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Low valuation and exclusivity agreement

jo1984
jo1984 Posts: 7 Forumite
Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
in House buying, renting & selling
We were in the process of buying a house and the seller asked us to sign an exclusivity agreement and pay a £2000 deposit. We did, regrettably. The mortgage company valued the house £95,000 under our offer so now we can’t proceed. The seller is insistent on keeping the £2000 - does anyone have any advice on how we can get him to give us the £2000 back give it is not our fault that the valuation is so low.
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Comments

  • hopeitwill
    hopeitwill Posts: 172 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    95k under offer?! I thought 30k under was a lot. What does the zoopla price say even though it should be gone over with a fine-tooth comb?
  • greatcrested
    greatcrested Posts: 5,925 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 11 January 2021 at 9:00PM
    What are the terms of the deal you signed? I can't read it from here.
    What does your legal adviser say?
    (more to the point, what did your legal adviser say when you were asked to sign this deal?)
  • jo1984
    jo1984 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    The terms are that we pay the original agreed price or lose the £2000. But we can’t afford to make up £95,000. 
    It was an undisclosed valuation so we can’t find out what was in it. 
    Just wondered if anyone had any experience of getting out of an agreement (we will never sign one again).
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    jo1984 said:
    The mortgage company valued the house £95,000 under our offer so now we can’t proceed. 
    Renegotiate your offer. 
  • jo1984
    jo1984 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    Thrugelmir said:
    jo1984 said:
    The mortgage company valued the house £95,000 under our offer so now we can’t proceed. 
    Renegotiate your offer. 
    They won’t renegotiate. They want the original offer we made.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 11 January 2021 at 9:08PM
    jo1984 said:
    Thrugelmir said:
    jo1984 said:
    The mortgage company valued the house £95,000 under our offer so now we can’t proceed. 
    Renegotiate your offer. 
    They won’t renegotiate. They want the original offer we made.
    Seems as if you've been stitched up well and truly. Was the property overvalued by the agents? As that's a sizable down valuation. 
  • jo1984
    jo1984 Posts: 7 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture First Post Combo Breaker
    Thrugelmir said: it
    jo1984 said:
    Thrugelmir said:
    jo1984 said:
    The mortgage company valued the house £95,000 under our offer so now we can’t proceed. 
    Renegotiate your offer. 
    They won’t renegotiate. They want the original offer we made.
    Seems as if you've been stitched up well and truly. Was the property overvalued by the agents? As that's a sizable down valuation. 
    Yep, we feel we’ve been misled and are going down the route of the property being mis-advertised and overvalued by the agent. I don’t think we’ll get anywhere but just wondered if anyone had advice.
  • greatcrested
    greatcrested Posts: 5,925 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 11 January 2021 at 9:17PM
    jo1984 said:
    The terms are that we pay the original agreed price or lose the £2000. But we can’t afford to make up £95,000. 
    It was an undisclosed valuation so we can’t find out what was in it. 
    Just wondered if anyone had any experience of getting out of an agreement (we will never sign one again).

    PLease quote the full wording. If you want to know if there's a legal way out, youneed to provide the full legal terms.
    does anyone have any advice on how we can get him to give us the £2000 back
    If youwant non legal suggestions:
    * threats
    * blackmail
    * subterfuge
    * ......

  • hopeitwill
    hopeitwill Posts: 172 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Sorry for your predicament but it's probably a loss and a big lesson learnt because of the agreement. I'd suggest to do your own research of house prices, and of course never sign something like that.
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