Missives signed Buyer still pulled out (scotland)

ina_pickle

Ok welcome to the nightmare which is my life right now.

We had accepted an offer on our property and agreed a date to move out to suit buyers situation as they had already sold. 48 hours before we were due to settle (this was after signed missives) the buyer decided they had a change of heart and no longer wanted to move in.

We assumed tuff they had signed so would need to move in that was there problem for being an idiot. after all we had got another house, packed up all our belongings and were now just counting down the hours till move day.

turns out in scotland law buyers can do what they heck they want and despite a signed missive they can still walk away (no one can apparently force them to move in) so here we are after 6 weeks off the market negotiating with this vile person with no house sale, and have lost the house we wanted to buy.

apparently they a liable for some penatlies but they are miniscule in relation the stress they have put us through and we can only pursue them for this money once we have another sale and at OUR cost!! and i very much doubt we will see a penny and to be honest, i just wanted to move house a little bit of compo is nothing for what we are going through

has anyone else experianced anything like this? i found our solicitors to be so soft and hopeless in the whole situation, the law in scotland seemed to be so in the buyers favour. they tell you can relax once missives are signed and it made no difference to us

also the cheek of it is as she signed we had to 'honor' a 14 day grace period so if they had changed their mind we still had to sell to them despite us losing house we wanted unreal

whole thing has been the most stressful experiance ever

rpc

That doesn't sound right. Under ESPC standard clauses you would be able to claim one of the following once 14 days has passed (your choice):

(i)ordinary damages in respect of all proper and reasonable losses arising out
of the non payment of the Price and failure of the Missives (which will include
Wasted Expenditure); or
(ii) liquidated damages, payable on the end date, calculated as the amount of
interest which would have run on the amount of the Price outstanding at the
Prescribed Rate from the due date until the end date (under deduction of any
amount by which the Price obtained by the Seller on a re-sale of the Property
exceeds the Price).

I would expect others to be the same or similar. If your seller sues you, you purchaser should be liable.

The 14 day 'grace period' would exist in your purchase missives too, surely?

The damages being pursued at your cost is correct, but then you'd expect costs to be awarded against the other party. They clearly have assets, so chances of getting damages should be high. I'd have thought you could find someone to take this on with low/no advance fees. It reads as though you know this, and the options above, but don't want to pursue them?

I have sympathy, but the only recourse available involved court, unless the buyers are made to see sense and I would expect their solicitor to be giving them a cold hard wallop of reality (and then refusing to act for them any further).

At the end of the day, anyone can change their mind at any time about anything. Missives exist to contractually create penalties for muppetry like this. If you do not want to impose those penalties, the buyer will get off scot-free.

googler

ina_pickle wrote: »

turns out in scotland law buyers can do what they heck they want and despite a signed missive they can still walk away (no one can apparently force them to move in) so here we are after 6 weeks off the market negotiating with this vile person with no house sale, and have lost the house we wanted to buy.

Had you concluded missives on your purchase?

apparently they a liable for some penatlies but they are miniscule in relation the stress they have put us through and we can only pursue them for this money once we have another sale and at OUR cost!!

If compensation for your expenses isn't enough, how much would you want?

has anyone else experianced anything like this?

There was a case in the press last year where a purchaser failed to complete on purchasing a new-build after concluding missives - the builder sued him and the sheriff ruled the buyer had to pay the full purchase price to the builder, whether he moved in or not.

i found our solicitors to be so soft and hopeless in the whole situation

In that case, perhaps you need another solicitor

whole thing has been the most stressful experiance ever

Never mind, you've still got your health, haven't you?

DVardysShadow

googler wrote: »

Never mind, you've still got your health, haven't you?

Possibly lost their sanity though.