Advice needed over aggressive buyer

moneyistooshorttomention

Pyjamas wrote: »

You are not the first person to say that, I was mulling it all through with a friend and she said that she reckoned he has previous as the police took it all so seriously and instructed me to call 999 if he threatened me again. Anyway, it will all be over soon.

In terms of warning signs, it is such a long story - this guy actually put his thumb through a wall (it is a really old house) when he originally viewed the property. We discovered the damage and then a few hours after the viewing he was stood outside, I guess admiring the house so I went out and asked him if it was him or the agent who had damaged the wall. He said it was not him and that he hadn't touched it. The agent said he was pushing really hard against this soft section of wallpaper and his hand went through. We were, of course, livid and asked how this would be rectified. The agent said she felt the best solution was for him to buy the house, he was keen and offered us asking price and we just felt it would make sense to accept the offer as it solved the problem of the hole in the wall. I didn't like the guy as he had lied to my face but we all felt this resolved a difficult issue the best way. He was problematic throughout and then a couple of days before exchange he demanded a reduced price for the house, by this point we were all financially committed and it was a real low point, the agents who feel quite sorry for us I think agreed to lower their fees to pay him some of it off and we have accepted additional debt to ensure the deal goes through. It has just been a nightmare from start to finish, I cannot wait for this guy to get out of our lives.

I was wondering whether he had gazundered you, as he sounds just the sort. Frankly, I very much doubt that his making a hole in your wall was an accident. He probably did it deliberately precisely in order for you to think the easiest way to deal with him would be to sell the house to him.

Do protect yourselves after you have moved on. Make sure he doesn't have your contact details. He sounds nastier and nastier the more we find out about him.

Pyjamas

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I was wondering whether he had gazundered you, as he sounds just the sort. Frankly, I very much doubt that his making a hole in your wall was an accident. He probably did it deliberately precisely in order for you to think the easiest way to deal with him would be to sell the house to him.

Do protect yourselves after you have moved on. Make sure he doesn't have your contact details. He sounds nastier and nastier the more we find out about him.

Thank you for this excellent advice, I don't think he knows anything about us, he has my mobile number and I have his number too. We haven't given him any other information and we, unlike him, are pretty anonymous on google, there is tons about him however, so I know loads abut him. I am getting a new phone so will happily have a new number soon. I cannot wait to leave this hell behind me. I never thought that the hole would be a deliberate trap, that has blown my mind!

In case anyone was wondering we swapped numbers as before exchange I did allow him and a team to come and measure up in the house and they spent 4 hours here. I found it intrusive as they never said they wanted to stay that long and they were just continually traipsing through the house and it was very difficult to settle baby amongst all of that. Nevertheless we smiled and were polite.

Madmel

Sorry you have had such a nightmare, but there is some good advice here. One thing I would add is to make sure you set up the Royal Mail redirection service to kick in from competition date so that there is the reduced likelihood of anything important lying around your old house. We ended up having it for 2 years, and our buyers were quite nice. Photograph your meters, preferably with a copy of the day's newspaper in shot, just in case

The lot who have just bought MiL's old flat have been a nightmare. They tried to exchange without paying any deposit (contract which they signed stipulated 10%) and were aghast when we refused. We ended up with simultaneous exchange & completion. They have written a load of lies about us to their inept solicitor, who forwarded it to me, demanding money for something they could and should have checked. I took a lot of photos on my phone the night before we completed and showed them to my brilliant solicitor, to prove how wrong the buyers were. It has since gone quiet....!

Pyjamas

Madmel wrote: »

Sorry you have had such a nightmare, but there is some good advice here. One thing I would add is to make sure you set up the Royal Mail redirection service to kick in from competition date so that there is the reduced likelihood of anything important lying around your old house. We ended up having it for 2 years, and our buyers were quite nice. Photograph your meters, preferably with a copy of the day's newspaper in shot, just in case

The lot who have just bought MiL's old flat have been a nightmare. They tried to exchange without paying any deposit (contract which they signed stipulated 10%) and were aghast when we refused. We ended up with simultaneous exchange & completion. They have written a load of lies about us to their inept solicitor, who forwarded it to me, demanding money for something they could and should have checked. I took a lot of photos on my phone the night before we completed and showed them to my brilliant solicitor, to prove how wrong the buyers were. It has since gone quiet....!

