Cost of pulling out after exchange

Samsang11

Hi all,
I exchanged on a house purchase that is due to complete in a few weeks time. In the last few days, I have had a significant change in personal circumstances and would like to pull out of the house purchase. I have put up a small deposit which is non-refundable and understand that I will still have to pay my solicitors fees.

Can anyone give me any insight about what other liabilities I may face i.e. can the vendor and/or estate agent can pursue any compensation for cancellation of the purchase?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

ess0two

Too late,with contracts exchanged your past the point of no return.

poppysarah

Are they financial changes in circumstances?

Gwhiz

You lose deposit and potentially (depends how nice the vendr is) get sued or breach of contract .

chappers

Gwhiz wrote: »

You lose deposit and potentially (depends how nice the vendr is) get sued or breach of contract .

And potentially ultimately sued for the highest losses in any chain you or the vendor may be involved in.
Thats just to begin with, you could be potentially sued for any losses incurred by anyone involved in the sale or at the very least for any losses incurred due to anyone in the chain losing their sale and then potentially selling for a reduced price.
Pulling out after exchange isn't something you really want to be considering you are walking into a mine field blindfoled, knowing who may or not sue up and down any chain is an unknown.

PasturesNew

This could wipe you out.

Perhaps if you can give us some figures, length of the chain, reason you want to pull out, we can help you get some alternative routes forward that bring you to a better position.

KateLiana27

Yes, you could be sued for compensation; and any vendor, nice or not, who has lost out as a result of your actions would be sensible to do this.

Exchange does, in practice, have to be considered the point of no return. What if your circumstances had changed next month; what would you have done?

G_M

Your vendor can sue you for his losses.

He will also be unable to buy the property he was planning to move to, so his vendor will sue him. Your vendor will pass that loss on to you as well as you were the cause.


The person above that in the chain will also be unable to buy, so his vendor will sue him. He will pass that loss on to his buyer (your vendor) who will pass the loss to you.

And so on.

If there are, say, 10 people in the chain, none of them will be able to buy/sell and all will incurr losses. You will be legally liable for ALL those losses.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. If you are using a solicitor, you need to speak to them urgently.

Samsang11

Thanks for all of your responces. Unfortunately, its a break up of a relationship thats led to the change of circumstance rather than a financial change.
This is a former rental property that the vendor is cashing in on so there is no chain at either end.
The purchase was delayed until the current rental tennants vacate next month. It is my understanding (and I will confirm this with my solicitor on Monday) that we have put up a non refundable deposit that we would lose if we needed to pull out of the purchase between signing contracts and completing.
I know this will be lost, I dont know/understand what costs could be incured by the vendor after that and therefore what we might be liable for.

DVardysShadow

Samsang11 wrote: »

It is my understanding (and I will confirm this with my solicitor on Monday) that we have put up a non refundable deposit that we would lose if we needed to pull out of the purchase between signing contracts and completing.

OK, you have signed the contract, but has your solicitor exchanged? If not, then tell him not to. If he has exchanged, then the cheapest resolution is to complete and put it straight back on the market, taking a loss if necessary.

G_M

DVardysShadow wrote: »

OK, you have signed the contract, but has your solicitor exchanged? If not, then tell him not to. If he has exchanged, then the cheapest resolution is to complete and put it straight back on the market, taking a loss if necessary.

Assuming the OP can afford to Complete on his/her own?