Pulling out of buying a house, please help

frak

Hello all,
i would like some help and advice please.
I have been in the process of buying a house since mid september. I really liked the property and it seemed ideal for my needs very close to work, in good condition. I already had a mortgage in principle in place to prove i was serious and had the funds available and made an offer. The vendor was non negotiable as he said he had reduced it already. I agreed to the price of 125k which is the limit of my budget. I paid the first part of my solicitors fees £400 and requested that searches and surveys were done. This is where the problems started. The survey brought back about 10 points that needed addressing - boiler service certificate, electrical wiring and a few other things and becuase of this would only agreee to a £2500 reduction of the value unless the work was done. Estate agent and vendor were told that the work needing doing but the vendor says they were being picky and there is nothing wrong with any of it. I said it needed doing or i cant get a mortgage so he said it would be done. After another few weeks it comes back to me that he did a load of the work himself, as he is a builder, but of course this isnt certified so the mortgage company wouldnt accept it. I ended up paying for the boiler service and certificate myself to speed things up. Well anyway after a few weeks of nothing happening with the mortgage and me having a lot of pressure put on me by his estate agent and the vendor himself. My financial advisor has informed me this morning that there is still an £850 retention due to work not being completed. I am getting pretty stresed out with it all as i am currently staying at a friends through goodwill but that is running quickly.
In addition to this the vendor is sending me text messages every other day asking what is happening as he is concernced and the estate agent are ringing me up every other day. I've had enough but am worried about pulling out with the hassle it may cause and the penalty to me, currently the house is empty and the vendor has already moved. I havent signed anything so i doubt there is any penalty. I am just tired of being messed around when i feel i have done all i can. I think i would be better off pulling out and renting somewhere for a bit as i am effectively homeless. It seems to me that i am being taken for a bit of a ride and the vendor is continually not doing what he is being asked to with regards to the work as it has been back and forward many times.
any help or advice much appreciated.

carpetbelly

In the current climate you're now in control. If you see this as a house and your future home for some time then my advice would be turn around to them and state quite clearly you're fed up of being messed around. State to the vendor any contact needs to come through the EA. Then let the EA know what specifically needs doing to satisfy what you need completing for your mortgage company.

If you're not worried about pulling out then why not? Sounds more hassle than it's worth at the moment. As long as you havent exchanged then you will only loose what you've paid on items. I'd be a bit mean myself and wouldnt give the guy any certificates you've paid to have done as well, but that's me

dolce_vita

First of all, don't look at the £400 you have paid as wasted money.

It has been spent wisely and done what it was meant to do i.e. highlighted problems with the house that would cost you a lot more to put right if you had gone ahead unwittingly.

As carpetbelly has said, you have the upper hand here and should not allow yourself to be bullied.

Tell the estate agent that you are not prepared to proceed on the current terms and that your final, unegotiable offer is for 115k and leave it up to them.
Be patient and keep looking.

best wishes

Biggie

I agree take incharge of the situation.

- Find out from the broker specifally what's required to get rid of the retention
- Give the list to Solicitor\EA and tell them you need these doing with certification. You don't care who or how it's done but need certification at the end to show to your mortgage company

if they don't then you walk

As mentioned you will only lose what you've paid out for, may sound painful but put it down to experience. Buying in this country is a hit and miss.

HugoSP

I would agree with the above advice but to add.....

Hide behind the mortgage company. ie it's not that you won't proceed, it's that you regret that you can't proceed.

This gives the impression that your hands are tied, as much as you like the house (you have already forked out for some work on it so you have proven to be very willing to do what you can).

This makes you sound more reasonable in the eyes of the EA who should be suggesting that the vendor comes to the negotiating table for some serious discussion.

frak

Thanks for the advice everyone, i've kind of made my mind up to pull out conisdering the housing market situation at the moment, and the fact that i've quickly checked this morning at house prices close to the house and they are almost 10k cheaper.
I'm tired of being messed around and i've just had a change of heart with it all, i'm probably more worried about the aggro this will cause with the vendor but in the emd its me who is stumping up a lot of money and i have too many reservations about it now

thanks
again

Zammo

frak wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone, i've kind of made my mind up to pull out conisdering the housing market situation at the moment, and the fact that i've quickly checked this morning at house prices close to the house and they are almost 10k cheaper.
I'm tired of being messed around and i've just had a change of heart with it all, i'm probably more worried about the aggro this will cause with the vendor but in the emd its me who is stumping up a lot of money and i have too many reservations about it now

thanks
again

It sounds to me like you've made the right decision. If it was the right place for you there would be no doubts. You're situation probably hasn't been made any easier because house prices are falling at the moment. In the current climate by the time you get to exchange similar houses will be at least 5% cheaper.

carpetbelly

frak wrote: »

i'm probably more worried about the aggro this will cause with the vendor

You shouldnt worry about this. I know it sounds selfish but you need to worry about you and are you getting what you want, at a deal is good for you and right for you.

Saying that, you've made your decision and tbh if prices are that different that sounds like the sensible one. Good luck with any other purchase down the line

Dylanwing

Not your fault at all. Vendor should either have dropped the price, or had the work done professionally so that it was certified. With regard to money lost servicing the boiler, take it as a lesson learnt, don't pay for other peoples work.

WTF?_2

frak wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone, i've kind of made my mind up to pull out conisdering the housing market situation at the moment, and the fact that i've quickly checked this morning at house prices close to the house and they are almost 10k cheaper.
I'm tired of being messed around and i've just had a change of heart with it all, i'm probably more worried about the aggro this will cause with the vendor but in the emd its me who is stumping up a lot of money and i have too many reservations about it now

thanks
again

Pulling out is absolutely the right thing to do if you are getting what you consider a raw deal. Don't throw good money after bad.....

I just can't believe you paid for work to be done on the house prior to actually buying it though. Didn't the fact that you were being put in such a position ring alarm bells?

frak

well i've pulled out, estate agent started getting funny with me and i've had a snotty text of the vendor, saying i have wasted his time and money but that is exacly what he has doen to me, on the whole i feel better. I probably shoudlnt have paid for the boiler certificate but i was getting impatient at the time and naively paid for it to speed things up. Its been the right thing to do i am about £500 down in solicitors fees and stuff but like everyone said it was £500 spent to find out these problems in the end. I've decided to rent for the time being and this is going to make me better off by about £300 a month so in the end i guess its money saving, just got to find somewhere to rent now but that shoudlnt be too hard.