fair reduction of agreed house price

donsaini

hi just need a bit of advice if poss

offered on a house full price £250k, as owner had passed away, we're ftb.

no chain,

wished to complete by end of april, however now been told by vendors solicitors that delay in probate for upto 4 weeks, due too tax issues.

we're !!!!!! off as we only willing to pay full asking price, as no chain, etc.

we know at tome there was another interested party, who dropped out of bidding. also house was only o market for 2 weeks.

i was thinking of instructing our solicitor that unless we can complete by end of week, when we'll pay full price, i'm only willing to pay £235-240k.

does this seem reasonable, we're ready to exchange on our side. not like we're the ones reneging on a deal. the vendors wanted a quick sale.

any thoughts

thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

When did you make the offer? Only asking as that may affect what people think is a "quick sale".

I don't think you can suggest that the seller is reneging on the deal .... the executor does not have the power in law to release assets from the state until probate is granted and the tax man has his money. So the house is tied up in the Estate until it's released for sale.

You can certainly make the offer you suggest but, of course, the seller may reject it and simply put the property back on the market. Do you think they would get a higher offer if they did that?

It all depends on how much you want this house. If you really want it, then you have an accepted offer and you may just have to wait. Why are you in such a hurry to move, as a FTB?

dougk_2

If you read other threads on this board and the mortgages one, you will see that quick sales typically now mean 8 to 10 weeks.

Would you be in the position to purchase the house anyway if things had gone through very quickly. i.e was mortgage arranged in advance (typically these take 4 to 6 weeks from start to finish), survey, serches done etc.

What is the market like in the area the house is - have prices increased or dropped?

There is nothing you can do to speed up probate , you just have to wait like D_F_C has said. If you annoy the sellers by threats of reducing the price then it could cause bad feeling. Do you want to loose the money you have already spent (searches, solictor, mortgage valuation etc) for the sake of a couple of extra weeks?

donsaini

couple of points

1. agreed offer on 23rd march, memo from EA completion end of april. seemed fair as EA kept telling us that vendors want quick sale

2. had already had most of mortgage work done prior to offer ie, handed ina ll payslips etc, was offered in last week of april.

3. were ready to proceed, our solicitor told us see him on 3rd may. went to our solicitor signed our side of things, next day called by our solicitor with new turn in events. probate will take another 3-4 weeks.

4. we've done all our side of chasing up to make sure we could exchange & complete on time, solicitor has our money as deposit.

5. i think market has changed, but we were still keeping to our word. now this i think it's fair (saying its the vendors fault just circumstances) to maybe renegotiate in our favour. with a) ready to complete. b)market seems to be changing. c) do they want to wait to sell and wait for a few grand split between heirs.

6. also not homeless,as living with parents so no rent, but however over 30 want to move onto next stage in life, also wife & i having baby due sept.

any further ideas. thanks

dougk_2

To be perfectly honest if agreed offer on 23rd March and it will take another 3 weeks , it is still a pretty quick sale!

Estate agents are ALWAYS over optomistic on completeion dates - they want everything to happen as quickly as possible as they want their cut! In reality its nearly always longer.

In the circumstances the vendors are probably as keen as you to get things over with - however it is beyond their control. Probate can take some time to be sorted out ans your solicitor or the estate agent should have explained this to you initially.

The risk you take is that when probate is sorted the sellers are in a strong position being no delay at all so you do risk losing the property to someone else who is a cash or ftb with everything arranged if you go too far with trying to renegoitate certainly if its more than a couple of thousand pound different. But thats just my view.

Pennywise

We purchased our property from the estate of a gentleman who had passed away. We were also ftb's. From the outset, we insisted on a five week turnaround (we were getting married, so the deadline was fairly fixed), and the vendors agreed. Our mortgage was already in place. It all happened exactly as planned - five weeks exactly from the date of the offer, we got the keys.

It sounds like the executors are being a bit slow/incompetent in dealing with their side of things. There is no need for it to be dragged out from a legal point of view. If there is some internal squabbling. disagreement, or communication problems between the executors/beneficiaries, etc., then that is their problem, not yours.

If I were in your shoes, I would certainly contact them and threaten to walk away if they dont speed things up, and/or demand a reduction in the price.

Murtle

Pennywise wrote:

From the outset, we insisted on a five week turnaround (we were getting married, so the deadline was fairly fixed), and the vendors agreed. Our mortgage was already in place. It all happened exactly as planned - five weeks exactly from the date of the offer, we got the keys.

That is VERY VERY quick, especially for surveys and everything else that is needed. I managed mine in 6 weeks, and we were TOP priority for our solicitors - the problem being that the vendors were due to go on a 6 week holiday so it was complete before, or wait until they got back....which would have made it a nightmare

Pennywise wrote:

If I were in your shoes, I would certainly contact them and threaten to walk away if they dont speed things up, and/or demand a reduction in the price.

I would only ever threaten with anything, if you have found something else you like, or are confident in doing so. They may call your bluff and you'll be 31 and at home with babes in arms..... :eek:

r.mac_2

I agree with other commetns made above, I still think that even with a 3-4 week delay, your purchase and completion time is still counted as a quick sale. A small extra wait, when there is no real inconvenience to you, is certainly not worth knocking £10,000 from your offer and may cause you more problems int he longer term.

If you love the house and can stick it out another couple of weeks, try not to get too impatient, although I know how maddening that can sound!

Best of lucka nd I hope that everything works out. Hold tight for now and reassess if the situation looks like there might be further delays.

deemy2004

You could argue a £1k reduction for every 4 weeks, using the excuse of extra costs being incurred. any more and the ghost may come back to haunt you....... :eek:

Debt_Free_Chick

deemy2004 wrote:

You could argue a £1k reduction for every 4 weeks, using the excuse of extra costs being incurred. any more and the ghost may come back to haunt you....... :eek:

You could ... but the seller could simply walk away. Without exchange of contracts, there is no binding agreement, so the seller is free to simply put the property back on the market.

Whatever you "argue" or "insist on" is simply an offer to the seller - and they can reject it.

remember that an executor is under an obligation to get the best possible price for a property, in order to maximise the returns to the beneficiaries of the will.

lush_walrus

donsaini wrote:

hi just need a bit of advice if poss

offered on a house full price £250k, as owner had passed away, we're ftb.

no chain,

wished to complete by end of april, however now been told by vendors solicitors that delay in probate for upto 4 weeks, due too tax issues.

we're !!!!!! off as we only willing to pay full asking price, as no chain, etc.

we know at tome there was another interested party, who dropped out of bidding. also house was only o market for 2 weeks.

i was thinking of instructing our solicitor that unless we can complete by end of week, when we'll pay full price, i'm only willing to pay £235-240k.

does this seem reasonable, we're ready to exchange on our side. not like we're the ones reneging on a deal. the vendors wanted a quick sale.

any thoughts

thanks

Probate can't actually be hurried, and to be honest I will be very surprised if it does delay things for only 4 weeks. You should have been advised better by the agent or your solicitor, as any experienced estate agent or solicitor will know that probate is a slow process.

Up to you if you want to threaten to reduce the price, but it definately will not speed anything up. Its all in solicitor's hands!