Seller hikes asking price

dissstressed

Hi,

My partner and I are FTBs due to exchange on our property in 2 weeks and complete soon after. The stamp duty changes mean that we save 5k on what we would have paid earlier.

Our seller has emailed us saying that he expects prices to rise significantly as a result of the changes (gave me some guff about how the extra money towards a deposit can now be leveraged by buyers 4-5 times to get a mortgage 20-25k bigger, etc) and has said that he wants 10k more.

I'm hopeful that he is open to negotiation but essentially I guess he wants us to fork over the stamp duty saving to him.

We definitely can't afford 10k more (unless we go back to our mortgage broker to see if we can get a bigger mortgage).

I know there's no law against the seller pulling out before exchange, but any tips on how to handle this?

Cheers.

kingstreet

dissstressed wrote: »

the extra money towards a deposit can now be leveraged by buyers 4-5 times to get a mortgage 20-25k bigger

Garbage.

Only increased income or reduced credit does that.

Mortgage amounts are not a function of 'savings' but only of affordability and that is unaffected by today.

dissstressed

Cheers. I'm guessing he already knows that and was just trying to confuse me and bring in a sense of urgency. Any tips on how I should respond?

kingstreet wrote: »

Garbage.

Only increased income or reduced credit does that.

Mortgage amounts are not a function of 'savings' but only of affordability and that is unaffected by today.

jimmy_cricket

dissstressed wrote: »

Cheers. I'm guessing he already knows that and was just trying to confuse me and bring in a sense of urgency. Any tips on how I should respond?

Just don't blink.
I would be tempted to walk away if someone tried this on with me.

kingstreet

I'd wait for the more diplomatic types to weigh-in.

My usual response to such chicanery would involve several choice words of four letters...

tizerbelle

Cheek! I'd simply tell him a firm and resounding no!

If he wasn't happy with the price, he shouldn't have accepted the offer in the first place. Just because the level of tax you have to pay to buy a house has changed has no relevance to the deal. If Stamp Duty had gone up, would he be reducing the price?

You are only 2 weeks away from exchange, I'd be tempted to call his bluff and if he persists with these outrageous statements, I'd be ringing his estate agent to start viewing other properties and let them know you're thinking of pulling out.

dissstressed

Wish we could! Unfortunately we're already in our notice period and our landlord has new tenants signed up.

jimmy_cricket wrote: »

Just don't blink.
I would be tempted to walk away if someone tried this on with me.

gagahouse

Offer to split the difference by paying him 2.5k more or you'll walk.

Depends on how much you want this house, only you can answer that.

Lysimache

Advise him of his error in the calculations, tell him you will give him one chance and one chance only to return to the original price or you will walk away.

Money_maker

Where is he moving on to? If you refuse, will it cause him trouble? Personally I wouldn't pay a penny more, if you're in rented then its easier for you to find another rental than if you had your own buyers. Call his bluff.

dissstressed

Thanks for all your responses. Given the time, money and effort invested in the process until now, if it comes to that, we'll pay the extra 5k if it means that things can proceed as planned. Essentially, we'll be in the same situation we were before the stamp duty cut, so we're not really out of pocket as such. 10k we can't afford anyway.

I'll update the thread once this issue is resolved.