Day before completion & vendor has not signed contract - Help

Voyager2002

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

Did you request that the property be withdrawn from the market ?

If not it wouldn't hurt to ring the EA to make sure no other parties have submitted an offer. As I'm sure you now understand, until contracts have been exchanged there is nothing to stop the vendor accepting another offer, asking you to raise your offer or simply pulling out of the sale.

Yes: ring the EA. Remember that the agent only makes money once the property is sold, so they are the professional most likely to put pressure on her to make sure that the sale does not fall to pieces.

It is in this kind of situation that estate agents really earn their money.

JQ.

KateLiana27 wrote: »

It's a bad system, I agree. Personally I think the rule should be that if a seller pulls out, they have to bear the buyer's costs made in good faith to that date, and vice versa. Can't see it happening any time soon though.

Why would you want that? The purpose of the time between acceptance of an offer and exchange of contracts is for all the due diligence to occur. Such due diligence can uncover all sorts of horrors.

Why as a buyer pulling out of a purchase because the house has subsidence should I be forced to pay the vendor's costs?

Similarly, as a vendor why should I be forced to pay a buyer's costs for pulling a sale because the purchase of the house I was buying has fallen through.

There are plenty of other reasons why sales fall through. It's just unfortunate that the costs of house buying are so high - however, houses are expensive things to both buy and maintain.

If I'm buying a car and I pay for an AA Inspection of the car and it tells me the car is a dud, I don't expect the seller to pay my AA fees and similarly I would'nt expect the vendor to demand I refund them their advertising costs. I'd just walk away happy I'd not been lumbered with a dud car.

We pay for checks when buying houses because we want reassurance - we don't have to have those checks/costs, you can buy a house without a solicitor or surveyor ever getting involved, although I'm not sure I'd ever want to.

G_M

KateLiana27 wrote: »

It's a bad system, I agree. Personally I think the rule should be that if a seller pulls out, they have to bear the buyer's costs made in good faith to that date, and vice versa. Can't see it happening any time soon though.

So the buyer has a survey done, finds a problem with the roof, and asks for a price reduction.

Seller says no, buyer 'pulls out'. Should buyer pay sellers costs to date?

Buyer goes on holiday and conveyancing grinds to a halt. Buyer returns, applies for mortgage, but it's declined due to LTV issue. Buyer applies to alternative Mortgage lender....... 5 months on, seller 'pulls out' in frustration (having received a similar cash offer). Should seller pay Buyer's costs....?

There are 101 reasons why one side or the other might pull out prior to Exchange, some 'fault' based, some not. The point about the system is that until Exchange:

there is no deal

The two sides are working towards a deal. Therefore there can be no contractual (read financial) obligation to the other party.

pararct

Vendors sometimes play games like this (or at least used to in the rising market days). Maybe she will make contact by end of business today asking for another £5,000 to push the deal on!!

Something she would be well within her rights to do. You of course have the right to accept it or not.

Which is why it is so important to have the SIGNED PAPER CONTRACT in the hands of your solicitor before you assume it is a done deal. Get on to your landlord and be ready to grovel. Until such time as the vendor signs her copy of the contract and passes it to her solicitor who will arrange exchange with your solicitor anything can and invariably will happen.

ruggedtoast

You have to be careful what the other side knows as well. Our landlady gave us a Section 21 while we were buying.

I was worried about this so told my solicitor who for reasons I found utterly inexplicable immediately told the vendors solicitor.

The vendors (who were selling an empty property) then proceeded to stall on every single request we made, safe in the knowledge that all they had to do was fob us off long enough for our anxiety over being homeless to outweigh our desire for them to fix the garage roof.

So dont assume your solicitor has a brain because they are a solicitor.

kazam401

Update on today - vendor still not answering solicitors contact attempts so the sale is stalled - I get the feeling she may come back for more money

Did some grovelling to the agency & we still have a roof over our heads for the forseeable future which is good ( I won't be falling for that one again)

As I said we are waiting for the vendor to sign the papers but I do think she is playing games & I get the feeling she will be asking for more money - to which she will be told where to go - the house is worth what we are paying & not a penny more & if she is holding out for more I think it will be back on the market.

You may see this as a change in attitude which it is & I now accept the loss of my money if this sale doesn't happen - but I will be more warey next time & won't make the same mistakes or assumptions & maybe this house just wasn't for us anyway.

JQ.

Sounds like you've got the right attitude. Good luck with it all.

and don't forget to let us know how you get on.

hcb42

I have to say, as a vendor, coming back for more money seems unreasonable and pointless (as many buyers will not be able to raise any cash), especially if it is a probate, although my first thought was she is away on holiday or somewhere...again very thoughtless given the timing of exchange.

I hope it works out tomorrow

Pupnik

kazam401 wrote: »

As I said we are waiting for the vendor to sign the papers but I do think she is playing games & I get the feeling she will be asking for more money - to which she will be told where to go - the house is worth what we are paying & not a penny more & if she is holding out for more I think it will be back on the market.

If I were in your situation and she did that I would be tempted to reduce your offer by however much extra she wants, eg she wants £5k extra you tell her she can have £5k less

kazam401

Pupnik wrote: »

If I were in your situation and she did that I would be tempted to reduce your offer by however much extra she wants, eg she wants £5k extra you tell her she can have £5k less

I like that kind of attitude - if push comes to shove I may just do something along them lines :dance: