Pay vendor to break chain: mad or a good idea.

rosie383

Yesterday we were awaiting the phonecall from our solicitor for us to give authorisation to exchange on our sale and purchase. Unfortunately when a call did come it was from the estate agent to tell us that the vendor at the top (chain free property that our vendor was buying) had pulled out.

There is a tiny possibility that our vendor may break the chain and go into rented. If they say they don't want the expense of that, would it be sensible for us to offer to pay something towards the rent (say half for six months, maybe £1.5-2k) rather than lose the house?

Prices have risen considerably since we offered on the property in November and we would need to find another £40k to buy a similar house.

Gentle opinions please. I'm really not in the mood to deal with any nastiness. After more than a year in this process we were hours away from exchange so as you can imagine we are not feeling brilliant.

pinkteapot

You're not necessarily going to lose the house, even if they don't want to break the chain. If everyone else in the chain stands to lose out (because houses are more expensive), then all parties may be happy to wait for your vendor to find something else.

The EAs should be talking to each other and finding out if people are prepared to wait.

Having said that, if a couple of thousand would secure the chain, and a different house would cost you £40k more, it is worth stumping up. I'm also guessing that it represents a very small percentage of the price you're buying for (if yours has gone up by £40k, it's probably not a cheap house). It will come down to how much you want the house and therefore how much you're prepared to pay for it.

ellie27

I wouldnt be making any suggestions like this so soon. I would give them a good few days at least to decide what they want to do. They might decide to rent anyway.

Have you spoken to their estate agent(the one selling the house you want to buy)? They will be wanting it all to stay afloat and go ahead so they might be able to give you an idea of what they are thinking.

Keep us posted

lepetitmanoir

I've no advice but I just wanted to say I'm sorry to see you're in this situation, from what I've read you've been through enough! What a nightmare.
I hope your vendor sorts something out and things can progress sooner rather than later.

franklee

Suggest you talk in detail to the EA. They should be able to talk to other EAs in the chain and get to the bottom of what's going on and why. I'd be asking why the vendor at the top has pulled out. Is it because they don't want to sell or is it that they've seen the market rise and want more money? If the latter perhaps all chain members could contribute something towards that pro-rata depending on the value of each property but without going the whole market rise. It may be that not eveyone can afford that though.

If I was your vendor I would not want to go into rented against a rising market as they will likely have to pay more when they buy again so will want to recoup some of the difference by upping their price.

Hopefully if there is a deal to be done the EAs will help make it.

moneysavermummy2014

No advice either here, just wanted to say I hope it all gets sorted for you soon as that is rubbish Hugs and good luck xx

rosie383

Thanks guys. The 40k represents an increase of about 20% so it is quite a jump. The estate agent is the same for our sale and purchase and I have to say that they have kept the chain going and been worth their fee so far. No idea what is going to happen now tbh.
The market price has increased mainly in 3 beds. All property here has risen but for a 2 bed the increase has only been about 10k so a much smaller percentage rise.

cloo

I agree, don't go in with any suggestions yet and see how things play out. I do hope it works out for you, what a disappointment.

eddddy

Your EA should have got to know your vendor quite well. You could try quizzing the EA to find out what they think the vendor will do...

Are they desperate to move..? are they starting to think it's not worth the hassle..? are they worried that you will now walk away..? etc.

(Although, remember to filter what the EA says!)

Perhaps start a conversation with the EA along the lines of "What do you see as probability of this transaction happening, and are there any steps that you or I can take to improve the that probability?"

rosie383

The EA said yesterday that they were going to talk about the possibility of going into rented and they said that they didn't want to lose us as buyers. Same as we don't want to lose our buyer. I think we have all appreciated the patience shown so I would feel bad for our buyer if she felt that she had no choice but to walk away, and I think our vendor possibly feels the same.
The thing is, our vendor definitely wants to move, so the increase in price is possibly going to affect them anyway but the only extra expense ( apart from what they have lost on their purchase) would be rent if they were to break the chain. AFAIK prices haven't risen as steeply where they want to buy, as much as they have risen here.

dinkylink

Wow 20% since November! Just being curious, but can I ask what part of the country you are in?