Flat buying - seller turning nasty

WTF?_2

ghekkomanic wrote: »

Just found out the seller has rejected our offer for furniture. Their solicitor says they're very unhappy, because the price was agreed in email weeks ago. That was before they accused me of harrassing them though, and reneged on an agreed completion date. Whatever, my GF has responded saying we will leave the furniture then. It's now only two weeks until they want to complete so they don't have much time to sell it.

So ******* what if they're unhappy?

If what you say is correct, no price was 'agreed' for the furniture. And of course you'd 'agreed' a price for the property twice before and been forced to up it by the seller.

I frankly don't know why you're still bothering to argue over the furniture. Give them the price you're prepared to pay and say "That's that, take it or leave it or we walk away". Hmm, actually I'd demand that the furniture was included at no extra cost.

I'd also seriously think about walking away anyway from the whole thing and just taking your time to find somewhere nice that you are happy with. The market is falling and chances are you'll find something much cheaper/better. You are in an amazingly strong position, they are in a hopeless position and yet you actually let them dictate things to you. I just don't get it??????

DKLS

You owe the seller nothing, and you certainly arent responsible for their happiness.

If I was you, Seeing as they are moving abroad, means you hold all the cards, I would keep going until the morning of completion then drop your offer by 10 or 15K. Its a favourite trick used by certain members of an ethnic origin, and sometimes it fails but sometimes you can get a bargain.
I would also offer nothing for the furniture, but you will offer to dispose of if for a small fee say £500 for her cheek

Then again I have the morals of a sewer rat where scroats like this seller are concerned, so feel free to ignore my post.

sooz

With the tide of opinion telling you to scr*w the vendor, I just wanted to say if you really think you will be happy in the flat, then go for it. I am really glad that you have turned down her kind offer for her used furniture .... but of course you want to have your own place before Xmas.

If she fails to have all her mail forwarded (and lets face it the royal mail service isn't that great), you will always have the pleasure of writing "deceased" on all her mail and sending it back....that should be fun for her to sort out from abroad

GingerSte

sooz wrote: »

If she fails to have all her mail forwarded (and lets face it the royal mail service isn't that great), you will always have the pleasure of writing "deceased" on all her mail and sending it back....that should be fun for her to sort out from abroad

Remind me never to sell a house to you!
(I like it though!)

Ghekkomaniac, I really think you should consider walking away. This sale seems to get more acrimonious by the day, and the chances of the seller trashing the place and the furniture increase with that. Then you'll be left with a trashed flat and a big pile of rubbish to sort out and no comeback.

In any case I wish you luck in either sorting out this sale or in looking for another place.

vivatifosi

Personally I'd tell her to stick her suggestions where the sun doesn't shine!

My previous next door neighbour tried to screw my next door neighbour (in a better market than now). The new neighbour got so fed up that just before exchange she pulled out. In the end she managed to get the house for £5k less when the other "developer" failed to materialise.

And the furniture... as others have said, tell her you'll charge storage if she doesn't clear the house. I have furnished my whole previous house from auction save for the bed which I insisted was new. I think I could easily do this again for £500. Though I did move in with just a bed, TV, kettle and microwave initially!

telfordwhite

DKLS wrote: »

I would keep going until the morning of completion then drop your offer by 10 or 15K.

I would replace the word completion with the word exchange.

Once you've exchanged you are under a legally binding contract.

ghekkomanic

carpetbelly wrote: »

This is great advice but then I also want you to reply to her now just because I want to hear what she says back and laugh at it

but if you do the sensible thing, leave it till monday now (weekend and all) and reply then making sure you state ORIGINAL!!! price that was accepted and no furniture then watch her squirm!

I've re-read through all the posts here and thanks to everyone who has waded in, particularly those who have responded more than once.

Despite all the aggro I'm stilll a firm believer in do unto others. I think the seller thought WE were messing HER around before, only because it took us longer than I'd have liked (about a month) to sort out our mortgage. I spoke to the seller on the phone about it and thought we'd cleared the air, but I think it's apparent now that she would have been like this whether we'd had our mortgage in place or not.

I've been resistant to going back to the original price for two reasons - 1. because I didn't want to go back on my word about it, and 2. my GF maintains it involves a lot of paperwork and will be a lot of aggro. I suspect also her wanting a nice christmas together in our new flat is also a factor!

Anyway after reading all your posts again you've convinced me. It's funny really because if the seller had just contacted me after she was supposedly being harrassed by myself and the agents I would never have posted here, and she'd have the full amount plus £2700 for the furniture. Silly really. I certainly never wanted any of this.

My GF is asking her boss about going back to the original price for the flat today. I want to, but she's very reluctant at this stage. I'm not bothered if the seller pulls out though, I'm still looking at other flats.

RabbitMad

The paper work involved in dropping the price is negligible.

I was forced to knock the price down on a property a couple of years back (after signing the contracts but not exchanging) and it was no extra effort on my part at all.

carpetbelly

I'm a firm believer into do unto others as well. But I'm also a firm believer in retribution to people who try to take me for a ride. And to be fair I generally give a lot worse than I get as well.

With regards to paperwork, going down in price is a minimal bit of effort. Not much required at all. **edit just noticed Rabbit's pointed that out. Doh.**

And it's commendable you do not want to go back on your word but you've been crossed and now are the only person left playing by their word on this. You need to start playing hard ball on this, you're a man of your word, I'm assuming you're a man of principles to and as such you don't want to have people walking over you like this woman is trying to.

Also, ignore how long it took to sort out a mortgage. It can take time. I know mine took about 3weeks through the broker I went through for mine. Sometimes these things drag on. Fact of life when it comes to banks.

You go back and say original price and dont want the furniture... One of these things will probably happen...

Option1: She'll moan and try every trick in the book but give in and you get the flat at the original price with or without the furniture as shifting it before moving country would be a royal pain...

Option2: She'll say no and pull out and you'll have lost your fees which you seem prepared to do. If this happens it's easy enough to rent for a bit longer while looking and with the market the way it's going.

I am going to go with option 1 though especially if the woman is really leaving the country soon.

Really got my fingers crossed for you that it goes how you want it to though!!!

ghekkomanic

RabbitMad wrote: »

The paper work involved in dropping the price is negligible.

I was forced to knock the price down on a property a couple of years back (after signing the contracts but not exchanging) and it was no extra effort on my part at all.

I assumed it would just be changing the amount on the contracts, and revising the deposit amount. I shouldn't have to notify my lender would I, as the mortgage amount would be the same?