House purchase fallen through

supermumno1

We were told by the agent yesterday the vendors are pulling out of the sale of the house we want to buy. It was advertised as chain free and the vendors told us they were moving into rented accommodation. Now they are saying they cant find anywhere to purchase and that is why they have pulled out and renting would cost them a penalty due to early redemption of their mortgage. Meanwhile we still want the house, but have also spent out on a full survey and solicitors/search fees. I know there is very little we are likely to be able to do but is there any grounds for misrepresentation at all with them telling us they were going to rent/advertising it as chain free? We have asked the agent to put it to them that we are prepared to wait until they can find somewhere and are waiting on a response. Thankfully we have not sold our house yet and will not be letting anyone down from this side. Has anyone ever managed to recover the costs of the survey etc back and if so how did you go about it?
Thanks

wigglygiggly

From reading other stories like yours, I don't think there is anything you can do. You may have nice sellers who are willing to 'chip in' but apart from that you may lose your money.

So sorry to hear about this though, it is something we really thought would happen to us too.

spunkeyrich

You have no claim unfortunalty, the only way to get some money back is if you ask for a gesture of goodwill towards your costs, but the owner doesns not have to pay. The only time people are legally bound to move is after you have exchanged contracts. Thereofre, before that time anything can happen.

The Vendor may have intended to go into rented, then buy, but he has changed his mind as it will cost him too much. Annoys me really as they should have done thier homework beforehand with checking redemtion fees and rental costs before they made that statment.

rich

albacore1854

Why not pay them half their rent, gets them out, then bridge and buy it till yours sells.

As an ex agent, I suspect though that what has really happened is somewhat different to what you are being told.

albacore1854

Why not pay them half their rent, gets them out, then bridge and buy it till yours sells.

As an ex agent, I suspect though that what has really happened is somewhat different to what you are being told.

albacore1854

Why not pay them half their rent, gets them out, then bridge and buy it till yours sells.

As an ex agent, I suspect though that what has really happened is somewhat different to what you are being told.

Anya

supermumno1 wrote:

We were told by the agent yesterday the vendors are pulling out of the sale of the house we want to buy. It was advertised as chain free and the vendors told us they were moving into rented accommodation. Now they are saying they cant find anywhere to purchase and that is why they have pulled out and renting would cost them a penalty due to early redemption of their mortgage. Meanwhile we still want the house, but have also spent out on a full survey and solicitors/search fees. I know there is very little we are likely to be able to do but is there any grounds for misrepresentation at all with them telling us they were going to rent/advertising it as chain free? We have asked the agent to put it to them that we are prepared to wait until they can find somewhere and are waiting on a response. Thankfully we have not sold our house yet and will not be letting anyone down from this side. Has anyone ever managed to recover the costs of the survey etc back and if so how did you go about it?
Thanks

If its any consolation the exact same thing happened to us yesterday. We were all set to exchange next week and then from out of the blue they pull out due to personal reasons. We are a young family with a baby due in 3 months and had saved up to move. We have now lost over £1000 and have to start again from scratch. Couldn't even speak to anyone yesterday without bursting into tears. We were packed up, cleaned and ready to move. I am totally stressed out now and no houses in our price range are anything like the size of the place we nearly had. We have asked our solicitor to write to them and ask them to reconsider or at least contribute to our lost fees. I honestly doubt they will though. If they are that inconsiderate I don't expect them to help us out.
I think we just have enough savings left now to try one more time. Fortunately our buyer will wait and I have resigned myself to the fact that we are going to have to start from scratch and that I probably won't be in a new house by the time baby arrives.
I'd give you a big hug if I could and we'll just have to fell sorry for ourselves together. Let us know how you get on.

Nenen

Anya wrote:

If its any consolation the exact same thing happened to us yesterday. We were all set to exchange next week and then from out of the blue they pull out due to personal reasons. We are a young family with a baby due in 3 months and had saved up to move. We have now lost over £1000 and have to start again from scratch. ...
...Fortunately our buyer will wait and I have resigned myself to the fact that we are going to have to start from scratch and that I probably won't be in a new house by the time baby arrives.

Oh supermum I really feel for you and for Anya, especially as this happened to us when I was 6 months pregnant too with our (now 19 year old) daughter. I can remember the horror and angst as if it were yesterday!

If it helps at all, we eventually found an even better house that was already empty and it all moved much more smoothly than we could have possibly imagined ... 3 weeks before our dd was born! I'll keep everything crossed that something similar will happen for you both.

I think it is disgraceful that people are legally allowed to do this :mad: ... particularly the misrepresentation of facts part in your case, advertising it with no onward chain. You wouldn't be allowed to make misleading claims on a 20p food item so it is bizarre (to put it politely) that there is no redress on a house worth thousands of pounds which leaves you a thousand pounds out of pocket! I do wonder if it might be worth you contacting trading standards about that issue. I can only hope that the people who have treated you so badly have second thoughts about acting so unkindly. I really wish the politicians would get their fingers out to sort out the system in England!

surfcat

this is precisely the reason we should all celebrate when proper rigorous sellers packs are brought in, then each property only gets one set of surveys, paid for by the vendor, rather than loads by potential buyers.

anyway, bit daft buying at the moment, have you never read https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk

supermumno1

Thanks everyone and bigs hugs to you Anya as I know how you are feeling. Having talked with the agent the vendors have agreed to a meeting with the agent on Friday and we now just have to wait and see if there is anything we can do to salvage the deal. We are not prepared to pay through the nose for it though but we would comprimise a little if we are really pushed to do so to save the deal. If the reasons they gave are the only ones for pulling out then maybe we still have a chance, but if not then we are house hunting again. I am getting used to the idea that we have lost the money though I will write them a letter if they do confirm the deal is off, and ask them for a contribution.

PoorDave

surfcat wrote:

anyway, bit daft buying at the moment, have you never read https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk

Your opinion presented as if factual eh? Nice!

What do you expect to happen? The OP will say "i've read HPC, and it's clearly all 100% true. I have now decided not to buy! Thanks HPC!"? *Swoon*