Buyer pulled out of the property purchase last minute - what can be done?

Gilly_VV

Hi All

so we are selling our current flat in London and moving to a house because a baby is on the way and we just got married... The buyer placed an offer on the flat quickly got her lawyers & surveyors on the case etc.etc.so we are all packed now and ready to move every minute. Were very very happy planning the designs in our new home etc etc, even ordered a lot of baby stuff for the nursery that barely fits in the existing flat!... And today we received a call from the agency saying the buyer refused to go forward (we were to exchange contracts in a couple of days) because of the lease term discovered in some registry being just below 70 years!!! That is just ridiculous as we were never certain about our lease term and were advised to put something in the description form so we put down 90 years not to leave blank & it looked more attractive to the buyers... The price we asked was at the lower range as we were so eager to move sooner... So now we are suffering because of something that easily could be a typo!
The buyer was a middle aged single woman with no kids (i.e. no inheritance) so she obviously should not be concerned if it is 70 or 90 years left as she is in any case not going to live long enough to see it running out!!!
She obviously thinks it is morally acceptable to defraud people like this and ruin other people's lives just because shes got cold feet suddenly. Not to mention that we paid a fortune in the legal fees etc. and the whole chain is now falling apart! (its not only us who are damaged by her actions but the family we are buying a house from as well and they are also in a chain...)
I understood that we cannot now force her to buy or pay damages (is this right?) as apparently the UK law does not protect the seller at all. Can we do just something to try to recover at least a portion of the costs and get compensation for the time wasted etc? E.g. maybe police or immigration police (she's non UK) or put a note on her credit history or blacklisted as potential property buyer, anything? any suggestions welcome.

RAS

There is a huge huge difference between a 70 year and 90 year lease and the value of the property will be much lower as a result.

If you were sufficiently blase not to bother checking this before you put the property up for sale, you can expect any potential purcahser to be very miffed with you.

rob404uk

I believe the purchaser has a perfectly acceptable reason to pull out. She was led to believe that the lease was 20 years more than it was. This will reflect her future resale values, the cost of extending her lease and the ability to mortgage the flat in the future. Most of all she has been lied to about the lease so has probably lost much trust in yourselves.

Yes, she would be long gone before the lease runs out but how about the future inheritence?

Do you know the cost to extend the lease? This could cost hundreds or thousands?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but unless this was rectified I would pull out for the reasoyou have given.

neiluk111

Awooooooga!!!!!

sirmosh

It's quite possible they wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on a low lease so they may have had no choice about it.

moneyistooshorttomention

I rather thought the minimum acceptable remaining term on a lease was deemed to be 85 years (which would have made the "90 years" stated 5 years to the good on that).

I don't blame the buyer for pulling out, both with 20 years less than she thought on the lease and it being so short.

Words fail me at the thought of us being told she's middle-aged and single and so doesn't need to bother about inheritance. I'm 60 and single, so nor do I in theory, but in practice my home IS my inheritance to leave as I please (and not have some of it "removed from my grasp" by having overpaid for a place). It may not be children who would dip out, but it would be the charities I will be leaving it to!

My sympathies are with your poor buyer who got led up the garden path and has spent time and money on purchasing a home she wouldn't have offered on if she had known the true length of lease at the outset. Count yourself fortunate she probably cant find any way legally to "pay you back" for putting her through that.

What a nasty trick to play on a buyer.

m0t

You attempted to deceive the buyer and now you are spitting feathers because they pulled out?

Here are the reasons you are wrong:
Your flat is worth less because the lease is shorter.
The cost of extending the lease is likely to be expensive.
Their mortgage company may not lend on a lease of that length.
The only party at fault is you

Ivana_Tinkle

Oh look, another first post from a newbie on a Friday afternoon who's outraged about something completely unreasonable.

cattie

You obviously intended to mislead any buyers into thinking it was a long lease, as you practically admit in your post & to be honest you deserve to have lost your buyer for not being totally upfront in the beginning.

You will quickly realise a lease of 70 yrs is worth far less than one of 90 years, so be prepared to take a hit on price if you're lucky enough to find another buyer any time soon.

xylophone

You should have checked the term of the lease (this is very important to any buyer) and provided accurate information.

You, rather than your buyer, are at fault?

moneyistooshorttomention

Not to mention the other people in the chain who have been let down by your lying about the lease length.

No sympathy at all (at least not for you).