When's the latest you've had someone pull out of a sale?

Hermoine

I have been going through a very long process of buying and selling - not because of problems with the property I've been buying and repercussions up the chain, but because my buyer has been very slow, with many questions about the contract, negotiations on the state of the roof, negotiations on the lease etc etc. The process started in late November, and my sellers nearly pulled out about a month ago due to the slowness, and I pointed out that in that case I would not proceed with the sale, which did move things along a bit with the buyer. I thought we were nearly there last week - when I I signed my contract on Monday, and the buyer was supposed to come into their solicitor and sign their contract on Friday. They couldn't make it, apparently. They came in on Tuesday (yesterday), but then said they needed to see the property one more time before giving approval to exchange. They saw the property the same evening. Today, they apparently confirmed that they were happy to exchange, but their deposit has not yet reached their solicitor's account so we can't exchange. It is of course getting close to the Easter break, which means if we don't exchange tomorrow nothing will happen until next Tuesday, which will push back moving dates still further. I can't help feeling suspicious that the buyer either doesn't have money for the deposit (and is hoping that a few more days will help them find it) or isn't 100% committed to buying the flat. They are first time buyers. Has anyone had experience of anything similar??

motherofstudents

We had a similar thing with our buyer's buyer (ftb). They held things up at every stage until our buyers loaded up their removal van and so did we only to hear that exchange (&completion on same day - not a good idea) had been delayed yet again. They unloaded but fortunately we were going to stay with relatives and put furniture into storage so we just carried on. It was a complete nightmare made worse by us having the worst conveyancers imaginable.

It was awful but we did manage in the end. You never know until you have the keys in your hand that you are actually going to be moving. You have my sympathy and all I would say is, try not to get too despondant. Once you have done all you can, it really is out of your hands and if you move, you move. If not it all starts again but one way or another it will be over.....eventually.

mrsmchapman

Are they FTb? Could be that they are waiting for funds to arrive, ie it could be in a few bank accounts where they may have to give notice etc.

I hate the buying process of the UK and i think we could adapt a few bits from other countries.

I'm currently in the process myself and have been since January, all quite slow but everyone seems happy (for now), when I tried to sell two years ago we sold to a cash buyer all surveys done all going well and then a week before exchange to be told via a call from ea to say the cash buyer had no money, they didn't even notify there own solicitor they were pulling out for over a week, gutted, but I live and learn.

I'm sure all is fine with yours and they are just a little nervous. It'll all be fine in the end, be it exchange tomorrow or next week

nakiwala123

Oh dear, I should not have opened this thread. We had our offer accepted yesterday and now it start. I will only believe it when we have the keys. We are FTB and our vendor is moving into an empty house so it should be very straight forward; in theory. I have a nervous disposition and I always think things will go wrong.

good luck to everyone.

ognum

I have had an elderly lady drop out of a flat purchase on the day we were due to exchange.

She had been dithery all along, I had met her a few times and ended up being her counsellor! heard about her life, her nearly marriages etc.

She got cold feet on the day of exchange and stayed in her retirement flat, letting down her purchasers too.

I decided to let the flat, it gets a brilliant return an is one of my best buy to let's so I'm not too unhappy about it now.

I only wanted to sell because it was so far from where I live but I found good agents and made friends with the management group!

Ivana_Tinkle

If they're FTBs they may not have realised that the solicitor actually needs the deposit as cleared funds before they can exchange, and they may not realise that you can't really pack or plan removals until you've exchanged. They may be sitting in a rented flat with next to no furniture, thinking the whole chain can all exchange tomorrow and move the next day! Honestly, some people really are that clueless. Try not to worry as it's far more likely that they're a bit clueless and disorganised (or their solicitor is a bit slow) than it's anything sinister.

tim123456789

I had 5 months of waiting, not getting answers from the MA's about serious shortcoming in the accounts that they provided when I pulled out of my last purchase

tim

Kynthia

I had a buyer pull out the day before exchange due to an issue with their mortgage. I also know someone else who's mortgage lender pulled out the day of exchange due to the construction type of the property, even though they'd have that information for weeks. I think they got a little compensation for that, but I don't know if the seller did. Therefore I never think it's a done deal until exchange takes place and I would avoid committing to spend that can wait until after exchange, such as removal vans, storage units, a rental property, etc.

Hermoine

Thank you all - they are FTBs, so I understand that its all new to them. However, they have been very sharp about anything that might be to their benefit, so I can't quite work out why they couldn't get their deposit to their solicitor on time.. My legal fees are approx twice what they should have been because of all of this and the process has been quite stressful (I have sold 3 properties before so not an entire novice) so I appreciate I might be a bit biased...

theGrinch

I have seen someone pull out after exchange and two delayed completions back in 2007 just before the Northern Rock crisis as banks knew there was a serious storm brewing and pulled mortgage offers.

Thrugelmir

Starting playing hardball. Give your buyers an ultimatium tomorrow of a deadline next week. Would appear that they are playing for time. The reasons are none of your concern.