Buyer won't sign contract

chappers

googler wrote: »

... And the merits of the E&W system would be....?

Being able to pull out before the contract/ missives are signed without financial penalty.

Lavendyr

kazbrett wrote: »

You guys have all cheered me up! Thanks. Whilst I wouldn't lower my principles to his by buying fish and leaving in strategic places, I won't be cutting the grass, sweeping the garage/patios, cleaning the oven or even hoovering. Plus if he wants to come measure up between exchange and completion, then the answer to that will be that its not convenient. If he'd been any sort of a decent individual, then I would have left a bottle of wine with a moving-in card - that's no longer needed. We also have a brilliant social life with our neighbours and will see them regularly, so will definitely be filling them in on the situation. Losing some of the window lock keys etc sounds like a good idea though...

Flipping heck, is this all really necessary!?

Hubby and I are FTBs and I think offering only £3k off asking, coming from a cash buyer, is a bl**dy good deal and I'd be jumping at it if I were you, especially given the state of the market.

Quite apart from that, though - what happened to just doing business with people? All the guy has asked for is for some white goods to be left. If you don't want them left, tell him he can't have them and see what he says. If you can live with buying some new ones for yourself for the sake of keeping the sale, go with it. Sounds like you have options if you think you can sell the house elsewhere for more.

He's just trying to make a good bargain. You are looking for malicious ways to make his life more difficult.

DVardysShadow

Lavendyr wrote: »

Flipping heck, is this all really necessary!?

Hubby and I are FTBs and I think offering only £3k off asking, coming from a cash buyer, is a bl**dy good deal and I'd be jumping at it if I were you, especially given the state of the market.

Quite apart from that, though - what happened to just doing business with people? All the guy has asked for is for some white goods to be left. If you don't want them left, tell him he can't have them and see what he says. If you can live with buying some new ones for yourself for the sake of keeping the sale, go with it. Sounds like you have options if you think you can sell the house elsewhere for more.

He's just trying to make a good bargain. You are looking for malicious ways to make his life more difficult.

A good rant. But the OPs' buyer has had the list of fixtures and fittings since the end of Jan. Nearly 2 months. And only now this comes up.

Regardless of whether it is a buyer's or a seller's market, there are ways of doing business. This way of business is not to speak plainly in dealing with the seller, but to ambush the seller and extract the goods by blackmail.

I have no time for people who conduct their business in that way and I think your sympathy is misplaced.

Lavendyr

Hey DVardysShadow,

Not a rant. I agree buyer has not acted perfectly. Possibly even a little stupidly. But that doesn't mean stooping to (arguably, below) his level is called for.

As you say, there are ways of doing business. So buyer has sat on this a couple of months. Seller has the option to walk away and get a better deal elsewhere. Instead of doing nasty little things to make buyer's life more difficult, why not take that option?

ETA: Ultimately I can't see that a few hundred quid is worth risking the sale over - on either side. Were I in FTB's position I wouldn't be doing what he is doing. But perhaps he is thinking - no harm in asking and if they say no then they say no. That's just business. Still no need to be malicious in return.

DVardysShadow

Lavendyr wrote: »

Hey DVardysShadow,

Not a rant. I agree buyer has not acted perfectly. Possibly even a little stupidly. But that doesn't mean stooping to (arguably, below) his level is called for.

As you say, there are ways of doing business. So buyer has sat on this a couple of months. Seller has the option to walk away and get a better deal elsewhere. Instead of doing nasty little things to make buyer's life more difficult, why not take that option?

ETA: Ultimately I can't see that a few hundred quid is worth risking the sale over - on either side. Were I in FTB's position I wouldn't be doing what he is doing. But perhaps he is thinking - no harm in asking and if they say no then they say no. That's just business. Still no need to be malicious in return.

Buyer has timed this so that the disruption to the seller of taking up the option to drop the sale is just too great.

The problem with telling the buyer a straight no is that it does risk causing disruption.

Now, note that word disruption. Buyer is not just trying a bit of no-harm asking - buyer is actually threatening that if the seller does not comply, there will be disruption. The time for no-harm asking was within 14 days of getting the fixtures and fittings form.

Although in general I don't like tit for tat retaliation, on an issue like this, having the possibility floating in the air probably does inject some discipline into the market.

Lavendyr

Mm. Can't say I agree, all feels a bit school playground to me. And just generally not nice. Just 'cos one person is an idiot doesn't mean that being an idiot back improves the situation.

Having never sold a house before I can't begin to imagine the stress involved (although I am sure it is highly stressful and difficult not to feel personally involved). But I truly hope that I never end up sinking to tit-for-tat retaliation just because the other party is behaving like a moron.

kazbrett

Wow, what a lot of reactions!

To keep you all updated, we gave in and let him "have" the fridge and washing machine, along with all the curtains and blinds which were included in the sale anyway.

Whilst I understand that everybody nowadays wants a bargain and something "thrown in" - to me it is a question of principles. I was brought up to have them - a lot of people, it seems do not! Its like me going to my sellers and saying "if you don't throw in such and such, then I'm pulling out". I wouldn't do that - what was shown at the time we received the fixtures and fittings list is what we accepted - and I expected my buyer to do the same. He quite clearly was pulling a fast one at the last minute to either stall the sale or pull out. He told our EA what he was doing quite blatantly. That is what sticks in my throat.

At the end of the day, we gave in so that we could proceed with our dream house and so as not to inconvenience our sellers. To me, its common decency.

We have exchanged and we complete on the house sale/purchase next week.

Whilst I will not be lowering myself to his standards and certainly won't be destructive to this property before I move, I will be drawing the line at cleaning the oven and cutting the grass. The carpet will have a general hoover - but that's as far as I am prepared to go. He's got a fantastic house at a fantastic price in a lovely area with brilliant neighbours - he should count himself lucky.

At the end of the day - we are the winners here. We have shown the house 9 times - with 5 offers - 1 of which was the cash buyer and all in all it has only taken 8 weeks to sell, buy and move! We are moving into our dream house and hopefully will stay there for a long time without having to go through the hassle of coming across people like our buyer again!!

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne

Why don't you put the house back on the market? Do you think house prices are falling?

pimento

SecondLegDownIsTheBigOne wrote: »

Why don't you put the house back on the market? Do you think house prices are falling?

I assume because they've exchanged contracts.

Uk_Lover

I've got a fridge and washing machine which do not work, your more than welcome to them for free if you pick them up :)I think I'd be tempted take the WM apart and stick a nice new pair of red sock under the drum !