Seller cancelled sale

AdrianC

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

Basically, the reason given was that the seller was downsizing and moved in with a friend. Turns out that this place the friend lived was a homeless Shelter and the seller had a massive freak out. So based on that they've decided to move back in to the house that I was meant to be buying. Thing is, the seller runs out of cash in spring. He simply has got to move. The seller is a bit 'different' and apparently isn't entirely capable of rational decision making...Might sound implausible but it's true. When I went to view the chap literally had one pair of clothes and literally no furniture. Car was a 1990 Mini rusting and leaking oil everywhere. Mental illness seems to be a thing here. Talking to the neighbours he's been agonizing over moving out for years. All very well but I'm getting shafted because of this...

Doesn't sound like it should have come as a big surprise, then...

Comms69

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

Basically, the reason given was that the seller was downsizing and moved in with a friend. Turns out that this place the friend lived was a homeless Shelter and the seller had a massive freak out. So based on that they've decided to move back in to the house that I was meant to be buying. Thing is, the seller runs out of cash in spring. He simply has got to move. The seller is a bit 'different' and apparently isn't entirely capable of rational decision making...Might sound implausible but it's true. When I went to view the chap literally had one pair of clothes and literally no furniture. Car was a 1990 Mini rusting and leaking oil everywhere. Mental illness seems to be a thing here. Talking to the neighbours he's been agonizing over moving out for years. All very well but I'm getting shafted because of this...

You have paid for services which you have used. You haven't been shafted.


It's like hiring a solicitor to deal with your divorce, then reconciling with your wife - you still got the solicitors legal input.

Slinky

The warning signs were there, unfortunately you didn't pick up on them. It's always wise to have a chat with the neighbours anyway to find out who you will be living next to, under the guise of 'being interested in the area'. Sounds as though they'd have warned you this could happen.

eddddy

One remote possibility to check...

• Has the seller done this kind of thing before (i.e. suddenly dropping out of a sale)?

• And if so, did the current EA know about it?

If so, that might well be classed as "material information" which the EA had a duty to disclose to you.


You could complain to the EA, and then to the Property Ombudsman that the EA failed to disclose material information. The Property Ombudsman can order the EA to pay you compensation.

(That assumes that the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme - but most are.)

kinger101

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

Basically, the reason given was that the seller was downsizing and moved in with a friend. Turns out that this place the friend lived was a homeless Shelter and the seller had a massive freak out. So based on that they've decided to move back in to the house that I was meant to be buying. Thing is, the seller runs out of cash in spring. He simply has got to move. The seller is a bit 'different' and apparently isn't entirely capable of rational decision making...Might sound implausible but it's true. When I went to view the chap literally had one pair of clothes and literally no furniture. Car was a 1990 Mini rusting and leaking oil everywhere. Mental illness seems to be a thing here. Talking to the neighbours he's been agonizing over moving out for years. All very well but I'm getting shafted because of this...

It's difficult to predict which sellers are flaky, but it's always worth finding out their motive for moving.

AVOID:

Divorces - one of the parties is likely to make things difficult.

Distant relocations at retirement - you'll wait ages while the vendor figures out exactly what they want in an area they know little about. They might never find their Goldilocks home.

People who have to move (relocation for work, expanding family) are safer bets.

ethank

Sorry to hear you bad news, but part of buying a house.

shortcrust

Might have been mentioned already but you can buy insurance to cover your losses if this happens. I think it cost me something like 30 quid. Might have been more, but certainly less than 100.

shortcrust

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

Basically, the reason given was that the seller was downsizing and moved in with a friend. Turns out that this place the friend lived was a homeless Shelter and the seller had a massive freak out. So based on that they've decided to move back in to the house that I was meant to be buying. Thing is, the seller runs out of cash in spring. He simply has got to move. The seller is a bit 'different' and apparently isn't entirely capable of rational decision making...Might sound implausible but it's true. When I went to view the chap literally had one pair of clothes and literally no furniture. Car was a 1990 Mini rusting and leaking oil everywhere. Mental illness seems to be a thing here. Talking to the neighbours he's been agonizing over moving out for years. All very well but I'm getting shafted because of this...

Well at least you can be sure you didn’t miss any warning signs...

Davesnave

ethank wrote: »

Sorry to hear you bad news, but part of buying a house.

Not inevitably, but many of us have been through it. Our 'Goldilocks house' vendors stared into the abyss once they had our offer and decided to go to Relate!

It must've worked, because the house didn't sell till many years later.:(

Much later too, we realised the property wasn't very suited to us at all. By then, we'd made our own Big Mistake by walking away from the next one, mainly because it didn't seem better than the first.

It was better than what we have now.:o

No one's perfect. Everyone's capable of irrationality, or misjudging things. There will be another property. Keep your mind open to it.