recourse of funds/seller pulled out

jrsga

Hello

I'm due to exchange very soon but have just learned the seller has pulled out due to them being unable to proceed with their purchase (even though we were told they were not dependant on that for this to proceed)

I have a mortgage offer in place due to expire next near in January (seems a long time but hey ho)

I've forked out hundreds of £'s for the booking fee/valuation.

Is there anyway to recover this money expended? How on earth can that be fair? It seems like a complete gamble.

Can anyone offer any thoughts?

roje

I think you can only recover costs once exchange has taken place. I agree with you, it's a terrible system and I'm surprised there hasn't been much real progress in decades. Most of my family live on the continent and they're amazed at the procedures in place here for house buying and selling.

lee111s

Unfortunately not, until exchange of contracts either party are free to pull out of the sale without even having to give a reason.

jrsga

So through no fault of my own I now lose hundreds of pounds. What a farce.

Do I now have to tell the broker?
As the offer I now have is valid until January 2016 will it still stand IF I find another property in that timescale?
Presumably I would have to pay another valuation fee to the lender of that offer?

TBeckett100

you'll need your broker to submit a change of property details. Some lenders do a free second valuation.

kingstreet

roje wrote: »

I think you can only recover costs once exchange has taken place. I agree with you, it's a terrible system and I'm surprised there hasn't been much real progress in decades.

Unless you have to pull out of a purchase due to job loss, or relationship breakdown then the system actually allows for peoples circumstances to change without financially nailing them to the wall when they can least afford it.

It's swings and roundabouts and every time someone has an idea to deal with it, it demands a person, or a body, to determine what are the good reasons which should be accepted.