Chain about to collapse

ncfcfan

Hi folks,

Our chain is about to collapse purely down to the greed of the developer.

We had to reduce the selling price of our house to £229k from £235k due to a devaluation. To ease this blow, we negotiated an allowance from our sellers (it's Linden Homes, who acquired the property via part exchange. It's been empty since January) of £5k provided we complete in September.

Through no fault of ours (our buyers solicitors have been so slow) this didn't happen. We're now super close to exchanging but we've just heard from our sellers that they won't be honouring the £5k allowance. We've been given the day to decide what to do, however I did pre-warn them that if they didn't honour it, we wouldn't be able to proceed. We've been asked to think about it all the same.

Am I going mad or this pretty unreasonable? They've held a gun to our heads for 2 months for a September completion. Now they're willing to go back on the market and do another 4 month conveyancing process? Or is it a last ditch tactic to try and squeeze more money from us?

hazyjo

SEE MY OTHER POST DOWN THE PAGE - I'M HALF ASLEEP THIS WEEK AND KEEP MISSING DETAILS. Will get me coat...!


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[STRIKE]Anything in writing about the £5k?

Have you exchanged on your purchase? Presume not, but I'll ask anyway as people have been known to do strange things when it comes to new builds!

I would prob call their bluff and pull out - but only if you mean it and are prepared to go through with losing it! If you've not go the five grand, it sounds like you have no choice anyway![/STRIKE]

Good luck.

GDB2222

ncfcfan wrote: »

Hi folks,

Our chain is about to collapse purely down to the greed of the developer.

We had to reduce the selling price of our house to £229k from £235k due to a devaluation. To ease this blow, we negotiated an allowance from our sellers (it's Linden Homes, who acquired the property via part exchange. It's been empty since January) of £5k provided we complete in September.

Through no fault of ours (our buyers solicitors have been so slow) this didn't happen. We're now super close to exchanging but we've just heard from our sellers that they won't be honouring the £5k allowance. We've been given the day to decide what to do, however I did pre-warn them that if they didn't honour it, we wouldn't be able to proceed. We've been asked to think about it all the same.

Am I going mad or this pretty unreasonable? They've held a gun to our heads for 2 months for a September completion. Now they're willing to go back on the market and do another 4 month conveyancing process? Or is it a last ditch tactic to try and squeeze more money from us?

Sorry but they said September, and it's now October.

Personally, I'd pull out and call their bluff, but I'm in London and nothing is selling here at the moment. If you're in a red hot area, perhaps they reckon they can sell for more to someone else?

ncfcfan

I have an email from the agent acting on behalf of Linden Homes detailing the £5k allowance, yes. It was written into our financial statement too.

I instructed our sols not to exchange until we had confirmation from Linden Homes that they would honour the allowance, despite the offer expiring.

They have just emailed and offered £2,500, as a 'good will gesture', providing we now complete in October. To put this into context it's taken them 12 working days to come to the initial decision and 1 hour to come back with this new offer. It also took a 1 month to get the initial £5k allowance signed off by our lender. So even if we did want to accept the new £2.5k offer (which we likely won't) we probably wouldn't even make their new deadline.

It's all left a bit of a sour taste. I wouldn't be opposed to walking away at this point.

ncfcfan

GDB2222 wrote: »

Sorry but they said September, and it's now October.

Personally, I'd pull out and call their bluff, but I'm in London and nothing is selling here at the moment. If you're in a red hot area, perhaps they reckon they can sell for more to someone else?

Perhaps they could but they'd have to pay to put it on the market again, and wait another few months to get it sold. They've had it since January.

Or a multi-million pound company can give us the £5k, like they originally could.

I doubt they want to complete more than we do, so these deadlines I find pretty galling.

GDB2222

Well, it's like a street market. Walk away, and see if they come after you. The real loser in this is the estate agent. I bet he's going to chase you.

ncfcfan

GDB2222 wrote: »

Well, it's like a street market. Walk away, and see if they come after you. The real loser in this is the estate agent. I bet he's going to chase you.

There's plenty of losers if this goes West.

ethank

I think I'd go back and say to them that you'll only exchange contracts if the £5k has honoured. Tell them the date you will be able to exchange though.

fezster

On the face of it, it really does seem as if the developer is trying it on. You're less than 2 weeks past the September deadline, and nothing has fundamentally changed with regards to the situation. If they said they have another buyer ready to exchange, that'd be different.

There's obviously a risk with calling their bluff - but personally, I would say "no" and walk away. If one week later (or two, or three even) they haven't come back, you can always agree to their terms. I doubt any buyer will be in the position you are in (ready to exchange) for at least a few months.

Or, if you feel really brave, walk away and then ask for an additional £5k discount when they come running back to you!

AdrianC

You agreed a £5,000 incentive for completing in September.
It's now October 10th, and you haven't even exchanged yet?

They've offered to meet you half-way, at £2,500 - and you're threatening to walk away from the purchase over a difference of £2,500...?

Blimey, it's not often I feel sorry for developers, but some people really do like to cut their noses off to spite their faces.

hazyjo

AdrianC - with you.


I'm half asleep this week.


OP - you're late in completing so surely have lost that five grand incentive?