Pulling out of a house sale and purchase - Scotland

House_seller11

Hi

Looking for some advice, we have recently (in the last week)accepted an offer on our house and submitted an offer for another property and unfortunately now have to pull out due to unforeseen circumstances, we feel absolutely terrible about things however want to know our position . Things stand as follows;

Sale of our house - we received written offer and issued written qualified acceptance (currently waiting response from buyers solicitor)

House purchase - we have submitted written offer (received no correspondence from sellers solicitor as yet)

We will obviously refund any costs incurred as a result of this to the other parties however just want to know where we stand. Can we legally and fairly easily withdraw from the above transactions (unfortunately due to the bank holiday we have not been able to contact our solicitor)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As above this is in scotland , as I know the law is different in England.

Thanks

googler

Prior to conclusion of missives, either party can withdraw.

You're not liable to any other party for their expenses thus far.

House_seller11

Thanks googler, my understanding would be if they purchaser of my house came back accepting my qualified acceptance then missives would be concluded ?

On this basis I'm worried this happens on Monday when my solicitor is on holiday, to avoid this can I write my own letter withdrawing from the sale or does it have to come from my solicitor ?

Thanks

Pixie5740

You should discuss it with your solicitor first thing on Tuesday morning and let them contact the solicitors of your buyers and vendors. As you say, it's a bank holiday on Monday therefore there will be no post so you writing a letter will not be any quicker than your solicitor dealing with it.

davidmcn

House_seller11 wrote: »

Thanks googler, my understanding would be if they purchaser of my house came back accepting my qualified acceptance then missives would be concluded ?

On this basis I'm worried this happens on Monday when my solicitor is on holiday, to avoid this can I write my own letter withdrawing from the sale or does it have to come from my solicitor ?

Thanks

Are the other solicitors not on holiday too?

House_seller11

I'm hoping so, however they are a small local one man band type operation so just worried they might not be.

JP1978

All you need to know is in post 2.

You house sale - the buyers and their solicitor will go through the paperwork and title and start to ask questions over the deads and then any searches done. Theses are unlikely to have started yet.

Likewise your purchase - although if anything had started, unlikely to have cost the vendor anything at this stage.

Offering to pay their costs is very noble of you but from what I have read on these forums before, solicitors wont charge up to a certain point as long as their clients use them for the next house they offer / accept on. I guess its a win some lose some approach as it does happen to them.

As you are not continuing with the transactions, your solicitor will probably bill you for time as well as the EA and possibly any mortgage broker whose fee was originally paid for by the bank once the mortgage is in place, obviously dependant on what stage you are.

House_seller11

Thanks JP , that's gave me a bit of comfort, as i say we feel terrible about it so even if we were not legally entitled to, we would happily reimburse any genuine costs incurred by the purchaser and sellers we have been dealing with.

I will check my estate agent agreement and see if it's the full amount i need to pay them for.

Thanks

ProDave

You should be okay as others have said. You may get a small bill from your solicitor for the work he has done so far, depends how charitable he feels, but he would certainly be entitled to charge for the time he spent so far.

I do know someone that pulled out of a sale after the missives were concluded but it cost him quite a lot.

agrinnall

House_seller11 wrote: »

I'm hoping so, however they are a small local one man band type operation so just worried they might not be.

Where in Scotland are you? Some areas don't have Monday as a local holiday - it's not a holiday for me (my employer is in Aberdeen), although as I don't work Mondays any more every Monday is a holiday!

mysterymurdoch

Be careful with offering to pay expenses... you could find one of the other parties feels so annoyed they start to take the mick, and asking for payment for furniture they've sold to downsize, prebookings for removals and all sorts.

THEN, when you do move house you might end up on the other side of the coin and end up out of pocket again.

My advice - be a bit more selfish and don't offer to cover incurred costs. It's immoral and seems wholly unfair, but it's a regular occurence and you have to make sure you and your family are looked after first.