House buyer is refusing to full price (after completion)

AdrianC

SlopingBird wrote: »

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?

Unless you had it in writing, yes.

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.

It's a house. No more, no less. An object. No more, no less. It does not have feelings. Don't anthropomorphise it.

Your memories of your time there are totally unchanged by what's happened around the sale - unless you let them be soured by it.

SlopingBird

AdrianC wrote: »

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.


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.

Okay, okay. Could you be less understanding. This was a sale that supposed to complete in November and all our plans were based on that.

We should have insisted they submit a new offer of £218k, I realise that now. And yes, they have had the final laugh. We have sold our much-loved home to a couple we despise and tossed in a load of furniture and furnishings free of charge. We feel like idiots, is that good enough for you?????

SpiderLegs

SlopingBird wrote: »

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.

The only person lying here is you.
There never was any conversation around 3k in cash. It’s all fantasy which you have made up because you are annoyed at the time it took to get the chain completed.
You have no proof any of this claim exists so stop wasting everybody’s time. Please stop any further contact as this will be viewed as harassment.

That would be my response to your solicitors letter.

SlopingBird

AdrianC wrote: »

Unless you had it in writing, yes.


It's a house. No more, no less. An object. No more, no less. It does not have feelings. Don't anthropomorphise it.

Your memories of your time there are totally unchanged by what's happened around the sale - unless you let them be soured by it.

I guess I did become a bit emotionally attached. Everyone loved our house, including pretty much everyone who viewed it.

We didn't think the HMRC implications through, but it's all becoming clear now. This couple weren't worried about defrauding HMRC in terms of stamp duty because they never intended to pay the additional price. Yep, we were taken for absolute mugs.

Thanks for the 'tough love'. It's actually helped, in a weird kind of way!!

silvercar

I don't think you are going to see a penny.

Maybe look for other ways of revenge may make you feel better. After all you have their name and address, you could sign them up for all sorts of junk mail :;

AdrianC

SlopingBird wrote: »

This was a sale that supposed to complete in November and all our plans were based on that.

But it didn't. For reasons outside your control AND outside your buyers' control.

If it had completed then, you'd have walked away happily with £215k.
If the second sale had completed more quickly, you'd have walked away happily with £215k.

Perhaps you should be happy that you did actually sell on the third attempt, and didn't have to reduce the sale price...? And that you've left these shores while the UK is still an EU member, and you don't have extra paperwork to contend with from that?

I'm not berating you for stupidity. You were naive. No more than that. I'm actually trying to point out to you that the only thing making this so toxic is your own mindset around it. The more you build it up, the worse you will feel about it for longer...

Yes, they took advantage of your naivety. But you sold your house for the price you were offered, and accepted.
Yes, there were hiccups on the way to completion. But you can now get on with your new life, away from the slow-motion car-crash that this country is currently waddling towards.

Good luck with your new life!

SlopingBird wrote: »

Thanks for the 'tough love'. It's actually helped, in a weird kind of way!!

Group hugs are for your family and friends. We're here to point out the reality, even if that's not what you want to hear.

SlopingBird

SpiderLegs wrote: »

The only person lying here is you.
There never was any conversation around 3k in cash. It’s all fantasy which you have made up because you are annoyed at the time it took to get the chain completed.
You have no proof any of this claim exists so stop wasting everybody’s time. Please stop any further contact as this will be viewed as harassment.

That would be my response to your solicitors letter.

Thanks for the advice. I guess it all comes down to who is the best liar ... in this case, our buyers are unlikely to tell the truth. This is a lesson learned, believe me. For all sorts of reasons.

gettingtheresometime

SlopingBird wrote: »

Okay, okay. Could you be less understanding. This was a sale that supposed to complete in November and all our plans were based on that.

We should have insisted they submit a new offer of £218k, I realise that now. And yes, they have had the final laugh. We have sold our much-loved home to a couple we despise and tossed in a load of furniture and furnishings free of charge. We feel like idiots, is that good enough for you?????

Personally I think this is a classic case of when people who see £££ meets people who know they have met people who see the £££.

Unless you've got written proof that they would give you this money they I don't see how you can even contemplate legal action.

SlopingBird

AdrianC wrote: »

But it didn't. For reasons outside your control AND outside your buyers' control.

If it had completed then, you'd have walked away happily with £215k.
If the second sale had completed more quickly, you'd have walked away happily with £215k.

Perhaps you should be happy that you did actually sell on the third attempt, and didn't have to reduce the sale price...? And that you've left these shores while the UK is still an EU member, and you don't have extra paperwork to contend with from that?

I'm not berating you for stupidity. You were naive. No more than that. I'm actually trying to point out to you that the only thing making this so toxic is your own mindset around it. The more you build it up, the worse you will feel about it for longer...

Yes, they took advantage of your naivety. But you sold your house for the price you were offered, and accepted.
Yes, there were hiccups on the way to completion. But you can now get on with your new life, away from the slow-motion car-crash that this country is currently waddling towards.

Good luck with your new life!


Group hugs are for your family and friends. We're here to point out the reality, even if that's not what you want to hear.

Haha, thanks for that. I honestly do feel a bit better now. I guess my parents were wrong to teach me that honesty was a good thing and would get me through life. My partner too is a thoroughly decent human being. Someone was talking about karma earlier ... perhaps our buyers will find the house doesn't suit them at all, after all!!! Cheers ... and yes, we're glad to have escaped the UK even if it is costing us a pretty penny in rent.

AdrianC

(Where have you gone, btw?)