Should we pull out of this purchase?

littlecactus

I appreciate strangers on the internet can’t really tell us what to do, but we’re looking for a sense check… 

An attempt at a short version:

⁃ We’re buying a house that has been down valued by the mortgage company from £400,000 to £380,000

⁃ We originally offered £385,000 and felt this was fair but the vendor wouldn’t budge from £400,000 (a reduction from asking price of £410,000, itself reduced from the original £425,000)

⁃ The house had been on the market for 6 months before we offered, with two previous sales falling through for unknown reasons

⁃ The vendor has refused a roof survey despite our surveyor recommending and us having some concerns from how it looks

⁃ The vendor has been difficult throughout the sale in a hundred small and large ways; including refusing lots of snagging (they redeveloped the house, they’re selling it uninhabited) even though they said they wouldn’t come below £400,000 due to the cost of likely snagging 

⁃ Our surveyor also flagged concerns with the drains, which we arranged a cctv survey for. This couldn’t be completed due to root and debris blockages and they ignored our requests to discuss next steps and said they wouldn’t speak to us until our mortgage came through 

⁃ They put the house back on the market with no notice after 6 weeks as we didn’t have a mortgage yet (our provider is slow, but no actual issues and the lack of agreed completion date due to unresolved issues is slowing it down as they prioritise by completion date) - we felt as retaliation for our request to discuss the drain issue 

⁃ They / their solicitor are refusing to speak to our solicitor about a planning condition we don’t think has been discharged (a condition of redevelopment was returning some greenery to the front of the house before habitation; this hasn’t happened and aside from the vendor saying “it doesn’t matter” we’ve had no further reassurances); the vendor says our solicitor is asking “stupid questions about silly drawings” (those drawings being the plans he submitted, which then were given a written condition saying greenery must be restored as depicted)

⁃ Due to the down valuation, should we continue we have three options:

     ⁃ Put in £14,000 more to keep the current LTV and so mortgage rate

     ⁃ Accept a rate that’s now 1% higher and while doable begins to stretch us financially (this rate has gone up 0.5% while waiting for a response from the vendor)

     ⁃ Ask the vendor to reduce the price; but we know they will say no, so this feels pointless

Last week, we gave the vendor an ultimatum that we would only continue with the purchase if he: instructed his solicitor to re-engage with ours on remaining queries, work with us to agree a mutually convenient completion date, set out a plan for how and when he would deal with the drains to allow us to complete our cctv survey, and took the house off the market. One week later and he still hasn’t even acknowledged this ultimatum.

The vendor has subsequently invited my parents (who live round the corner from the property) to witness (on our behalf) him having his own drainage survey done. He was also present and he used this as an opportunity to try to pressure my parents into agreeing a completion date of next week for us, despite him continuing to refuse to even acknowledge the conditions of us continuing the sale that we set out a week ago.

We like the house. It isn’t perfect. It’s very much at the top of our price bracket. It needs work, including just basics like installing aerial sockets, installing internet access points and phone lines, cutting holes in newly installed cupboards to allow washer/dryer connection. Then as a matter of taste there’s money to restore the garden. We really like the area, and there are limited other options, especially at the size we want. This is why we’ve stuck with it so far, but we’re starting to question our commitment. 

We’re aware that the vendor’s extreme rudeness and unreasonable behaviour throughout make it hard to be objective here. 

Is this all quite par for the course and we should stick with it if we really want it? Or are we mad to be considering throwing even more money in, especially in this economic climate? 

trakky14

I'm sorry you've had these issues...walk away would be my opinion!!! We had a similar eperience last year with a vendor who refused to take less money than the valuation (it was 25k over valued and she would only reduce it by 9K) she was then a nightmare later down the line...searches came back with potential problems and we decided to walk away.

Honestly there are more houses!!

user1977

What did your own surveyor value it at?

youth_leader

Sounds like the vendor could be suffering the same disappointment I did because the EA overpriced the house initially.  In his mind his original price was £425K, your offer of £385K might make him feel he's lost a virtual £40K. 

Did your mortgage lender send a surveyor in, as well as having your own survey?  My buyer's mortgage surveyor was very thorough and valued my house at £0 because he wanted a damp/timber survey.

RelievedSheff

I would be walking away from this one.

littlecactus

Thanks everyone so far. 

Our own surveyor didn’t value the property as that was extra (also, honestly, I’m not sure the seller would be interested even with another other valuation). 

