If the vendor increases the price, is it changing the T's & C'?

Daniel_B

Chaps,

friends of ours put in an offer on a house in December last year, which was refused, then then upped it to within 3% of the asking price, and it was accepted.

They were planning to complete by the end of April, but have recently found out that the vendors purchase has fallen through, so there is no chance.

My friends have agreed to stay in the purchase, and move into rented accomadation for a period of time, in the hope that the vendors find somewhere fairly quickly.
They have invested around £1500 in surveys/valuations/fees etc

One thing that concerns them, is that the EA has hinted that the owners may want more money, and I guess could drop this bombshell at any point.

My question is, if the vendors come back to them, and say we need 15K more, for example, and my friends refuse, and the purchase falls through as a result, are the vendors liable for any fees that my friends have incurred?

As in: The terms and conditions of the sale have changed, a price was agreed, and they are now asking for more money

I'm guessing, as usual, the buyer has no protection at all, so will probably get shafted, but thought it was worth an ask!

Thanks

Dan

Doozergirl

Not liable I'm afraid. Nothing is binding until contracts are exchanged.

If this is the case, get your friends out there viewing other properties as if this is going up, then it's likely everything else is too. Make sure that they can afford to buy somewhere else or just keep negotiating on this place. Of course, it would be underhand of the vendors to do this but maybe your friends don't want to cut their nose to spite their face