Buyer requesting cash to exchange

Debbie030873

Hello, 

Selling my house, I'm not buying and purchaser renting so no chain. 

Accepted offer 21/7/22
Signed my contract 7/10/22
Buyer has viewed 3 times, one with a builder for works they want to do and a further 2 to look and then measure up. All accompanied by estate agent with my authorisation. Property is empty as previously tenanted but they vacated on offer acceptance. Estate agent allowed a viewing 7 days ago without my knowledge and when queried apologised saying they assumed they could go in as property empty... 

Yesterday buyers announced they had found damp patch at last weeks viewing and wanted to visit again with builder today. They have now demanded i pay them direct £2.5k on exchange and before completion for the sale to go through. 

Questions;

Is this legal?
Is the estate agent at fault for letting them in without my knowledge? 
What would you do? 

Thanks
Debbie 

housebuyer143

To clarify, do they want you to pay them directly or through the solicitors?
Cash on completion I have heard of but not cash at exchange.

propertyrental

Yes legal, but unusual and no way should you agree.
Yes, probably but depends on terms of your agreement with the agent which we can't read. Anyway, but little you can do. Could well be seen as agent trying to get the buyer 'over the line' and to Exchange.
Allow builder access. Don't pay the premium requested; Probably not renegotiate price (unless you also believe there's a hidden problem;  Get agent to start re-marketing if buyer not willing to Exchange by...(provide date).

babyblade41

Tell them to sod off & re-market (preferably with a different agent 

UnderOffer

Why are you paying them anything? Have you agreed to a reduction of 2.5k? Why isn’t this being adjusted on the selling figure via your solicitors in the contract? 

ALARA343

You could make a counter-offer for the works if you want to be generous (and ask to see builders' quotations). My buyer asked for an allowance for some remedial work which I had written into the contract and paid to the buyer on completion through the solicitors; I offered to contribute about 30% towards the work.
The advantage for the buyer is that they don't have to go back to the lender for a revised mortgage offer.

FreeBear

Debbie030873 said: Yesterday buyers announced they had found damp patch at last weeks viewing

Get one of those pointy protimeters, and you can find "evidence" of damp in just about any house.

If there really is a damp patch, wallpaper will be lifting or paint bubbling & flaking off. The cause is often a leaking pipe, blocked gutter, or elevated ground levels. Usually cheap to fix at the source. Unless the damage is extensive, it is highly unlikely that the repair will cost anything like £2.5K.

I'd want to be seeing a report from an independent surveyor (not one of these PCA salesmen, or anyone with links to a damp treatment company including the PCA).

eddddy

Debbie030873 said:

Yesterday buyers announced they had found damp patch at last weeks viewing and wanted to visit again with builder today. They have now demanded i pay them direct £2.5k on exchange and before completion for the sale to go through. 

Just to clarify - was it the buyer who told you this, or the estate agent? Was it the buyer's idea or the estate agent's idea?

It sounds a bit like a whacky idea that an estate agent would come up with.

I guess it's possible that the buyer is getting cold feet (due repairs required, due to mortgage rates, due to recession fears etc) so the estate agent is trying to come up with whacky ideas to stop the buyer walking away.

Maybe have a discussion with the estate agent to see where this idea came from.


However, if the buyer is buying with a mortgage, this would be (minor) mortgage fraud if they don't tell their lender. If you want to kill the idea off, you could say that you want to run it past your solicitor first - who will then advise you not to do it.

And as it's a 'secret agreement', if you go ahead, either party could shaft the other party.

TripleH

To add to eddddy's comment. If it's a secret contract they don't want in the contract because of the mortgage fraud aspect, once you exchange, what obligation is there on you to pay it?

If damp is as extensive as they'd claim I would hope you'd notice?

Have a look and find the samp patches they mention. Let us know whats on the other side of the patch, it could be an easy fix.

user1977

TripleH said:

To add to eddddy's comment. If it's a secret contract they don't want in the contract because of the mortgage fraud aspect, once you exchange, what obligation is there on you to pay it?

Or the other way round, assuming the buyer wants the cash first? You can't realistically coordinate this along with the solicitors exchanging contracts (especially if neither party is even going to talk to the solicitors about it).

warwick2001

This is actually a fairly common and straight forward legal process. It's called an 'Allowance', and as others have stated, it allows the sale to go through with the agreed financial figures (mortgages, deposits etc), but takes into account any re-negotiations during the sale process. 

I did one when I was selling my house last year, I had my solicitor write into the contract that I would give £5k to repair a wall (fit cavity trays and re-render) upon completion. The sale actually fell through (for other reasons), but the actual allowance process is legit. HOWEVER do not do this without involving the solicitors. As others have said, you can be right royally shafted if it's not written into the contracts.