May I ask what else you took pictures of, I don't want this person to have reason to make this situation worst.

moneyistooshorttomention

Pyjamas wrote: »

May I ask what else you took pictures of, I don't want this person to have reason to make this situation worst.

Hazarding a guess, I would think they took photos of the state of the house generally, in order to have proof of the condition that their house was in. This being in case the buyer tried to say it was in worse condition than it was at the time Completion happened.

Someone like your buyer is probably quite capable of coming back for a second "bite of the cherry". After all, he made that hole in your wall (whether accidentally or deliberately).

dacouch

I've heard prawns shoved up the curtain rail gives off a very bad smell a couple of weeks after moving out and is incredibly difficult to find

Madmel

Pyjamas wrote: »

May I ask what else you took pictures of, I don't want this person to have reason to make this situation worst.

Just each room from both ends to prove it had in it what we stated. The buyer and extended family has been a nightmare (and has used a firm of solicitors with a justifiably poor reputation). At the end of the day, a few photos on my phone doesn't cost anything but may prove to be very useful if they continue to play games with me. Still, their money is now sitting in my bank account, so it could be worse

Pyjamas

Thanks, I will be taking a lot of pictures before we move out with the newspaper in shot. I want everything recorded, I do not put it past this guy to try and harass us after we have completed, he is nasty. Hopefully he won't have a clue where we are, I might not tell our neighbours where we are going specifically, I wouldn't want idle chit chat to give us away.

Although I appreciate the comedy value of a few hidden prawns etc and of course I dream about exacting revenge. I don't want to lower myself to his vile standards so I am relying on the karma fairy for this and hopefully she can dish up something appropriate on my behalf.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think you are as well personally not to do anything like prawns in curtain rails. This guy sounds quite nasty enough that he might try and exact some sort of "comeback" on you for that, even though you'd be fully justified in doing it.

At most....just restrict yourself to something that "could" be an accident, ie the dog weeing in the wrong place by accident. Prawns is very "obvious" iyswim.

I was wondering whether neighbours might (deliberately or inadvertently) land you in it. Just as well not to give them any chances to say anything "revealing" about you - whether by accident or design. One thing I have found in life is nice people often have little (if any) idea how nasty people think/operate and can be astonishingly naïve about what The Nasties might get up to, because they believe the best of people.

Errrrrm....I've been told more than once that I used to be that way (ie one of the Nice People, who just couldn't comprehend what the Nasties might get up to:o). I've learnt since...and I wish I hadn't....and now I'm "two steps ahead of them" as to what a Nasty might get up to, as I mentally put myself in their shoes and think "If I were a Nasty, instead of a Nicey, then what would I do?". Unfortunately, I'm often right when I think like that and mentally prepare for that eventuality...rather than thinking that Mr or Miss Nasty would do what I would do personally (ie the decent thing).

So, if you have any Nice but Naïve neighbours, then for goodness sake don't let them know anything about your future moves/contact details.

Pyjamas

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I think you are as well personally not to do anything like prawns in curtain rails. This guy sounds quite nasty enough that he might try and exact some sort of "comeback" on you for that, even though you'd be fully justified in doing it.

At most....just restrict yourself to something that "could" be an accident, ie the dog weeing in the wrong place by accident. Prawns is very "obvious" iyswim.

I was wondering whether neighbours might (deliberately or inadvertently) land you in it. Just as well not to give them any chances to say anything "revealing" about you - whether by accident or design. One thing I have found in life is nice people often have little (if any) idea how nasty people think/operate and can be astonishingly naïve about what The Nasties might get up to, because they believe the best of people.

Errrrrm....I've been told more than once that I used to be that way (ie one of the Nice People, who just couldn't comprehend what the Nasties might get up to:o). I've learnt since...and I wish I hadn't....and now I'm "two steps ahead of them" as to what a Nasty might get up to, as I mentally put myself in their shoes and think "If I were a Nasty, instead of a Nicey, then what would I do?". Unfortunately, I'm often right when I think like that and mentally prepare for that eventuality...rather than thinking that Mr or Miss Nasty would do what I would do personally (ie the decent thing).

So, if you have any Nice but Naïve neighbours, then for goodness sake don't let them know anything about your future moves/contact details.

Thank you again, wise words. I think we will leave the nice neighbours in ignorant bliss and keep our fingers crossed that he has no more nastiness to send our way.