Estate Agent Has Put Property Back On Market

Doggy_B

Hi everyone. We are first time buyers who have posted here before about problems our homebuyers survey turned up, and received some very helpful advice from people.

We are now at the stage where we are renegotiating with the estate agent for the price we are paying for the property over £3000 worth of vital repairs needed to the roof. According to the estate agent, the vendors are trying to find the money to allow them to lower the price we are paying themselves, and also by the estate agent taking less commission to help everyone out. According to the EA the woman our vendors are buying from (who is the top of the chain) is also looking at a slightly cheaper flat in the block she has already offered on to help too. To be honest I don't believe a word the EA says as I haven't trusted him from the beginning. We are only about a month or so away from the exchange of contracts and know that no one wants this to fall through, as our vendors have already lost a sale, and will be back in a chain, and being first time buyers we are very attractive to them.

The problem is that on Saturday I saw that our property had been put back on the market, on the estate agent's website and also on rightmove. Our offer was agreed subject to survey and the property being taken off the market. I know that legally they can do this, but it is breaking the terms of our agreed offer and I am furious. I rang them up and demanded that the property be taken off the market which I was assured it would be, but despite calling them again today and being assured it would come down, it is still there.

It seems that they are covering their !!!!!! and are stalling for time because they don't really want to lower the agreed price and are hoping to find another buyer. We don't want to lose this house, but at the same time are livid that we have been lied to twice and they are having their cake and eating it, breaking the terms of our agreed offer. I would dearly love some advice to our course of action please!

anselld

You started a re-negotiation of the price. Is there agreement on the new price or not? If not, the vendors can legitimately re-market but it should be the decision of the vendor not the agent.

Doggy_B

anselld wrote: »

You started a re-negotiation of the price. Is there agreement on the new price or not? If not, the vendors can legitimately re-market but it should be the decision of the vendor not the agent.

We have been told that the vendors have agreed to the price we are asking but are trying to raise the money/reorganise finances to allow them to do this. The EA told me that it was put back on the market last week when it looked like it may fall through and it will be taken off, but it hasn't been.

GAH

Have you asked the agent why the property has been put back on the market?

Even so, I can't believe a chain of three people would let a sale fall through for £3000.

If the vendors your buying from really can't find the £3000 to knock off for you then a decision has to be made.

If they want to find new buyers, thats upto them, but they run the risk of not getting as good as offer, and problems coming up on survey.

Or, if you really want the place, you agree some other form of renegoation, like splitting it, and they reduce £1500.

Or, get the whole chain invloved, the top put in £1000, your vendors £1000 and you get £2000 off.

poppysarah

Doggy_B wrote: »

but it is breaking the terms of our agreed offer and I am furious. I would dearly love some advice to our course of action please!

It's got a roof that needs work. There other houses.
Give them 24 hours to meet your terms or pull out.

Doggy_B

GAH wrote: »

Have you asked the agent why the property has been put back on the market?

Even so, I can't believe a chain of three people would let a sale fall through for £3000.

If the vendors your buying from really can't find the £3000 to knock off for you then a decision has to be made.

If they want to find new buyers, thats upto them, but they run the risk of not getting as good as offer, and problems coming up on survey.

Or, if you really want the place, you agree some other form of renegoation, like splitting it, and they reduce £1500.

Or, get the whole chain invloved, the top put in £1000, your vendors £1000 and you get £2000 off.

According to the EA is was put back on when they thought the sale would fall through last week- which it never came close to. At no point have we said we are pulling out. The EA has told me that they have managed to raise £1700 or so of the £2800 we are asking for, but the last £1000 still hasn't been found. We already knocked off £500 from our original asking price on the renegotiation and have not pursued many more issues that the survey turned up as we feel they were down to wear and tear on the house, which is Victorian, whereas the roof and guttering problems are down to "neglect of necessary maintenance" as the surveyor told me when we spoke on the phone. We simply don't have the money to buy at the agreed price AND do these vital repairs. At no point has the EA told me that the vendors are unhappy, although of course they probably aren't happy about the price being lowered. From the start the attitude of the EA has been that they are doing everything possible to arrange the lowering of the price, but at the same time they are obviously covering themselves by putting the property back on the market. It's the fact that I have been blatantly lied to twice that is making us so angry.

Doggy_B

poppysarah wrote: »

It's got a roof that needs work. There other houses.
Give them 24 hours to meet your terms or pull out.

Indeed, but we like the house, haven't seen any others that meet our criteria in our price range, and don't really want to lose all the money that we have paid for survey and solicitor fees. I guess what I really want to know is how hardball can I play things? If we threaten to walk away then they will have a legitimate reason to have the house back on the market.

McKneff

Life would be a lot less stressful if you just agreed to split the difference wouldnt it. If you like the place that much.

Could you negotiate a bit with the builders who are going to do the roof.

Doggy_B

McKneff wrote: »

Life would be a lot less stressful if you just agreed to split the difference wouldnt it. If you like the place that much.

Could you negotiate a bit with the builders who are going to do the roof.

But we have been told that they agree to the renegotiated price and are just trying to sort it out, and also that they will take the property back off the market.

greenhill

"We simply don't have the money to buy at the agreed price AND do these vital repairs."

They possibly don't have the money to sell at the price you'd like them to. Could you not meet them half-way?

I agree with 'GAH'. It would be crazy for a house sale to fall through for the sake of £3000!

Hope you get it sorted.

Doggy_B

greenhill wrote: »

"We simply don't have the money to buy at the agreed price AND do these vital repairs."

They possibly don't have the money to sell at the price you'd like them to. Could you not meet them half-way?

I agree with 'GAH'. It would be crazy for a house sale to fall through for the sake of £3000!

Hope you get it sorted.

Fair enough, but then they should tell me. The fact that they are telling me that they are trying to sort out the finances but at the same time surreptitiously putting the house back on the market and lying about taking it down is unacceptable.