Last minute demand from buyer

lichfield22

Hi everyone,
So sorry to join the forum and immediately ask for help with a problem but would really appreciate some advice on my slightly odd situation ...

I put my house on the market back in May and almost immediately accepted an offer from a first time buyer. She chose not to have a survey, which I thought strange given that the house is more than 40 years old, but has seemed happy as we've progressed paperwork etc over the last three months.

Several weeks ago we set an exchange date of yesterday and a completion date of next Friday. Yesterday, with an hour to go until exchange, the buyer's father phoned my estate agent and said he had just become aware that she hadn't had a survey and wanted me to pay for one and to organise and pay for any repairs to the house before exchange. When the estate agent pointed out that the buyer should have paid for her survey, much earlier in the process, her father said that I should have insisted upon it and would now have 'blood on my hands' if the property turned out to be unsafe (?!). I obviously refused and both my solicitor and estate agent said it was the most unreasonable demand they'd ever heard.

The buyer's dad then pulled out of the deal and I said fine. Only for the buyer herself to call the estate agent an hour later in floods of tears saying she still wanted the house but her dad was worried the electrics weren't safe.

The only way I've been able to keep things on track has been to agree to pay for an electrical check at the house - but bizarrely the dad wants this done AFTER exchange so we're now exchanging Tuesday, the electrical check will be Wednesday and we'll complete Friday.

The estate agent said she thinks the dad now understands that I'm not going to be footing the bill for any electrical work once we've exchanged and that they will be legally obliged to complete on Friday regardless of what the electrician finds ... But part of me is concerned about why they won't wait till after completion for these checks and I'm concerned they might refuse to complete. We have no option but to move on Friday or lose the house we're buying.

Any thoughts/advice?

Alter_ego

Once they have exchanged they also have no option. Except of course to fail to complete and pay all your expenses.
Have you exchanged on your purchase?

lichfield22

Thank you Alter ego - am I right in thinking we can also keep her deposit if she fails to complete?

lichfield22

Sorry, I didn't answer your question - we are due to exchange on both houses on Tuesday.

robatwork

lichfield22 wrote: »

The only way I've been able to keep things on track has been to agree to pay for an electrical check at the house - but bizarrely the dad wants this done AFTER exchange so we're now exchanging Tuesday, the electrical check will be Wednesday and we'll complete Friday.

I think agreeing to this (both paying for it and doing it after exchange) is a big mistake on your part and will end in tears.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but I would immediately call up your sol, EA and the buyer and tell them you've changed your mind. If they want any sort of survey they will have organise and pay for it themselves. If it's after the exchange so be it, but you won't be renegotiating. If it's before exchange then you will allow access to the house.

You may have to change exchange date if you want to keep this buyer, but it sounds like she has a complex home life that will screw up this deal and in the long run you may be better off with a new buyer anyway.

Alter_ego

lichfield22 wrote: »

Thank you Alter ego - am I right in thinking we can also keep her deposit if she fails to complete?

Sorry I added to my post when you were typing. I believe the deposit is not paid till exchange. Yes I believe you get to keep it.

XKC-Me

robatwork wrote: »

I think agreeing to this (both paying for it and doing it after exchange) is a big mistake on your part and will end in tears.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but I would immediately call up your sol, EA and the buyer and tell them you've changed your mind. If they want any sort of survey they will have organise and pay for it themselves. If it's after the exchange so be it, but you won't be renegotiating. If it's before exchange then you will allow access to the house.

You may have to change exchange date if you want to keep this buyer, but it sounds like she has a complex home life that will screw up this deal and in the long run you may be better off with a new buyer anyway.

If they exchange then the home life can't screw up the deal, the worst case scenario becomes the buyer pulling out and the seller keeping the deposit - which isn't exactly a bad outcome.

I probably wouldn't have agreed to pay for the electrical check, but it being post-exchange is a huge error on the buyer's part, not sellers.

It's a weird transaction you're in now, but not obviously a problematic one. Just expect more unexpected from the buyer and be prepared to refuse more weird requests.

csgohan4

oh dear sounds like the buyer or rather their father is a handful.


hope it all ends well, but I would have a low threshold in saying no if the buyer's father insists on x,y,z.

lichfield22

Thanks both. Robatwork, please can you elaborate on why it was a bad idea to pay for the electrical check? The buyer's dad has organised it and the report will go back to them, solicitor thought better to meet the cost (£90) than derail the whole thing. The buyer did want to delay exchange to have the check done beforehand but our vendors weren't prepared to delay beyond Tuesday.

martindow

lichfield22 wrote: »

Thanks both. Robatwork, please can you elaborate on why it was a bad idea to pay for the electrical check? The buyer's dad has organised it and the report will go back to them, solicitor thought better to meet the cost (£90) than derail the whole thing. The buyer did want to delay exchange to have the check done beforehand but our vendors weren't prepared to delay beyond Tuesday.

I agree with you. It seems a small price to pay for everything to go ahead.

The buyer's father sounds bonkers.

jimbog

robatwork wrote: »

I think agreeing to this (both paying for it and doing it after exchange) is a big mistake on your part and will end in tears.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but I would immediately call up your sol, EA and the buyer and tell them you've changed your mind. If they want any sort of survey they will have organise and pay for it themselves. If it's after the exchange so be it, but you won't be renegotiating. If it's before exchange then you will allow access to the house.

You may have to change exchange date if you want to keep this buyer, but it sounds like she has a complex home life that will screw up this deal and in the long run you may be better off with a new buyer anyway.

I'm puzzled by this. I would be very happy to pay the £90 before exchange knowing that the survey will be carried out afterward exchange as even if they were to pull out I will be keeping their deposit. And we know that the house won't meet current regs (whose does?) and they will try and renegotiate at that point.....but since you have already exchanged it is a moot point.

Seems to me that the dad is upset at not being involved in the transaction from the start (not your fault) and is now huffing and puffing