30 min before exchange the buyers solicitors decides she wants another report doing!!

G_M

Smart BTL landlord. Only interested in getting a nice property at the cheapest price possible with as much advance work done by the seller.

Not in the least concerned about timescales (real or imagined) - in fact the longer the process is drawn out, the more opportunity for price reductions and/or 'freebies.

Vulnerable naive seller. Has revealed increasing desperation which achieves nothing except to show buyer there are further opportunities.

Stop stressing. Stop faffing. Stop spending money. Stop pleading to exchange, and (not to put too fine a word on it), grow some and start making demands of your own.

Like: exchange now or forget it.

There's no way you're going to move by Christmas unless you say that, and they exchange today (Monday). If they don't, forget a pre-Christmas move and start putting up the christmas tree and unpacking the turkey roasting pan.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

The buyer has smelt your desperation and is playing you like a Fisher Price My First Keyboard.

Tell your kids you're having an Explorers' Christmas; turn the rooms into camps, decorate the boxes and they'll have great fun.

martindow

kt78 wrote: »

I have my reasons for arranging broadband and dissembling the beds which is irrelevant to this post it just helps you to understand the strain we're under.

What possible reason can there be for dismantling your beds before you have exchanged and have a completion date? Most of us do this on the morning of the day we move.

OP, it is clear that you are very stressed which is not surprising during house selling, but you need to take a step back and read the replies you have had. When you are in the middle of a situation it can be difficult to see what is really going on.

You need to take more control over this situation - you do not need to acquiesce to all of your buyer's demands. You have choices!

cajef

kt78 wrote: »

We have invested search fees, and other moving costs into the new property such as furniture needed, broadband, redirection etc etc.
Also I am self employed and my shop is shut as my office is packed up ready to go so I am currently losing money by the day.

I can understand the loss of search fees etc, but why have you arranged all these other things before you have even exchanged, the buyer could pull out anytime up until the last minute.

macman

Next call from the buyer will be to say that she doesn't like the wallpaper in the main bedroom, and wants the OP to contribute £1,000 for redecoration...

MacMickster

slowpoke_rodriguez wrote: »

And also inform "your" estate agent of this intention. It seems, with a lettings opportunity waved in front of their nose, they may have lost sight of who they're working for. They now have even more to lose if this sale doesn't go through.

I would be even stronger with your EA. Tell them that you consider your buyer to be a timewaster, and ask them to place your property back on the market today. There is nothing to stop you going ahead with the sale if your buyer drops her demands.

Tomorrow have a friend call at the EA wanting to buy (not rent) properties like yours. If they are offered your property details they should make an appointment to view. If they aren't given your property details then you may need to consider whether your EA could be in collusion with the buyer (maybe receiving a backhander to identify desperate sellers).

Arklight

Something very similar to this happened when my mum sold the family house in the 80s.

The first sale fell through and she had already really, really over reached on completion, packing everything into boxes and taking me out of school and registering me in the new school before exchange.

Then the next offer came in from a developer who clocked all this as he walked round. He was a cash buyer blah blah, and then proceeded to beat her down and down and down on the asking price to meet her completion date. Including a final gazunder just before exchange.

Our family lost tonnes of money in a rising market. I wish she had told him to stick it. She was convinced she was saving me from disruption but I really couldn't have cared less.