seller has pulled out at the last minute--- our house already sold

bindiboo

devastated as our seller has rang agent this morning to say he was pulling out. Contract were being exhanged today and completion tomrw. We sold our house 2 weeks ago and have been living with family for 2 weeks and storing our stuff.

absolutely gutted and on top of it all will still have our legals cost to pay. Even our solicitor was shocked.

motherofstudents

Oh no, that's awful for you. Did they give any reason ? You are in a great position to make offers now, there are lots of houses out there but I realise you must be feeling terrible. I'm sure you will find a nice house and when you look back you will prefer it to the one you were going to buy. Still a pain for you though.

Scully38

Sorry to hear that. There's nothing worse, really people like this should be accountable for all fees if they pull out at last minute it's despicable to wait until the last minute, did they say why?

Ulfar

This is a lesson learned I am afraid, always exchange with a reasonable gap between exchange and completion.

It may not have prevented what has happened but it would have it more unlikely.

DVardysShadow

Scully38 wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. There's nothing worse, really people like this should be accountable for all fees if they pull out at last minute it's despicable to wait until the last minute, did they say why?

Indeed, this is already the case, that is what exchange of contracts is for - to define last minute. In this case the seller fell before the last minute.

Scully38

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Indeed, this is already the case, that is what exchange of contracts is for - to define last minute. In this case the seller fell before the last minute.

I know, but it's just so wrong that people are allowed to do it at the 11th hour. I mean what seriously changes between post survey agreement to exchange/completion? Do people not realise how much money is forked out at this late stage? Makes my blood boil. It terrfies me as i'm just waiting to complete and exchange next week and even though we're 2 months down the line, hundreds spent, hundreds more to come, people an pull out. There should be a penalty that far down the line, we should be more like Scotland, these old antiquated laws in England need changing to stop this sort of thing.

*gets off soap box*

casper_g

I've heard a few stories like this on here in the last year or so, which makes me wonder how many more cases are out there. Solicitors really need to push home the risks that people run by allowing too little time between exchange and completion. What's wrong with allowing two or three weeks between exchange and completion to arrange the move and to make sure there are no last minute problems?

mysk_girl

My last purchase, we insisted on a month between exchange and completion so that we knew it was going ahead, but had plenty of time for organisational stuff.

OP, I'm so sorry to hear that, but you are in such a fabulous position now - you have deposit in the bank, a mortgage offer on the table and no notice on a rental to give (assuming you can stay with family for a while). Get out there and find your perfect house!

I can speak with some experience, we had sold our house (not exchanged, but quite far down the line), and had to pull out of our purchase for various reasons. We sold ours, moved in with family and 4 weeks later found a house that was better in every way and - get this - £80k cheaper! I do believe that fate works in odd ways, have faith that it will work - and make sure the EA's know your position, they will want a quick chain free sale as it is less work for them, therefore more profit. Make them aware of exactly what you want, pester them, go in as often as you can, and you should be notified ASAP if there is something on the market that would suit. In those 4 weeks, I had agents phoning me before houses were even coming on the market to ask if I was interested to view (this was when HIP's were compulsory so there was usually a week gap between appointing an agent and it going on open market).

And hopefully if you use the same solicitor, you will get a bit of sympathy and hopefully a speedy service on your next purchase!

Good luck!

sonastin

I really don't understand how a gap between exchange and completion would have helped the OP.
He had already sold his previous property.
He wasn't ready to exchange until today.
Completion tomorrow or in 3 weeks time wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference if the vendor was going to change his mind before exchange.

I feel for you, OP. I hope something better comes along really soon.

Cubbington

I believe if they exchanged then the vendor would have been legally bound to sell to the OP or forfeit their holding deposit and possibly more. I may be wrong tho!

OP - sad to hear they pulled out but as every has said, what's meant to be will be and you're in a fantastic position to find a new house and as you're now chain free you can negotiate for a quick sale when you find a property. Good luck!

hazyjo

But they wouldn't have exchanged, they've obviously had second thoughts or something at the last minute, or their circumstances have changed... I'm with sonastin in that I can't see what difference it would've made. If there's a day, or a month between dates, surely they'd be having the same problems/wobbles.

Sorry to hear that, OP. It's rubbish, innit. Hope you find an even better house! Like mysk girl, the people we were buying off backed out too and we found a far nicer house for £40k less.

Jx