And yes, the mortgage company sent out a surveyor who went around the house before giving the valuation. 

edwink

I would also walk away.  We had similar some years ago with a lot of unanswered questions amongst other planning issues and when they moved out they took all the wall lights etc. and left loads of tat behind. Yes, we could have gone back to our solicitor but quite frankly we were worn out by the time completion and the moving day arrived. 

And, with another house, we had similar issues and the vendors were very demanding.  In the end, we pulled out of that house because as the saying goes "once bitten twice shy".

pinkshoes

I would also walk away. 

Sounds like the vendor has unreasonable expectations.

If they are refusing inspection of things then it usually indicates they know there is a problem.

SootySweep1

I agree with everyone else in that I would walk away.

It sounds like the vendor is trying to hide / ignore potential problems 

Jen

Standingstrong

Walk away!!! infact  RUN 

robatwork

littlecactus said:

I appreciate strangers on the internet can’t really tell us what to do, but we’re looking for a sense check… 

An attempt at a short version:

⁃ We’re buying a house that has been down valued by the mortgage company from £400,000 to £380,000

⁃ We originally offered £385,000 and felt this was fair but the vendor wouldn’t budge from £400,000 (a reduction from asking price of £410,000, itself reduced from the original £425,000)

⁃ The house had been on the market for 6 months before we offered, with two previous sales falling through for unknown reasons

⁃ The vendor has refused a roof survey despite our surveyor recommending and us having some concerns from how it looks

⁃ The vendor has been difficult throughout the sale in a hundred small and large ways; including refusing lots of snagging (they redeveloped the house, they’re selling it uninhabited) even though they said they wouldn’t come below £400,000 due to the cost of likely snagging 

⁃ Our surveyor also flagged concerns with the drains, which we arranged a cctv survey for. This couldn’t be completed due to root and debris blockages and they ignored our requests to discuss next steps and said they wouldn’t speak to us until our mortgage came through 

⁃ They put the house back on the market with no notice after 6 weeks as we didn’t have a mortgage yet (our provider is slow, but no actual issues and the lack of agreed completion date due to unresolved issues is slowing it down as they prioritise by completion date) - we felt as retaliation for our request to discuss the drain issue 

⁃ They / their solicitor are refusing to speak to our solicitor about a planning condition we don’t think has been discharged (a condition of redevelopment was returning some greenery to the front of the house before habitation; this hasn’t happened and aside from the vendor saying “it doesn’t matter” we’ve had no further reassurances); the vendor says our solicitor is asking “stupid questions about silly drawings” (those drawings being the plans he submitted, which then were given a written condition saying greenery must be restored as depicted)

⁃ Due to the down valuation, should we continue we have three options:

     ⁃ Put in £14,000 more to keep the current LTV and so mortgage rate

     ⁃ Accept a rate that’s now 1% higher and while doable begins to stretch us financially (this rate has gone up 0.5% while waiting for a response from the vendor)

     ⁃ Ask the vendor to reduce the price; but we know they will say no, so this feels pointless

Last week, we gave the vendor an ultimatum that we would only continue with the purchase if he: instructed his solicitor to re-engage with ours on remaining queries, work with us to agree a mutually convenient completion date, set out a plan for how and when he would deal with the drains to allow us to complete our cctv survey, and took the house off the market. One week later and he still hasn’t even acknowledged this ultimatum.

The vendor has subsequently invited my parents (who live round the corner from the property) to witness (on our behalf) him having his own drainage survey done. He was also present and he used this as an opportunity to try to pressure my parents into agreeing a completion date of next week for us, despite him continuing to refuse to even acknowledge the conditions of us continuing the sale that we set out a week ago.

We like the house. It isn’t perfect. It’s very much at the top of our price bracket. It needs work, including just basics like installing aerial sockets, installing internet access points and phone lines, cutting holes in newly installed cupboards to allow washer/dryer connection. Then as a matter of taste there’s money to restore the garden. We really like the area, and there are limited other options, especially at the size we want. This is why we’ve stuck with it so far, but we’re starting to question our commitment. 

We’re aware that the vendor’s extreme rudeness and unreasonable behaviour throughout make it hard to be objective here. 

Is this all quite par for the course and we should stick with it if we really want it? Or are we mad to be considering throwing even more money in, especially in this economic climate? 

I read as far as the bit I emboldened above.

I didn't read any more as I didn't need to. As there can be NO GOOD REASON for it, there is also no good reason to buy the house. Move on.