Memorandum of Sale

Willis75

Bit of advice please.

My house SSTC seven weeks ago and is nearing exchange of contracts. I now get a letter from my solicitor today  with buyers solicitor complaining that the offer I accepted was subject to me leaving..washing machine, dishwasher, shutters and blinds.

This is the first I have heard of this. My M of S just states agreed sellin price  and none of the items mentioned. 

When filling out the Fixtures and Fittings form I included the shutters and blinds as although less than a year old they obviously wont fit anywhere else, offered to sell washing machine and dishwasher for nominal price..again, less than a year old. The parents of buyers who came with buyers for second viewing asked if I was willing to sell any items hence me offering to sell washing machine and dishwasher.

What stance should I take. Willing to sell the items but not leave for free as I will have to buy them for my next house. Is EA to blame for accepting an offer which includes the said items without telling me offer was contingent on leaving these..if in fact the buyers stipulated this!

Should the M of Sale not list items if this is the case. Im confused. 

Tiglet2

The Memorandum of Sale is not legally binding, therefore the buyer should not rely on this.

The Fixtures & Contents Form will form part of the legal contract, so if you have listed items as being included, you need to include them or advise in writing that they are now not included.  The form is sent to the buyers who review the form and decide whether they want to purchase any of the items you have requested a price for.  Alternatively, the buyers may ask you to remove any items you stated you would be leaving.  It is a negotiation.  The buyer doesn't have to buy any items at all.  Neither do you have to leave items which you want them to pay for.

However, you cannot blame the EA.  They won't know what your intentions are with regard to fittings.  Sounds like there was a misunderstanding on the buyer's part, but it is the Fixtures & Contents Form that forms part of the legal contract.

lika_86

If your buyers are complaining via their solicitors and you are sure that no such condition was conveyed to you then I'd tell them to take the issue up with the estate agent but that from your side no such condition was conveyed and so they can either buy them as additional items or not.

Willis75

lika_86 said:

If your buyers are complaining via their solicitors and you are sure that no such condition was conveyed to you then I'd tell them to take the issue up with the estate agent but that from your side no such condition was conveyed and so they can either buy them as additional items or not.

Thanks, that was my thought. If it becomes contentious was thinking of asking EA to pay for them considering commission charged. Sold to these buyers who were the first through the door the day after advertised. So he had an easy job.

Willis75

Tiglet2 said:

The Memorandum of Sale is not legally binding, therefore the buyer should not rely on this.

The Fixtures & Contents Form will form part of the legal contract, so if you have listed items as being included, you need to include them or advise in writing that they are now not included.  The form is sent to the buyers who review the form and decide whether they want to purchase any of the items you have requested a price for.  Alternatively, the buyers may ask you to remove any items you stated you would be leaving.  It is a negotiation.  The buyer doesn't have to buy any items at all.  Neither do you have to leave items which you want them to pay for.

However, you cannot blame the EA.  They won't know what your intentions are with regard to fittings.  Sounds like there was a misunderstanding on the buyer's part, but it is the Fixtures & Contents Form that forms part of the legal contract.

I understand all that BUT if when they did make an offer they made it contingent upon the items mentioned being left within the purchase price via  the EA, then surely he has to accept the blame.

Furthermore, each party and both solicitors got a copy of the Memorandum, the buyers should have checked it and pointed out if something was missing, surely and not left it until immediately before exchange. 

Tiglet2

Willis75 said:

Tiglet2 said:

The Memorandum of Sale is not legally binding, therefore the buyer should not rely on this.

The Fixtures & Contents Form will form part of the legal contract, so if you have listed items as being included, you need to include them or advise in writing that they are now not included.  The form is sent to the buyers who review the form and decide whether they want to purchase any of the items you have requested a price for.  Alternatively, the buyers may ask you to remove any items you stated you would be leaving.  It is a negotiation.  The buyer doesn't have to buy any items at all.  Neither do you have to leave items which you want them to pay for.

However, you cannot blame the EA.  They won't know what your intentions are with regard to fittings.  Sounds like there was a misunderstanding on the buyer's part, but it is the Fixtures & Contents Form that forms part of the legal contract.

I understand all that BUT if when they did make an offer they made it contingent upon the items mentioned being left within the purchase price via  the EA, then surely he has to accept the blame.

