Previous owner asking to buy back property!

JuanBallOfWimbledon

After pretty much 2 years of searching & multiple purchases falling through, we finally completed on our first house on 27/04/22. Since then things have been frustrating.

We’ve had a several odd things happen, which I won’t get into to save an essay, but now we’ve received a really weird request… They regret selling. Would we consider allowing them to buy back the house? His wife was born in the house & lived there all her life. They raised their kids here, her sister lives next door etc. They offered £5k less than we bought it for 9 days ago, because ‘it’s clear prices will fall given the economy and we have to consider our fees’. We actually got a ridiculously good deal on it, paying a fair bit under market value. We really don’t want to sell, but we have to live next door to this woman’s sister. 

Is it just me, or is this madness? How do we say no nicely, and avoid upset with our new neighbours? 

secla

Laughable there actually offering less. + you would have to pay conveyancing again plus i dont think you can sell for 6 months if a mortgage is involved

I dont think there is anyway you can sugar coat it

JuanBallOfWimbledon

secla said:

Laughable there actually offering less. + you would have to pay conveyancing again plus i dont think you can sell for 6 months if a mortgage is involved

I dont think there is anyway you can sugar coat it

We do have a small mortgage, so that’s good to know and I’ll likely add that into my reply. 

I drafted a reply basically saying ‘Thanks for the offer, but whilst we understand and sympathise, we don’t want to sell.’. However my wife thinks it’s too short and may be taken as unfeeling. We’ve had a nightmare neighbour situation before and she’s very worried about potentially dealing with that happening again - especially now we own. I think you’re right though, there’s little we can do to spin ‘no’ into a positive. Gah, what a pain this is!

Martin_the_Unjust

It may be worth not shutting the door entirely on them, you never know when it would be handy to have a keen buyer.

HampshireH

Sounds like madness

Obviously you wouldn't even consider a reduced rate, infact you would be looking to have ALL of the below covered by them too

* Your legel fees

* Your moving costs

* Your mortgage redemption fees

* Full value of the property as valued in today's market (not the good deal you got)

They sound like jokers. Responding is being polite. How about something like ..

The above would be what I would be asking for if I were to entertain them (which I wouldn't)

"Thankyou for your letter. We spent x months going through the purchasing process and are now happy to be settling into our new home.

Whilst we understand you may now have regrets these are not something we can help with. The costs and impact of moving again are not feesible nor affordable. The house isn't for sale and so we won't be accepting your offer.

We wish you well in your new home and hope you settle soon"

canaldumidi

secla said:

Laughable there actually offering less. + you would have to pay conveyancing again plus i dont think you can sell for 6 months if a mortgage is involved

Not quite. The buyers (ie the privious owners) would have difficulty getting a new mortgage to purchase the property back. Lenders don't like to lend on properties that have recently changed hands.

Of course, if they don't need a mortage there's no problem.

Your mortgage lender would have no problem with you selling (subject to you paying back the loan, plus any Early Redemption Penalties, legalcosts etc).

This may be a wind up- but if not, yes it's laughable. If you are sympathetc enough toconsider re-selling to them, then add up ALL your costs from buying, plus ALL your costs from re-selling, Plus an additional amount for the immense disruption, stress, waste of time etc, and add that to what you paid. Plus probably more!

If they agree that price, then consider it.

JuanBallOfWimbledon

HampshireH said:

Sounds like madness

Obviously you wouldn't even consider a reduced rate, infact you would be looking to have ALL of the below covered by them too

* Your legel fees

* Your moving costs

* Your mortgage redemption fees

* Full value of the property as valued in today's market (not the good deal you got)

They sound like jokers. Responding is being polite. How about something like ..

The above would be what I would be asking for if I were to entertain them (which I wouldn't)

"Thankyou for your letter. We spent x months going through the purchasing process and are now happy to be settling into our new home.

Whilst we understand you may now have regrets these are not something we can help with. The costs and impact of moving again are not feesible nor affordable. The house isn't for sale and so we won't be accepting your offer.

We wish you well in your new home and hope you settle soon"

This is perfect, thank you so much! It’s been such a stressful few weeks, I just couldn’t get myself together enough to write anything close to this. 

They also left thousands of pounds worth of brand new items (including an OLED TV, still boxed) and loads of expensive tools in the loft. Arranged to collect, didn’t turn up TWICE after asking me to get them down from the loft to make collection easier. It’s now taking up half my dining room (in a house that’s unoccupied overnight since we’re still mainly living at our rental until Sunday) until they can travel the 200ish miles from their new house to collect it all. Sister next door is away for a fortnight too, so I can’t even dump it there. It’s been beyond a joke, honestly. I’m hoping we’ll laugh about it all one day, but right now it feels as though they’ve taken the shine off the moment we’ve waited so long for. 

canaldumidi

You've changed the locks yes?

Sounds like this couple is quite capable of letting themselves in "just to pick up their things". Or getting the sister to - I bet she has a key.....

Letter to them giving them a specific date and time when they can collect in 7 days. Yes YOU set the date not them. And advising them that after that date you will be disposing of them. Any money you get from disposing (sell on ebay) is theirs of course, though you can deduct your costs and time.

Flugelhorn

I think a letter like above is fine - can add that "should we consider moving in the future, we could contact you to prior to it going on the open market to see if you are interested in buying " 

they seem like they are struggling with the move and regretting moving so far away , wherever they have bought is probably not so perfect (in their eyes) as where they have left - am sure many on first moving into new house think "why have we done this ??" but few try to go back to the old house. 

Curious leaving so much stuff, a bit like they couldn't bring themselves to fully leave and now can't bring themselves to come back to get it - tense atmosphere in their house I reckon.  Watch out for wife coming back to live for sister 

JuanBallOfWimbledon

canaldumidi said:

You've changed the locks yes?

Sounds like this couple is quite capable of letting themselves in "just to pick up their things". Or getting the sister to - I bet she has a key.....

Letter to them giving them a specific date and time when they can collect in 7 days. Yes YOU set the date not them. And advising them that after that date you will be disposing of them. Any money you get from disposing (sell on ebay) is theirs of course, though you can deduct your costs and time.

Yes, we changed the locks as soon as we moved in. They mentioned at one point that the sister had a key if they weren’t home when we went for our pre exchange viewing, and we obviously didn’t know where that key ended up. 

Thank you for the advice, I’ve been sitting here wondering what on Earth we’re supposed to do with it all being so expensive. I’ll send a letter stating the above. Genuinely grateful.  

julicorn

Flugelhorn said:

I think a letter like above is fine - can add that "should we consider moving in the future, we could contact you to prior to it going on the open market to see if you are interested in buying " 

I'd personally leave out the "prior to it going on the open market" bit. If they're delusional enough to think that the house is suddenly worth £10k less just because they've changed their mind, I'd definitely want to see what another buyer would pay for it before striking up some deal with these people.

I think you're being so polite even in the way you're posting about this here, OP - I'd be quite annoyed / genuinely a little offended if someone tried to pull something like this even with a second hand armchair I'd bought, let alone a house. It's ridiculous.