Losing my rag with our vendor

bambi1980_2

We are in the process of buying a house and are becoming exasperated with the whole thing. Just after some advice and words of wisdom to get us through.

We sold our house to a buy to let investor and so moved in with my in-laws with toddler in tow (first mistake there as I wish we'd told the buyer we couldn't move) we agreed to move so he wouldn't get stung with the SDLT and plus didn't want the sale to fall through.

We offered on a house on 11th march which was accepted and we were told that she was ready to move as and when.

We instructed a solicitor straight away and filled in all our paperwork in a timely fashion as we wanted to move ASAP. We got our mortgage offer and had survey and searches done which were all fine. We asked could we complete on either 15th or 22nd April which is declined as the vendor hadn't had time to notify work!

It was 20th April before we got any paperwork back from the vendors solicitor with fixtures and fittings etc. We had a further viewing on her house to measure up etc and this is when she tells us that she is in the process of buying a house. She's undecided on when she can complete but says mid May is fine. We reluctantly agree that this is ok but would have to be 13th as we have things planned for the last two weeks of May.

Our solicitor raises enquiries with vendors solicitor re title deeds two weeks ago and hears nothing until this morning (3rd May) when she says the solicitor has only half answered her enquiries. She later emails to say that the vendor now can't agree to 13th May due to her onward purchase.

I'm so angry I could pop! I've booked time off work, we've served notice on our storage unit and asked people to help us that date and now it's all up in the air again. Now our storage fees are going to double as we were on a special offer which will end soon. We're also living in cramped conditions with a toddler and are in limbo.

Why can't this vendor agree to a date and stick to it. We have been repeatedly assured by her estate agent that she can vacate when we're ready and that she won't let her onward purchase delay the sale.

I know legally there's nothing we can do but my partner thinks we should be asking the vendor to renegotiate the price and knock some off for wasting our time and storage costs.

What do people think?

AnotherJoe

I would (a) ask for a sum off to be paid in cash back to you upon completion* (to avoid derailing your mortgage), (b) start looking elsewhere, who knows what bargains may be available as a chain free buyer, and who knows what the vendor may do anyway and (c) learn a lesson from this.


* maybe based upon the extra weeks rent you will have paid, I know you arent paying but you might have been, plus the storage costs.

eddddy

bambi1980 wrote: »

I know legally there's nothing we can do but my partner thinks we should be asking the vendor to renegotiate the price and knock some off for wasting our time and storage costs.

You can certainly try. But it sounds like you would be asking the vendor to forego some money as 'goodwill gesture' to you.

If they really like you and they feel really guilty - I guess it could happen, but it would be very unusual.


Or... you can play hardball and say that unless they accept your lower offer, you are walking away.

eddddy

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I would (a) ask for a sum off to be paid in cash back to you upon completion* (to avoid derailing your mortgage)

If you did that without telling your lender, that would be mortgage fraud.

If you did tell the lender, they would either say that's unacceptable or deduct the cashback from the purchase price anyway.

AnotherJoe

eddddy wrote: »

If you did that without telling your lender, that would be mortgage fraud.

If you did tell the lender, they would either say that's unacceptable or deduct the cashback from the purchase price anyway.

Hmm thats annoying

Might it still work anyway in that the mortgage lender will be less inclined to make them go through the process again?

duchy

Or they might decide they don't like blackmail and pull out of the sale. I would simply because if you pulled a stunt like that I wouldn't trust you not to try it on again the day before exchange.....

bambi1980_2

The thing this they have us over a barrel as we are so far in now it'd cost us loads in solicitors fees to pull out. It annoys me how people can mess you about. Why not be straight from the beginning?

mrginge

bambi1980 wrote: »

What do people think?

Tbh I think you caused most of the problems yourself by rushing to a completion date without any firm evidence that the vendor was ready.

Dan-Dan

Original poster needs to chill the hell out, all sounds very normal (annoying but normal) making threats to renegotiate price etc are just going to blow it all up and possibly backfire badly

Sedge123

mrginge wrote: »

Tbh I think you caused most of the problems yourself by rushing to a completion date without any firm evidence that the vendor was ready.

This exactly. The vendor may have their own work/ family pressures that you are not aware of. A bit of give and take is needed, you cant 'agree' on s date until you are both ready to exchange, you can suggest dates which would work for you but ultimately its your vendors agreement and exchange of contracts that you need before making any further plans.

ReadingTim

It's not your vendor's fault you moved out of your old place, put your stuff into storage for a time limited special price, have plans for the 2nd half of May and booked time off work without a firm completion date, so why should they foot the bill for any of that. The fact is that most of these problems are entirely of your own making, but you're using them to try and knock a few quid off the price.

If you suggested to me that I foot the bill for any of that, I'd tell you where to go, and get the place back on the market before the 2nd "f" of "...off" left my lips, but others might take a more conciliatory approach - you can but ask. However, I'd suggest that you might sow a seed of doubt in the vendor's mind that you might try the same stunt again (ie gazundering) at completion, and you'd lose the element of trust which is vital in housebuying, given nothing's certain until exchange of contracts, and the vendor can walk away without losing a penny.

I appreciate that "suck it up" probably isn't what you want to hear, especially given you've been super quick at getting everything organised - sadly sometimes being helpful and flexible comes back to bite you in the backside, as karma doesn't exist. I'd also suggest that, from reading this forum, 12 weeks is a relatively speedy purchase, so your timescale, despite assurances to the contrary, was unlikely ever to have been realistic, even if the vendor was as organised as you've been.

Hope you chill out for the rest of the process, and just concentrate on enjoying the new place once you do get the keys!