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Seller hikes asking price

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Comments

  • LEJC
    LEJC Posts: 9,618 Forumite
    I am assuming that the email this seller sent was not with the knowledge of his solicitor or after he had sought their thoughts on the matter.

    OP I can't tell you what to do....thats always your decision and a lot rides on how much you like the house and need the purchase to go through.

    If it were me I would be on to my solicitor this morning advising them of the new demand and asking them to inform the sellers solicitor that you find the practice of inflating the price disappointing....and pointing out that if there had been an alternative hike in stamp duty announced yesterday you would not be seeking additional funds to compensate you from the seller.

    At this stage if you pull out...he needs to resell and cover his already accumulated solicitor fees....it may be a tactic to get you to pay more money to him...but if you walk he's back at square 1 too....

    He would never have benefited from the stamp duty payment...so why should he now.....
    frugal October...£41.82 of £40 food shopping spend for the 2 of us!

    2017 toiletries challenge 179 out 145 in ...£18.64 spend
  • theGrinch
    theGrinch Posts: 3,133 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Whats your best alternative? Yes your LL has relet but you can find other places to rent and other places to buy. Its not like you have NO options.

    Tell the vendor he's monkeying around. Your offer stands (or reduce it) then tell him/her to swing.
    "enough is a feast"...old Buddist proverb
  • Lioness_Twinkletoes
    Lioness_Twinkletoes Posts: 1,573 Forumite
    edited 23 November 2017 at 6:34PM
    Just don't blink.
    I would be tempted to walk away if someone tried this on with me.

    I wouldn't be tempted - I WOULD walk away. My stance would be simple; exchange and complete at the price agreed or I walk. It's the principle of the thing.
    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.

    Jesus. Give me your e-mail address and I'll spin you a sob story that will lighten your wallet by £5k. I can't believe you'll fall for his blackmail.
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 26,480 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Curiously enough, the only time someone tried this on me, I did walk away. Which was a great mistake as it was a mega-deal even at the increased price. Sometimes, it's better to be flexible and swallow your pride.

    BTW, I think the seller is spot on with his assessment. This stamp duty reduction will increase prices significantly for that particular sector of the market - all other things being equal, of course.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • I'm starting to like your seller.
  • Assuming the OP is genuine:

    As the communication was via email, and not through the EA, just ignore it.

    EAs dont do much, but they should at least be acting as an intermediary for financial issues. In a few days, just ask if the completion dates is still on target.

    C
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 23 November 2017 at 7:36PM
    I wouldn't be tempted - I WOULD walk away. My stance would be simple; exchange and complete at the price agreed or I walk. It's the principle of the thing.

    Jesus. Give me your e-mail address and I'll spin you a sob story that will lighten your wallet by £5k. I can't believe you'll fall for his blackmail.
    It's very easy to be morally outraged when one has no stake in the transaction.

    While there's a moral aspect here, there's a heap of nuts & bolts practical considerations too, so it may be worth the OP looking for a negotiated solution, if calling the vendor's bluff doesn't work.

    While he/she might get a brief buzz from walking away and briefly enjoying the ego boost, there are likely to be important factors, like the difficulty of finding another as good, which neither you nor I know about.

    If it's just the best of a samey lot, then losing it might not matter too much, but if it's going to be hard to replace in a sensible time frame, he/she needs to think and act with a business hat on, not a halo.
  • coley54321 wrote: »
    Has anyone considered that the original poster is probably fake -

    Account created by an estate agent, or similar, with something to gain by creating fear and panic amongst the FTBs who would be reading this forum?


    The account was created yesterday, and ever reply has conveniently been one where they feel they need to pay more money!?


    FTBs - Don’t let people scare you. This stamp duty change will make next to no changes in price. In fact, in London - it doesn’t really make any difference at all - so prices will continue their correction.



    Does look suspicious. Probably posted by the Daily Mash people ;-)


    http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/business/house-prices-increase-by-precisely-the-amount-of-stamp-duty-cut-20171123139622
    Signature on holiday for two weeks
  • Johnjdc
    Johnjdc Posts: 398 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    The seller is clearly not a nice person, but this is exactly what will happen and it's hardly surprising - amazed to see so many people saying "the seller is wrong" - morally yes, but logically he's spot on.

    If a house was "worth" £305k to a buyer yesterday, it is worth £305k to them today. Yesterday that would have been £300k to the seller and £5k to the tax man. The tax man no longer wants £5k, why wouldn't the seller want it?

    Worse, the point about leverage is also completely right.The announcement was based on people being more constrained by their deposit than by their income multiples, which the data show us is true - most FTBs don't have a big deposit but they aren't using the maximum mortgage multiple of income.

    So if you had a 30k deposit yesterday and could get a 10% deposit mortgage, you can afford £300k for the house. Now you don't have to pay the £5k you have a £35k deposit, so you can afford £350k for the house (bit less as there'd still be a bit of stamp duty on over 30k, probably house goes up to £335k). The generous tax cut means the FTB is actually up to £30k worse off.

    The Office for Budget Responsibility said exactly this would happen in their budget statement, and it's exactly what did happen last time stamp duty was cut.
  • GrumpyDil
    GrumpyDil Posts: 2,121 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Davesnave wrote: »
    That's an obscure one! It's not common. This is the clearest reference (a bit old!) I can find in 5 mins:

    http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2009/12/01/ancient-law-may-help-landlords/

    Sadly one I had cause to explore recently where one tenant gave notice after being locked out by his partner and there was doubt about the partner moving out. It is a little obscure but still perfectly valid as several parts of the act it arises from were revoked not too long ago but the relevant section on holding over was not revoked.

    And luckily didn't come to it anyway.
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