Furthermore, each party and both solicitors got a copy of the Memorandum, the buyers should have checked it and pointed out if something was missing, surely and not left it until immediately before exchange. 

You also would have got a copy of the Memorandum of Sale.  So what does it say?

eddddy

Are you sure the buyers explicitly said to the EA that their offer was to include the white goods?  Does the EA agree that they said that?

I suspect you'll never know for sure - unless the buyers actually put their offer in writing.



This just sounds like one of those 'hiccups' you get when buying/selling a property - and it just needs to be diffused without spiralling into a confrontation. (Because if a major confrontation occurs, sometimes people end up doing irrational things - like threatening to walk away over something relatively trivial).

A good EA should be able to diffuse this and/or try to negotiate some kind of compromise. So maybe tell your EA the outcome you want, and leave it to them to sort out.

trix-a-belle

Its not on you, you've set out your stance of whats on offer/included in the F&F form.
I'd reply with "I was not made aware of any conditions on the offer put forward, I have detailed what is included or I am willing to sell on the fixtures & fittings form." & leave it for your solicitor to forward back to their & copy in the EA who can either grovel or deny all knowledge, if it wasn't written down then they will struggle to prove it.

Also 7 weeks & close to exchange before they notice & get the hump about it, hmmm

My sellers made a song & dance of me needing induction suitable pans for the range that was in the property (which was mentioned in the EA description rather than 'space for'), then the F&F form said grill included, hob included, oven excluded which was physically impossible when they were all within the same freestanding range oven. I queried & eventually got the reply 'oh no we're not leaving it' when they didn't actually have anywhere to fit it in the their new house (which i'd also viewed so knew). Then they tried to sell it to me for an additional price 2 days before completion (probably when they realised what a pain it was going to be to disconnect and move) when i'd ordered a new one to be delivered the week I moved in. My offer wasn't conditional on it being left, I didn't really have the money spare to buy a range oven, I called their bluff & said no to paying extra for it, if they ended up leaving it then great, they didn't & I got one that suited me.

Willis75

Tiglet2 said:

Willis75 said:

Tiglet2 said:

The Memorandum of Sale is not legally binding, therefore the buyer should not rely on this.

The Fixtures & Contents Form will form part of the legal contract, so if you have listed items as being included, you need to include them or advise in writing that they are now not included.  The form is sent to the buyers who review the form and decide whether they want to purchase any of the items you have requested a price for.  Alternatively, the buyers may ask you to remove any items you stated you would be leaving.  It is a negotiation.  The buyer doesn't have to buy any items at all.  Neither do you have to leave items which you want them to pay for.

However, you cannot blame the EA.  They won't know what your intentions are with regard to fittings.  Sounds like there was a misunderstanding on the buyer's part, but it is the Fixtures & Contents Form that forms part of the legal contract.

I understand all that BUT if when they did make an offer they made it contingent upon the items mentioned being left within the purchase price via  the EA, then surely he has to accept the blame.

Furthermore, each party and both solicitors got a copy of the Memorandum, the buyers should have checked it and pointed out if something was missing, surely and not left it until immediately before exchange. 

You also would have got a copy of the Memorandum of Sale.  So what does it say?

It states nothing other than agreed selling price.

Willis75

eddddy said:

Are you sure the buyers explicitly said to the EA that their offer was to include the white goods?  Does the EA agree that they said that?

I suspect you'll never know for sure - unless the buyers actually put their offer in writing.



This just sounds like one of those 'hiccups' you get when buying/selling a property - and it just needs to be diffused without spiralling into a confrontation. (Because if a major confrontation occurs, sometimes people end up doing irrational things - like threatening to walk away over something relatively trivial).

A good EA should be able to diffuse this and/or try to negotiate some kind of compromise. So maybe tell your EA the outcome you want, and leave it to them to sort out.

EA on holiday - half term. So I don’t know what they said. I am worried that if they said that to the EA and he never passed it to me as part of the offer. Definitely not in the Memorandum where it should be listed, and as @trix-a-bell states almost at exchange why wait until now. Their solicitor should see those items are not mentioned.

Willis75

Just been looking up regulations regarding offers and it states that all offers have to be presented to the seller in writing within 24 hours of being made. This has not happened. It appears this is a legal requirement one would assume so things like this do not happen.