If seller has accepted a house offer, can the seller 'cancel' and pull out?

Karen_taris

If a seller has their house on the market,

and it has had offers from buyers, and an offer has been made,

the estate agent phones the seller of an offer, and the buyer thinks about it buyer say they accept the offer (on the phone)

Then after it has been accepted in offer (verbally only) and the seller doesn't want to sell (due to some personal thing, - wont go into)

Then is that fine to do?
-The seller cancelling an accepted offer ?

or could there be penalties, fines, loss of ££?

- no contracts have been signed.


What is the worse case scenario for the seller? (besides feeling bad that the buyers will be disappointed).

SerialRenter

Karen_taris wrote: »

no contracts have been signed.

This is the key bit.

They've only agreed a price, not actually agreed to do anything. Up until the contract is signed, there is no repercussions for backing out.

PasturesNew

The seller can pull out at any time up until contracts are exchanged without any financial penalties at all*

*It is possible that the estate agents might still want their commission if the contract between the agent/seller says that the agent's job is to find somebody "willing and able to buy".

princeofpounds

Yes they can back out. Nothing is binding until exchange. The only consequences are ill-feeling from the buyer and possibly the estate agent if their sale is scuppered (so in some circumstances you may still have to pay the fee even if the house doesn't get sold).

BeansOnToast_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

The seller can pull out at any time up until contracts are exchanged without any financial penalties at all*

*It is possible that the estate agents might still want their commission if the contract between the agent/seller says that the agent's job is to find somebody "willing and able to buy".

Also, if the seller has instructed their solicitor to start the conveyancing process, the solicitor will want paying for the work they've done.

eddddy

Hi Karen_taris

As others have indicated, you need to carefully read your EA contract to see if any fees are due.

If it is a straightforward "no sale, no fee" contract, you should be ok. But look out for:

1) Withdrawal fees - for taking the property off the market

2) A clause about the full fees being payable if the EA introduces a "ready, willing and able" buyer. (So the fee is payable if you withdraw from the sale. In theory, you could avoid this by messing the buyer about so much that they withdraw first, instead of you. But obviously this raises moral questions..)

If the EA arranged the EPC, you may have to pay for that as well.

There shouldn't be anything else, but check the contract carefully, just in case... Some EAs can be quite creative with their fee structures.

Carl31

Never understood why the normal rules of contract do not apply to house sales

if there is offer and acceptance, that is usually enough to form a binding contract, yet is not the case with houses

Kynthia

Carl31 wrote: »

Never understood why the normal rules of contract do not apply to house sales

if there is offer and acceptance, that is usually enough to form a binding contract, yet is not the case with houses

There is a contract in house buying and selling, but it isn't signed and exchanged until "exchange". No-one wants to be forced to purchase before they've done their searches and survey and know what they are buying. So then it has to be reciprocal that the seller can pull out too.

LittleVoice

Do the same rules apply in Scotland?

duchy

No................................................

princeofpounds

Never understood why the normal rules of contract do not apply to house sales

if there is offer and acceptance, that is usually enough to form a binding contract, yet is not the case with houses

It does.

Offer and acceptance is not a contract. Offer + Acceptance + Consideration is a contract.

The consideration is the deposit that is paid over on exchange.