seller has backed out of house sale..

t3stin

I'm a first time home buyer (or attempting to be), had found a house and agreed the sale etc.

Since then (September) I have obviously paid out various fees such as:
mortgage application and valuation fees
estate agent valuation fees
estate agent lifetime broker fee etc

I received a call today to say the seller has now backed out claiming they are no longer in a position to sell.

The estate agents also claim that we cannot get our money back for all the various fees but if we do get a house through them then they will TRY to ensure we dont pay the fees again. He told me the same about the mortgage lender (if i use them the same one i may not have to pay the fees again but if i dont then i will lose the money).

I'm very angry about this and refuse to be tied down to one estate agent and one mortgage lender but at the same time I cannot afford to lose that kind of money (around £1500 in fees to date).

Does anyone better informed than myself know if i can actually get a refund on all these fees or some of them and how i go about it as I was not the cause of the sale breaking down etc surely I am entitled to have my money back!??

Thanks so much for any help, I am truly livid!

dunstonh

This is the life when it comes to buying and selling houses.

t3stin

are you telling me i'm not entitled to get any of the money back? I could understand if I hadn't held up my side of the bargain but if true that is ludicrous..

happycamel_2

I'm afraid they have done work in good faith and deserve to be paid for it, unless you went for a no completion - no fee deal with the solicitor. Many will offer a lower fee for using them for the next house you find because some of the work won't need to be repeated.

Surveys etc are a write off I'm afraid, you paid for work to be done and it was.

What have you paid to the EA? The EA should be paid for by the seller.

The AIP achieved by the mortgage broker will stand and can be used against another property provided the offer doesn't expire, if it is due to you can have it extended. Again, the mortgage broker has found you a mortgage so should be paid.

It's horrible and you have my sympathy but you have fallen victim to the English legal system for buying and selling houses.

newbie1980

this is one of the major problems with england and i believe wales is the seller/buyer can pull out at any time without any penalties
i believe in scotland once you put the bib in you are tied to buying it otherwise there are penalties

ILW

t3stin wrote: »

are you telling me i'm not entitled to get any of the money back? I could understand if I hadn't held up my side of the bargain but if true that is ludicrous..

No commitment from either side until contracts exchanged.

Oli.s

Remember, it's not the agent / mortgage broker etc that's backed out, it's the seller, if they gave refunds every time they'd go out of business with all the free work they'd be doing.

Had you exchanged contracts with the seller?

t3stin

@happycamel & Oli.s I agree they should be paid but why is it the buyer is out of pocket when the seller has broken the deal? surely they should have to cover the fees of the buyer if they dont hold up their end (i realise saying this wont change the legal system in place).

We had signed the contract and returned it and was just awaiting the seller to return the signed contract from their end..

somethingcorporate

So the contract was not agreed.

Unfortunately this is life in buying and selling houses.

Nothing to do but move on.

kingstreet

t3stin wrote: »

estate agent lifetime broker fee

You should have shopped around more. This kind of twaddle is a common trick.

Some national estate agency chains mortgage services;-

- charge you a fee
- have only a limited panel of lenders
- only use lenders which give valuation work to their survey arms
- are tied to one insurance provider for home, life and health cover
- push expensive, poor quality conveyancing services.

They are set up to extract every last penny they can from you. By the time you've finished, you won't want to go back to take advantage of that "lifetime" fee. The better brokers collect their broker fee only at completion of your mortgage. No completion = no fee!

dunstonh

Lifetime broker fees is a flawed business model. Nearly all the firms that offer this end up going into administration and you just waste your money.