Can I pull out after exchange

david1951

D_M_E wrote: »

As many others have said above, you need to check if your conveyancer has actually exchanged contracts or if you have signed prior to exchange and not actually exchanged.

There was a case just like this a couple of months ago which cost the person who pulled out after exchange about £500,000 - a barrister and his wife viewed a property and liked it so much they instructed their solicitor to exchange contracts as soon as possible.

Solicitor acted on their instructions and exchanged and handed over the deposit to the vendor.

After exchange, the couple had the property surveyed and this revealed extensive dry rot or some such which would cost a fortune to remedy.

At this point the barrister pulled out and wanted his money back.

He went to court to try and recover his money, lost the case and, if I remember, after a couple of appeals finally lost and had to pay something like half a million quid to settle the vendor's and his own costs for breaking the contract, the lost deposit and all the vendor's costs.

So, as others have said, if your conveyancer has actually exchanged contracts then your safest and cheapest option is to complete the purchase and sell on after a few months.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3561402/Top-QC-loses-six-year-legal-fight-3-6m-dream-home-riddled-dry-rot.html

What a clown

D_M_E

Yes, david1951 - that's the one, and the best of it is that the loser was a barrister specialising in property law so he should have known from the start he would lose.

The final total he would have had to pay would, I think, taking into account all costs for both sides, and the deposit, be more like £750,000.

dc197

OP, you seem dead set on the angle that the sellers should have disclosed things to you which you apparently did not ask about.

I can't see that you have answered the important questions posed here, including whether you really have exchanged or just signed contracts.

Marvel1

I can't hear next door, my Mum came over once and said can you hear the little girl next door crying and I couldn't but she could.