I say were) about to buy our first home together. We live together in a house that I own at the moment.

We were literally minutes away from exchanging contracts today before our purchase fell through. Is the money we spent on surveys, setting up mortgages etc. lost? Do we not have a leg to stand on legally because we haven't yet exchanged?

Contracts were due to be exchanged today, with a moving day of this Friday. My solicitor left a message on my phone at approx 10.30am confirming all of these above details. At 11am this morning my girlfriend phoned our sellers estate agent for some reason, only to find that our buyers have pulled out. This was like minutes (not hours!) before we were meant to exchange. There's loads more 'issues' that aren't relevant here, but I was just wondering if buyers have any comeback in situations like this? Loads of other things happened too but I'm quite clearly ranting (v. cross!) so I had better stop! Thanks for any help!
:rolleyes:

do_it_today!

Nightmmare!!!!!!!! :mad: this situation happened to my husband and I this summer just before we got married. As contracts had not been exchanged there is no recourse that Im aware of Im afraid - its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo bl**dy annoying though!!!! apparently at the last minute a higher bidder sauntered in and the deal was off. I still drive by the property today and I swear its still empty and hasnt been sold.

Im sorry its very off putting and leaves a very sour taste in the mouth... the only good thing out of the whole experience for you is that a better place will show up which will soon dwarf any significance that place had for you... its true (although it might not feel like it right now!):mad:

Doozergirl

There's no recourse for you except to hope that a) your vendor waits for you or b) (more realistic) you can find another buyer before your vendor does.

All isn't lost. Your vendor will want to stick with you because they have spent money too! But you both need to remarket now and see what you can salvage of your chain.

If your buyer really isn't salvageable then the best you can do is get out there and remarket at the best price you can afford

I'm sorry it isn't working out for you, but there is hope! .

Roma_3

Same thing happened to us only last week ... I'm SO sorry!! We were also about to exchange!! :mad: I agree that it is so very wrong that people can just turn your lives upside down like this and cost you so much money ...how can they leave it until the very last minute?!! :mad:
Rather than lose our buyers we opted to put all our possessions into storage and this is what we are preparing to do now on Friday!! You could do the same if it was an option for you????
All the very best to you!! I do hope that everything works out.

lilyann1

Same thing happened to us back in June,the day before exchange sols were phoning everybody to agree the transer money details and the date for completion was set,then half an hour later the buyers buyer pulled out.
Since then our vendors have pulled out of 4 property purchases and we have looked at other properties and so have our buyers ,but in the end we have all stuck together,with our vendor racing to complete before Xmas now.
Unfortunately there is nothing you can do on the fees side of thing unless you did exchange and like us we were down by about £3k in sols fees,survey and mortgage fees.
You can try asking your buyers for the loss of fees,but don't hold out much hope.
Its a nasty old business the way this is done in England and i never would want to go through it again.
Good LUCK

porl99

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words, it really has helped! We've decided to ahead with our sale and move in to rented in the mean time.

I guess it's important to look on the bright side and remember that it puts us in a much better poistion after Christmas when we look to buy again. I know it sounds awful, but I'm glad we're not the only ones who have been in this situation!

Still annoyed about all that lost dosh though! Thanks again guys, love you all

silvercar

we lost the house we were buying due to a chain collapsing. We then found a better one house and a new buyer, so it all worked out.

Roma_3

I'm trying also to belive that it is a question of "que sera, sera" ... "what will be will be" ... we ALL need to believe that!! :j :j :j

loujay_2

Oh god how awful. Im stressing at the moment as we are supposed to be moving on Thursday but havent exchanged yet :eek: Solicitor said he's been trying to exchange all day today???? and hopes it will happen tomorrow.
Ive got this awful feeling its not going to happen and someone is going to pull out.
I think although its the worse nightmare everything collapsing , the worse thing for us is everything is packed up ready and I think I'll flip if exchange doesnt happen.

Snow_Dog

If your buyers have pulled out as per your first post then hopefully as DG siad, you haven't lost the house you were buying necessarily. If you let the people you are buying off know the full details they will hopefully wait. After all, they probably dont want to go through the whole process of finding a purchaser again.

The most important thing I've found in the house move process is keeping everybody informed. Sometimes that means, even with the smallest development, call the EA you are buying off and let them know everything thats going on, tell your own EA and your conveyancers etc. That way noone gets bent out of shape through missing something or the "chinese whispers" syndrome.

And best of luck.

benood

Do you know why your buyers have backed out? It might be worth trying to salvage them...

Same thing happened to us years ago - we were buying and in the end on day of exchange it turned out the seller had someone else in the background all the time and sold to them for £2k more outrageous. Still we found somewhere loads better in the end and so will you I'm sure (when you look back in a year or two's time.)