Is this a 'ready, willing and able' buyer

Jasmine_10

I'd like some advice about what constitutes a 'ready, willing and able' buyer.
We've been under offer since 20th Oct with a buyer who has her house under offer but who has not yet carried out searches or conducted a survey. She originally offered us £10,000 over the asking price which we accepted.
We replied to pre-contract questions more than 5 weeks ago but the buyer went quiet and we had to remind the EA to chase her up. She finally re-appeared saying she wanted £20,000 off the asking price for a spurious reason which did not apply to our property or sale. We refused so she came back about a week later offering just over the asking price.
The EA say in their marketing material that they get a buyer to book a survey in the 7 days after an offer is accepted and set clear timescales for the conveyancing which has clearly not happened.
A few weeks ago they did pass on an instruction to get her solicitor to put her offer price and any conditions in a letter to our solicitor - she ignored the request. By this stage we were heartily fed up.
Her solicitor finally wrote to us last week but the offer included clauses which our solicitor says are unreasonable and unworkable. She is also very concerned that we have mounting legal costs with nothing to show for it and no exchange date set.
We would like to decline her offer and put the property back on the market until the contract ends on December 24th. But I have read the small print of our contract and (I know - slapped wrist) did not clock the ready, willing and able clause in it. The EA reserves the right to charge us 10% of the commission if we do not proceed with an asking price buyer who is ready willing and able. She has offered us £50 over the asking price but I don't suppose that helps us!
Would you consider the EA has a good case to push us for the withdrawal fee? I notice the Property Ombudsman says EAs should provide a definition of what constitutes a ready, willing and able buyer in their contract which they do not. I was also verbally told several times that they are a 'no sale, no fee' EA.
Thanks.

konark

Alarm bells would have rung for me when she offered 10 grand over asking price, who does that? Then the 20 grand discount for no reason! Now she's trying to put stupid and unreasonable things in the contract.I'd be thinking 'messer'.

Give her a deadline to exchange contracts, she'll miss it I'd guess, then put house back on market. If EA gets bolshy just say she was neither willing nor apparently able to exchange contracts. You'll keep house with same EAs I doubt they would mind, maybe if you change EAs they will try it on.
Personally I'd wait till March now.

G_M

Your post does not make the critical point clear:

Jasmine_10 wrote: »

........She originally offered us £10,000 over the asking price which we accepted.
.......... She finally re-appeared saying she wanted £20,000 off the asking price ......We refused so she came back about a week later offering just over the asking price.
....
We would like to decline her offer and put the property back on the market.

Did you at any point accept the 3rd offer of "just over the asking price."?

If yes, you have a 'ready, willing and able' buyer.

If no, you don't.

giddypenguin

Stop negotiating the price now (buyer will walk if they don't like it) start asking for deadlines, say a survey by the end of next week, and serious progression to exchange by Christmas or you'll put it back up for sale.

Really, I don't see the point in putting the house back on market two weeks before Christmas, especially if your contract runs out on Christmas Eve (I assume you would like to move agents?) give this buyer until Christmas to get things moving (I suspect they won't - sounds to me like they offered too much and are trying to back out) then start things fresh in the new year.

Good luck.

ETA: don't be too hard on the EA - you employed them to market your property to find a buyer, which as things stand, they have done.

Jasmine_10

Thanks for your replies.
The asking price offer was accepted verbally but we asked for her solicitor to put the amount and any conditions in writing via her solicitor before we could formally proceed.

The buyer was not certain if she was going to do a survey.

We can't set an exchange date without negotiating these conditions.

alchemist.1

Provide him/her with a deadline to provide the offer by correspondence including terms otherwise it will be assumed that she/he is not ready, willing or able buyer.

mrginge

Jasmine_10 wrote: »

We can't set an exchange date without negotiating these conditions.

So don't negotiate?

giddypenguin

Exactly- say you want the £xxx already agreed (their offer) and refuse any 'unworkable' clauses and do not don't budge. They can either proceed or walk... Leave the ball in their court.

stator

Talk to the EA. They probably think the buyer is a time waster too by now. They might be happy just to put the property back on the market for you and find a decent buyer.

AdrianC

mrginge wrote: »

Jasmine_10 wrote:

We can't set an exchange date without negotiating these conditions.

So don't negotiate?

"We want..."
"No. But I want... else the deal is off."
That is negotiating.

"We want..."
<silence>
That is not negotiating.

Only one of those will get anywhere.

bebewoo

She sounds like one of those buyers who will try to knock 20k off the price again a week before exchange.