House buyer is refusing to full price (after completion)

SlopingBird

hazyjo wrote: »

Still risking it being classed as tax fraud. Not sure they'd have to reapply for a new mortgage either so long as it was the same LTV. They apparently had the cash so could've just put down more of a cash deposit anyway.

That was their line at the time ... and remember we were already three months after the original completion date of November 16 at this point. We were renting and getting quite desperate.

Yes, they have plenty of cash but obviously wanted a cut-down price for our house. We just believed what they told us. Stupid, I can see that now.

[Deleted User]

Hi,


just my opinion,

SlopingBird wrote: »

Hi everyone

Offering the £3,000 extra in cash,,,,,,, but it was tempting, especially as we'd made nothing on the property.


So you were expecting a £3000 bung, cash in hand kinda favour?


We feel very stupid. It's horrible knowing you've been duped in this way. We have nothing in writing - with hindsight, we realise we should have insisted on that from the outset.


You got the house sold for £215k asking price, so?


Anyone know if we've got a legal leg to stand on? Is it worth a solicitor's letter at the very least?



Your legal leg will be dodgy, you will need tell your solicitor you were hoping for a £3000 bung, but have no evidence to support that.

SlopingBird

theartfullodger wrote: »

Fine, great: So take the not-word-of-mouth offer (email, letter, woteva..) and agreement of both parties to it.. (email, letter, woteva..) then sue purchaser for the £3k : As it's not "vague" you'll no doubt win: Small-claims, go to MCoL.

Expect lots of publicity.

And inform both HRMC & their lender of what the reality was. And you solicitor & your lender on the new place a you will have err.. "misled" them...

I'm sure any decent person would most likely donate any such dodgy £3k funds to a suitable charity: The homeless perhaps?

We don't have a new place and no longer live in the UK (as Remainers we feel the politics are now toxic!). I have supported charities all my life and worked for one until quite recently.

AdrianC

SlopingBird wrote: »

Yes, they have plenty of cash but obviously wanted a cut-down price for our house.

They offered £215k. You accepted that offer.
That sale fell through.
Somebody else offered £215k. You accepted that offer.
That sale dragged.
They paid the £215k that they originally offered, and that you accepted. The sale completed and you were paid the £215k stipulated in all the legal paperwork surrounding the sale.

How is that a "cut-down price"?

Whether they could have afforded more is irrelevant.

SlopingBird

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,


just my opinion,

The asking price was £220, 000.

Okay, call it a 'bung' but why did they offer it in the first place? Because they wanted to buy our house so much.

SlopingBird

AdrianC wrote: »

They offered £215k. You accepted that offer.
That sale fell through.
Somebody else offered £215k. You accepted that offer.
That sale dragged.
They paid the £215k that they originally offered, and that you accepted. The sale completed and you were paid the £215k stipulated in all the legal paperwork surrounding the sale.

How is that a "cut-down price"?

Whether they could have afforded more is irrelevant.

Okay, I realise now that in future house sales/purchases we have to expect that everyone in the process is lying. The agreed price was actually £218k but they insisted they had to pay £3,000 separately so it wouldn't delay the process. The husband is very persuasive and made it sound very plausible, i.e. that we would be stupid to insist on them making it legal.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

SlopingBird wrote: »

Because they wanted to buy our house so much.

Why did you accept it then, was it because you wanted to sell your house 'so much'?

theartfullodger

SlopingBird wrote: »

............. I have supported charities all my life and worked for one until quite recently.

Oh right,tugs 'at, I now realise how 'umble & insignificant I am in comparison then.

AdrianC

SlopingBird wrote: »

Okay, I realise now that in future house sales/purchases we have to expect that everyone in the process is lying.

It could very well seem that there's two sets of lies going on here.
1. They are lying to you about the £3k they verbally agreed to pay, and lied to both their solicitor and lender about the agreed purchase price.
2. You lied to your solicitor and HMRC about the agreed purchase price.

The agreed price was actually £218k but they insisted they had to pay £3,000 separately so it wouldn't delay the process.

So you say... but you have nothing to prove it.

Meanwhile, you have a lot of legal documentation saying that the agreed price was £215k. You agreed to exchange and complete, explicitly on the basis of that documentation.

Yes, changing the price would have meant redoing their mortgage application and may have led to a delay. But the alternative was to sell for £215k, plus a verbal £3k cash bung round the back door of the entire legal process.

SlopingBird

When someone rings you up to offer you £3,000 if you agree to sell to them I wouldn't describe it as a 'vague word of mouth' but I guess that's all it was really, wasn't it?

It has left a nasty taste in our mouths, especially as our home was much loved by all our family and we now know some despicable people are living in it.

That said, everyone on here thinks we were in the wrong for not insisting the new price went through the solicitor so I'll leave it at that. I think we were unlucky to encounter very canny buyers who were determined to get our house come what may.