Last minute demand from buyer

marksoton

lichfield22 wrote: »

I am fascinated by the background ... Earlier in the process she asked to see my latest utility bills to get an idea of what the house might cost, and then called the agent to say the water seemed 'extortionate' and was that definitely my bill. We're on a meter and we pay £19 a month! I wonder if the bills on her rented place are included and she has a totally false sense of what real adults pay for things.

:wall::doh:

I wonder if she lives on another planet!?

Ivana_Tinkle

I was in a not-dissimilar situation last time I moved house. The details were different but it was similar in the sense that my buyers were apparently desperate to move, but somehow exchange kept just not happening, for increasingly bonkers reasons, with everything getting increasingly hysterical.

In my case, it finally became apparent that we were being pushed into a situation where they were going to insist we exchange and complete on the same day, at which point I very strongly suspect they were going to gazunder us, knowing we were at the point of no return, with removal van outside etc etc. Thank goodness we didn't get too caught up in the madness and pulled the plug before this happened, but it does seem to be a tactic people use, so it's worth being aware of. The father and daughter doing "good cop" and "bad cop" has a very familiar ring to it too - the couple we were dealing with did a similar act.

(My story has a happy ending in that the house went back on the market and the first person to view offered £10K more.)

lichfield22

marksoton wrote: »

I say we make it a thread to come up with how to turn the tables on this pair of time wasters. :A:beer:

They're clearly so clueless a few faux invoices wouldn't go amiss. After being shouted at the last few days i bet even the agent would be game for it...:rotfl:

This is the best idea :rotfl::rotfl: I have a few passive aggressive tricks up my sleeve already ... I may have mentioned before that the isolation switch for the shower is in a strange place and I might just be planning to turn it off and leave no instructions on where to find it. I hope Daddy's little girl enjoys cold showers because it took me four days to track it down :rotfl:

lichfield22

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

I was in a not-dissimilar situation last time I moved house. The details were different but it was similar in the sense that my buyers were apparently desperate to move, but somehow exchange kept just not happening, for increasingly bonkers reasons, with everything getting increasingly hysterical.

In my case, it finally became apparent that we were being pushed into a situation where they were going to insist we exchange and complete on the same day, at which point I very strongly suspect they were going to gazunder us, knowing we were at the point of no return, with removal van outside etc etc. Thank goodness we didn't get too caught up in the madness and pulled the plug before this happened, but it does seem to be a tactic people use, so it's worth being aware of. The father and daughter doing "good cop" and "bad cop" has a very familiar ring to it too - the couple we were dealing with did a similar act.

(My story has a happy ending in that the house went back on the market and the first person to view offered £10K more.)

I'm so sorry you went through something similar - but so very glad it worked out well for you. Are you sure it wasn't the same people I'm dealing with?

AnotherJoe

I must say it did occur to me reading the latest twist, this might be something along the lines of what Ivana said, eg stringing it out and in the end demanding a very big last minute price drop. "dad" sounds like someone who is always angling for a deal and last minute concession.

It seems anyway very likely that had you agreed to pay the insurance and cleaner, there would have been another request following along, until the biggie on completion day which was now also exchange day. Another reason why, IMO unless there are exceptional circumstances, you shouldn't coincide the two, leaves you to vulnerable.

So, were they playing a game of chicken, or just chicken-brained? Tomorrow midday will tell I suppose.

winspiration

bagpussbear wrote: »

Not posted on this thread before, but have been following with interest (and horror!)

Just wanted to say, like others, I am so sorry you are having such an awful experience selling your property and just astounded at the behaviour of the buyer and her father. What an intolerable character.

You did right to put the property on the market, and I hope that you get a fresh new buyer mega quickly as it would be so satisfying to see they didn't get your house after all their nonsense!

Good luck with everything.

walwyn1978 wrote: »

Not posted on this thread before, but have been reading it since the start.

Just to say:
1) you are SO doing the right thing in everything you've said/done till this point
2) you are right not to get your hopes up that this will somehow get sorted by Daddy Weird and Daughter Ditherer
3) fingers, toes and everything else crossed that it either is sorted tomorrow or one of the other bidders is still keen and you get a quick solution.

No help whatsoever I know but just wanted to say none of this is your fault and you have the sympathy and best wishes of everyone on here.

Another poster coming out of lurkdom to express outrage and sympathy on your behalf - you are doing exactly the right thing by going back on the market and hope it will have shocked this pair of eejits into getting on and completing. Fingers and toes crossed for you tomorrow and if it doesn't work out, for a new (normal!) buyer to emerge quickly. Sending positive thoughts your way!

Bonfire_Bride

Maybe daddy has caused his little girl to lose her first dream house.

So sorry you're going through this. It WILL be okay. I don't know how you have kept so calm and manage to even joke about it all...I think I would have been rocking in the corner by now. Keep up the good work. Stay strong and you will get out the other end.

marksoton

lichfield22 wrote: »

This is the best idea :rotfl::rotfl: I have a few passive aggressive tricks up my sleeve already ... I may have mentioned before that the isolation switch for the shower is in a strange place and I might just be planning to turn it off and leave no instructions on where to find it. I hope Daddy's little girl enjoys cold showers because it took me four days to track it down :rotfl:

Instructions?! I'd be replacing the fuses with dud ones..

( i'd never normally condone this but in this case)

Lazarus_Blackstar

lichfield22 wrote: »

Having promised the estate agent last night that she'd sort out her deposit and see her solicitor today, the buyer eventually emerged at 2pm and hadn't done a thing.

Seriously?!!! She needs to sort herself out big time and pull her finger out of her blumming ar*e.
Surely for the sake of half an hour and signing her name, all this childish behaviour would be over and done with? She sounds a right idiot who is taking the pee then crying and blaming you for the situation!
Then the dad having the nerve to demand YOU pay for her first year's buildings insurance and a professional cleaner. On what grounds exactly? Insane.

The whole lot of them sound like they are a slate short of a roof!
What a tangled nightmare OP, this must be driving you nuts.

lichfield22

Bonfire_Bride wrote: »

Maybe daddy has caused his little girl to lose her first dream house.

So sorry you're going through this. It WILL be okay. I don't know how you have kept so calm and manage to even joke about it all...I think I would have been rocking in the corner by now. Keep up the good work. Stay strong and you will get out the other end.

Quite honestly it's only the support on this forum keeping me cheerful and meaning my sense of humour is still almost intact ... I'm at my wits' end and have spent most of the day snapping at my husband which isn't nice and not like me I just keep reminding myself that worse things do happen to other people. A friend's recent experience, where she got through nine months of rubbish to exchange on her dream house and then the vendor DIED on the eve of completion, was hands down worse than this as she keeps reminding me!! :eek: