House purchase - What made you pull out?

Kad_Williams

I'm currently in the process of a purchase that has been very protracted (7 months on a chain free property) and I'm getting close to threatening to pull out of the purchase if I don't get the final, few but important enquiries (lease extension and licence to assign) before the end of October when my searches expire. I've have already very recently reapplied for a mortgage because of the delay. The vendor's solicitors have been horribly slow.

This particular property requires large investment, significant building work and planning permission and currently is not somewhere that's ready to move into, meaning after completion there could be as much as 5 months before we could actually move in. On balance I would not be against making an offer on another property that I could move into sooner, investing that extra money into a place that's readier to inhabit and potentially saving myself some time as well as money spent on months not actually spent in the property, particularly during the christmas period where planing applications may stall and make the process longer. All these things provide me with a real incentive to move on and a decent explanation to tell those who need to know.

The threat is genuine. I never really stopped looking at other properties and I've found a couple that could be viable alternative options. I just never thought I'd be pushed to the extent that going elsewhere would seem likely or attractive.

- What reasons have you guys had for dropping out of purchases, particularly as the buyer?
- Have any of you threatened to drop out? Does the threat of losing a buyer actually focus minds?
- How many of you have actually gone through with it, and what has the experience been like for you?

bertiewhite

The £10K retainer on the mortgage did it for me, coupled with the fact that the lender wanted a damp survey & certificates once remedial works were done.

olgadapolga

The refusal of the.vendor to answer the most mundane enquiries, an issue over the boundaries and the discovery that the neighbours were aggressive.

We found another house a few months later. Although this one has problems that were only discovered after the purchase, we have no regrets about the other house. This one is better, and the neighbours are absolutely lovely.

pitbull

The discovery that there was an old mine shaft under the next door neighbours living room floor on a semi detached bungalow!

Yes it had been filled and capped by the coal board but hey, a little too close for comfort for me.

Hectors_House

The survey came back telling me there were holes in the roof so large you could see daylight as soon as you lifted the loft hatch.

Quoted approx £25k to fix and the seller wouldn’t budge so I walked away.

The EA tried to keep us by telling us the seller was a victim of domestic abuse who needed to sell fast and couldn’t take less. Sadly I didn’t have that money just sitting around so I walked.

Several months later I found the ideal house - in the same area and major work (roof, windows and doors) had been done a couple of years before. It was a repossession so a mess inside but nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

trailingspouse

On our second viewing, they told us that they would be happy to move into rented accommodation.



We made an offer, and then they said they wanted to stay in the house until they'd found somewhere themselves.



It was very simple, and not an empty threat at all - move out like you said you would, or we're out. We weren't prepared to sit around waiting for them to sort themselves out. It might have been different if they hadn't already said they'd move out (and it was unprompted - they said it to us, we hadn't asked) - but it was one of the things that helped us decide to buy this particular house, so I felt it was part of the deal.


To cut a long story short - they moved out, we moved in. Job done.

Finchy2018

The seller up in the chain switched properties without letting anyone know. In the meantime we'd increased our deposit which meant we could afford to spend more, and found the perfect house. The first one I think we would have ended up regretting - no garden, only one parking space.

Damago

We were waiting for a property for 9 months before we withdrew our offer - the sellers had debt problems that they didn't make the EA aware of (apparently) until after our offer was accepted and they were splitting up and being very difficult. We hadn't even been able to start any of the solicitors work, it was in a location where we really wanted to live but after 9 months of excuses and no progress, and having buyer after buyer drop out of buying our property that we had to sell we eventually gave up.

We didn't give any threats of pulling out, just viewed a different house that we liked, put an offer in then withdrew from the original house. I don't think in our situation that threats would have made a difference. The EA now refuses to re-market that property again but we were nervous to tell them we were pulling out at first - they were fine about it, actually happy (we're selling our house through them too) as our buyers were worrying about the amount of time it was taking and I think they might have been on the verge of withdrawing too!

We're really glad we went through with withdrawing, I didn't want to listen when others told me that the purchase was never going to happen after waiting so long with no progress, but we pulled out 2 months ago and the house still hasn't been put back on the market. We've found a lovely (and empty!) house now that we're hoping to exchange on this week, and our buyers have stuck with us.

If I were you I'd look at other properties.

eddddy

Kad_Williams wrote: »

I'm currently in the process of a purchase that has been very protracted (7 months on a chain free property) and I'm getting close to threatening to pull out of the purchase if I don't get the final, few but important enquiries (lease extension and licence to assign) before the end of October when my searches expire.

You need to look at the reasons for the delay.

You mention a lease extension - that is outside the control of the seller and the seller's solicitor.

• Has the freeholder agreed price and terms for the lease extension?

• Has the freeholder realised that they have the leaseholder over a barrel with the lease extension - and is attempting to 'bleed them dry'?

• Are you / your solicitor happy with the terms of the lease extension?

(99%+ of purchases don't involve lease extensions, and it's meaningless to compare timescales for purchases without lease extensions, to purchases with lease extensions.)


You need to find out the problems causing the delay - and then look at each of those problems, to determine how likely they are to get fixed, and how quickly.

System

When I discovered a restrictive covenant the seller had not declared prior to conveyancing, and was then completely uncooperative with trying to find a solution to it, ignoring attempts at discussion. After I pulled out, the property sat on the market for another 6 months, and they reduced the asking price by 10%.

hazyjo

Don't think I've ever pulled out of a purchase which I find very hard to believe. Must be forgetting something :think:


Only one I remember having second thoughts on with an (unaccepted) offer on the table was one on a particular townhouse estate I wanted to live on in Epping and this one was on a busier lane (prob pretty quiet at night though) at the edge of the estate. We'd lost two already, prices were rising, and it was a bit of a last ditched attempt. In the end, I decided the road was too much of a compromise so withdrew.