Buyer tried to gazunder. Can we take the drawers from fitted wardrobes?

JustJane101

Not Corona related...
But my partner had real trouble getting his ex and her two children out of his house. They didn't pay bills or rent and told him they would be out on a certain date. 3 months later he got fed up and told them to get out or he would call the police. 

He was out when they left, they took all his loo roll, lightbulbs, washing machine and all his plates and cutlery. He was finding things missing for weeks. 

He wasn't angry, but he should have been. Leave the drawers in. 

Housebuyer2019

MoneySeeker1 said:

Personally - I'd leave dud lightbulbs and stop cleaning the place right now (so it's dirty when he takes it on) and that will help alleviate your feelings on this a bit. But I'd be cautious about taking the drawers.

Don't try and push this on to your sellers shoulders by demanding a lower price from them - because, if you did, then you would be just as bad as your buyer and hurting a perfectly innocent person.

Thanks. We’re waiting to see what tomorrow brings. We really don’t want to have to ask our seller for a reduced price because, as you say, she’s an innocent person in all of this. But at the same time, so are we (drawer stealing idea aside, which of course makes me less than innocent).
I’d rather ask our agent to reduce their commission before asking our seller. Although of course it’s unlikely our agent would oblige.

Davesnave

Housebuyer2019 said:

MoneySeeker1 said:

Personally - I'd leave dud lightbulbs and stop cleaning the place right now (so it's dirty when he takes it on) and that will help alleviate your feelings on this a bit. But I'd be cautious about taking the drawers.

Don't try and push this on to your sellers shoulders by demanding a lower price from them - because, if you did, then you would be just as bad as your buyer and hurting a perfectly innocent person.

I’d rather ask our agent to reduce their commission before asking our seller. Although of course it’s unlikely our agent would oblige.

Very unlikely, because affected businesses will be looking to survive. In the last crash, our EA went bust within 4 months, as the manager gradually drank himself under his desk!

This is not about guilt, innocence or any of that value-judgement or emotional stuff; it's about attempting rational decision making in the face of a situation, the ramifications of which no one fully understands yet.

Housebuyer2019

Davesnave said:

Housebuyer2019 said:

MoneySeeker1 said:

Personally - I'd leave dud lightbulbs and stop cleaning the place right now (so it's dirty when he takes it on) and that will help alleviate your feelings on this a bit. But I'd be cautious about taking the drawers.

Don't try and push this on to your sellers shoulders by demanding a lower price from them - because, if you did, then you would be just as bad as your buyer and hurting a perfectly innocent person.

I’d rather ask our agent to reduce their commission before asking our seller. Although of course it’s unlikely our agent would oblige.

Very unlikely, because affected businesses will be looking to survive. In the last crash, our EA went bust within 4 months, as the manager gradually drank himself under his desk!

This is not about guilt, innocence or any of that value-judgement or emotional stuff; it's about attempting rational decision making in the face of a situation, the ramifications of which no one fully understands yet.

Thanks. Taking all emotions out of it, I can see that having a frank conversation with all involved to outline the current uncertainty in the market may be the best way forward. The seller of the house we’re (hopefully) buying has already moved out so I imagine she would still want to sell. Whether she would be able to secure a new buyer quickly remains to be seen, so she may be willing to lower her price in the circumstances so we split the loss between us.

Owain_Moneysaver

Your response to your buyer is Actually, because of coronavirus there are fewer properties coming on to the market so we'll hold out for the agreed price until Friday, after that we'll probably relist at the original price. And we won't accept any further offer from you.  
The buyer may be planning on removing the wardrobes anyway, and letting the place unfurnished. 
Unless rental values have dropped markedly in your area he'll still get his expected rate of return. 

MysteryMe

You will always get opportunists using any excuse to try and profit from natural disasters.  People still need somewhere to live and if sellers are going to be screwed by obnoxious profiteers then they may as well stay put.  Don't give in to COVID-19 profiteers.

graphs

I'd consider yourself lucky he only wants 5k off.

Davesnave

Owain_Moneysaver said:

Your response to your buyer is Actually, because of coronavirus there are fewer properties coming on to the market so we'll hold out for the agreed price until Friday, after that we'll probably relist at the original price. And we won't accept any further offer from you.  
The buyer may be planning on removing the wardrobes anyway, and letting the place unfurnished. 
Unless rental values have dropped markedly in your area he'll still get his expected rate of return. 

That's a strategy. It might work in the initial stages of this event, but it sounds like a bluff to me and I'm no property investor!

Market sentiment decides the price at which houses sell, not individuals taking the moral high ground over 'profiteering.'

warby68

I'd say that £5k versus the current level of uncertainty is actually not very much.
If you are all ready to go and the house you are buying is empty and ready for you, I'd concentrate on getting to the finish line ASAP. £5k over 10/20y won't matter. By the same token your vendor might take the same view, for £5k or even £2.5k letsget this deal done.
However, there is also a strong case in times of great economic and civiluncertainty for staying put so you can throw that back at your buyer if you like, that you're thinking of pulling out too. This is now a 2 way street as far as negotiation goes with all parties. 

Housebuyer2019

warby68 said:

I'd say that £5k versus the current level of uncertainty is actually not very much.
If you are all ready to go and the house you are buying is empty and ready for you, I'd concentrate on getting to the finish line ASAP. £5k over 10/20y won't matter. By the same token your vendor might take the same view, for £5k or even £2.5k letsget this deal done.
However, there is also a strong case in times of great economic and civiluncertainty for staying put so you can throw that back at your buyer if you like, that you're thinking of pulling out too. This is now a 2 way street as far as negotiation goes with all parties. 

We’ve told our agent that if it falls through we’ll take our flat off the market completely and stay put for a year or so. We’re trying not to show how bothered we are....but we really do want the house we’re buying. We’re hoping to start a family within the next year and would ideally like to be settled in a house by then.