Reclaiming lost expenses due to seller pull out in England

gecko19

Hello,

I am new to the forum. I had a basic query about reclaiming expenses from a seller due to the seller pulling out of the sale, in England. I am sure this has been asked here before a lot of times, but my query is based more on the breakage of "Implied covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing", which is required as part of any sale.

I know the laws of England allow the seller to pull out of a sale till the point of contract exchange. However, the seller 'seemed' to be keen to sell and now has changed his mind and I have landed up in a loss of about 1500£.

The seller took about a month to send his solictor's payment ( after my solicitor said they cannot proceed till the seller pays his solicitor and sends the paperwork. The estate agent was required to follow up with his partner finally to get them to send the paperwork and payment) and then when my solicitor completed the searches and raised inquiries, he decided not to respond to the inquiries.

On a lot of pressure from the estate agent for responses to the inquiries (who did not even know the seller's phone number and knew his partner's phone number only) last week (after a week of pursuit) the seller called the agent back and said his partner was sick or something and that they are pulling out of the sale.

The point is in hindsight,it *seems* they were purposely delaying the process from the beginning (they had to be followed up to send their documents - they first said they send it and then said they forgot to send it . It took a month for them to send their documents finally) and maybe were expecting a better outcome for his partner or getting a cheaper property - I am not sure what the real reason for their withdrawal is , since the estate agent wasnt very clear about the exact reason. Whatever their situation was, it cannot be fair that they needed to be chased up to say 'no sale' after a week of following up.

Also the guy mentioned we could move into the house in December and given that we were chain-free etc, we thought we should order sofas which can now not be cancelled.

I have a couple of queries:
1) Would there be a ground for a claim if it is proven that the seller was aware of a different outcome for whatever he/his partner were looking forward to medically?
2) Since the seller mentioned we could move into the house in December and meanwhile delayed the actual conveyancing process to the extent that they had to be forced to admit that they wouldn't be able to continue with the sale only on constant follow up - is there a claim I can pursue on the grounds that the person was not acting against "the Inherent implied contract of good faith"?

Any help / thoughts appreciated.

Warm Regards,
Leo.

eddddy

Hi Leo

I think you will have a very hard (and expensive) challenge proving the case you describe.

It's too late now, but you could have asked for a 'pre-contract deposit agreement' at the outset.

Then whoever pulled-out (without good reason) would lose their deposit to the other party - to cover 'the innocent party's' expenses.

But people tend not to use these very often, because of the extra legal fees for setting them up, and they can still result in arguments about whose fault it is when a sale falls through.

G_M

gecko19 wrote: »

Hello,

I

I have a couple of queries:
1) Would there be a ground for a claim if it is proven that the seller was aware of a different outcome for whatever he/his partner were looking forward to medically?
No
2) Since the seller mentioned we could move into the house in December and meanwhile delayed the actual conveyancing process to the extent that they had to be forced to admit that they wouldn't be able to continue with the sale only on constant follow up - is there a claim I can pursue on the grounds that the person was not acting against "the Inherent implied contract of good faith"?
No

Leo.

Good luck with your next purchase.

phill99

You have 2 hopes. One of them is Bob.

G_M

phill99 wrote: »

You have 2 hopes. One of them is Bob.

Bob died in 2003.

The other hope died when the seller stopped responding

I_have_spoken

Bummer, but that's £1,500 you won't see again. Just move on.

gecko19

The seller got back saying he wants more money now to sell the house. I guess I will have to 'convince' him otherwise now.

kev25v6

If he now wants more money I'd be inclined to look elsewhere for somewhere to live but keep him thinking you are still interested in buying, just waste his time like he has yours.

Yorkie1

gecko19 wrote: »

The seller got back saying he wants more money now to sell the house. I guess I will have to 'convince' him otherwise now.

I would walk away. He's still mucking you around.

If you are buying with a mortgage and the purchase price goes up, you'll also have to change the paperwork.

rosie383

There really are two issues here. Do you still want the property? Will it be better for you financially to give him extra rather than to walk away?
I would be very wary if I were you.

Hoploz

I think I would be inclined to say you are prepared to take up where you left off - you are awaiting responses to enquiries I believe. You are at the stage where if satisfactory responses are received, exchange can take place straightaway. So perhaps tell him you will proceed (not for any extra, it isn't long ago and I would think the market hasn't moved much in the weeks since he pulled out) as long as he can provide the responses within 7 days.