A rant - house sale

Road_Hog

Please note that this thread serves no purpose, other than me letting off steam.

I have/had a property that I've let out for the last 13+ years. The tenants left it in an awful state and the LA gave them their full deposit back, which is an ongoing legal situation.

So, I price up the property (same valuatiom from 3 EAs) at a price 'to sell'.

The whole thing has dragged on for about 5 months, empty property and first time buyer, so should have been straight forward.

Finally, I get a call from the EA yesterday, saying that the lender/surveyor has agreed the mortgage and we're good to go. Then I get a call from my solicitor, about the offer price. So here's the background.

Property in good nick is worth about £225K, sold as needing some work at £210K. Buyer agrees price, then comes back a couple of days later and says he can only get to £208.5K, so I agree (mortgage done through EA).

Then the house needs an engineer's report and buyer doesn't have spare cash, so I pay the £600.

Then, I get a call from my solicitor, WRT a fax/email sent from his solicitor, saying that as there is approx. £7K of work needing done, I should reduce the price to £194K.

I'm so glad that I'm not in a chain, hoping to move into my dream home. I'm able to say, Mr.Buyer, I hope you enjoy paying for your homebuyer survey and your solicitor's fees.

I know the norm on here is to rant against LLs and sellers, but sometimes us decent LLs and sellers get the fuzzy end of the lollipop as well.

greatgimpo

I think they're pulling your chain.

MobileSaver

greatgimpo wrote: »

I think they're pulling your chain.

Ditto. They're having a laugh at your expense (or so they thought!)

hazyjo

A lot of people will agree a 50/50 deal. What has the property actually been valued at? Agreed price, or one £7k-ish under?

Jx

Road_Hog

hazyjo wrote: »

A lot of people will agree a 50/50 deal. What has the property actually been valued at? Agreed price, or one £7k-ish under?

Jx

The property was valued at, as is, £210K, that was on the 1st June this year. The actual value of it in good nick is £220K to £225K. It is easy to value it, as it is a 2 bed terraced house, amongst hundreds of identical 2/3 bed terraced houses.

With the rise of house prices this year, it will easily sell for £225K when I've done the updating - I'm taking December/Xmax off to sort it out.

Had the buyer phoned the EA and discussed a 50/50 deal, then I'd have been amicable to it. The fact that he wouldn't return the EA's calls yesterday and I found it out from my solicitor via his solicitor, tells me enough to know, he isn't going to be buying my property. My heels are firmly dug in and I hope he enjoys paying out his costs on a failed proprty purchase.

TBH, I feel sorry for those people in a similar situation, that are in a chain, buying and selling their home, and get stitched up at the last minute, by some cretin like this. I'm old school, a handshake is as good as a legal document.

Road_Hog

Well, it's official now, deal is off. The EA (manager) called me late yesterday, having been in contact with the buyer, to say that the letters are going out to confirm to all parties, that the deal is off.

I think she has had enough of the buyer and didn't even want to try and rescue the deal, one of those,know when to walk away situations. She made me laugh, because I had called the buyer (in an email) the 'c' word, which I know most women absolutely hate (including my wife), but she referred to the buyer's solicitor by the same word (not actually saying it, but saying the "word that you used").

Apparently he made this offer having been advised by his solicitor. Perhaps he should have contacted the EA and discussed it with her, still, ho hum, life goes on. This is a minor inconvenience/annoyance to me, I can only imagine how stressful this sort of situation is to people who are trying to move home.

It seems when it comes to buying and selling property, that etiqutte and morals seem to go out of the window.

anselld

What was the £7k work? Just the stuff which was accounted for in the original price or something else which was not obvious until the engineer's report?

ging84

you paid for a survey for the buyer because they couldn't afford it?
can i buy a house from you?

Road_Hog

anselld wrote: »

What was the £7k work? Just the stuff which was accounted for in the original price or something else which was not obvious until the engineer's report?

Basically, the house has sagged a bit, it is 75 years old. The buyer's surveyor was saying that it was subsidence and everybody should panic.

ging84 wrote: »

you paid for a survey for the buyer because they couldn't afford it?
can i buy a house from you?

No, the buyer paid for a home buyer survey and (the surveyor) went a bit over the top, but asked for a structual engineer's report.

It was the latter that I paid for. The SE report basically said, um, you might want to get the first floor roof sorted out, but no great shakes and not an imminent or urgent requirement.

Property was priced to sell, but there we go, these things are sent to try us. Buyer probably thought he would get a cheeky offer accepted, which the answer is no.

kingstreet

I'd have asked to see a copy of the mortgage report & valuation to verify their demand at the very least. Then, I would have told them to go away, if that proved their claim was spurious.

The mortgage report would show the essentials, rather than the HomeBuyer's which is often used by purchasers to get things they'd like, which can be termed "maintenance" for the future.

A structural engineer's report should not cost anything like £600, unless they drilled trial holes/trenches, but at least you have a copy for any future purchaser.

Road_Hog

kingstreet wrote: »

I'd have asked to see a copy of the mortgage report & valuation to verify their demand at the very least. Then, I would have told them to go away, if that proved their claim was spurious.

That's what I have done. The mortgage company has agreed to the mortage, without any retention of funds, so that gives a good indication of their view of the state of the property and valuation.

The buyer has apparently taken the solicitor's advice and offered £15K below price. The EA has given up and said, walk away, which is what I'm doing.

I do struggle with people when buying and selling property, they do turn out to be somewhat abnormal.