Viewing first property as a buyer

Mat_Lock

About 45mins south. Currently in Morden, sw London but moving to Three Bridges area of Crawley. Going to save ourselves about £300 going from renting to mortgage. I know there's a lot more to pay for when buying but just seeing that difference is mad.

Dizzy_Imp

Mat_Lock wrote: »

About 45mins south. Currently in Morden, sw London but moving to Three Bridges area of Crawley. Going to save ourselves about £300 going from renting to mortgage. I know there's a lot more to pay for when buying but just seeing that difference is mad.

My Aunt and her family lived there - good train links into the city Hope the purchase goes smoothly for you x

chazsucks

Mat_Lock wrote: »

About 45mins south. Currently in Morden, sw London but moving to Three Bridges area of Crawley. Going to save ourselves about £300 going from renting to mortgage. I know there's a lot more to pay for when buying but just seeing that difference is mad.

We live near you but can't afford to buy here and Crawley is one of the areas we've been looking at as it's not too far away from family and transport to london. Keep us updated with how you get on!

Mat_Lock

Soooooo angry !!!

So we went under offer 2 weeks ago. Everything's been going smoothly mortgage getting in to place. Solicitor upfront fee paid, survey paid.

Today I get a call saying the seller is withdrawing from our offer and wants another £3k to sell.

I presume they are allowed to do this as they are the seller and hold all the cards but I am £500 down now and if they won't sell to us and we can't find any other property (which we can't we have looked everywhere in our budget) have I lost that money or are we held ransom to their demand and will have to pay £3k more for the property.

Surely the survey can be carried out and the assessment of how much the flat is worth?

After some advice as I knew this was all too good to be true.

pickles13

I am by no means any sort of expert but just wanted to add that I offered on a house a few months ago and paid almost £600 for a survey. The vendor didn't progress at all (didn't even bother to view a single property) so the bank have now refunded the survey costs. (The survey never actually went ahead).

Mat_Lock

Well I paid £355 for solicitor upfront fee so they would deal with my case and £205 for a survey that hasn't taken place.

I hope I get some back. Can't afford this at all. House buying is pure evil !!

pickles13

Luckily we didn't pay anything for a solicitor upfront so actually haven't lost out at all (except on all the time we spent viewing the house/arranging mortgage etc). I have decided I hate house buying with a passion. It seems so unfair that they can just up the offer after you have paid out money for things!

Mat_Lock

Well we can afford the extra £3k but it's the principal of giving these evil barstewards more money. What's to say when we go to £200k they want more again. Need a law against this thing. If you agree a price and you bail out you pay for any costs incurred.

stator

Call your solicitor ASAP and tell him/her to place things on hold. If they haven't paid for the searches yet you might get some money back.

I'm afraid you're in the sticky situation. Until exchange of contracts the seller can pull out and there's nothing you can do. All the money you've spent is down the drain. I've been in the same situation for the past 3 months, it sucks but there's nothing you can do. Either you pay the extra money or pull out

rosie383

As well as asking your solicitor not to proceed with anything else, ask if you can use any fees already paid towards another property. Depending on their terms and conditions, you may be in luck.
I would be very, very angry too.