I am on the verge of backing out of a property sale. What are my options? [Merged]

RAS

Basically a duplicate thread. See other replies to other thread today.

cymruchris

raptor2004 said:

cymruchris said:

raptor2004 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

raptor2004 said:

Grizebeck said:

I am stunned you paid a deposit.

Lesson learnt. Rather let it go and move on if I am not happy 

Hi Raptor.

The two second-hand appliances are worth, what? £200? (Check Facebook Marketplace for similar second-hand items). 

The kitchen stools, ditto - check Google for a guide price. (Are they of a rare and specific vernacular?)

And you are considering walking away, forfeiting your £5k deposit, over this?

Even the gates, if they don't work, are likely to be pretty cheap to repair. And you are considering forfeiting £5k over this?

In the overall scheme of things, that of your short, medium, or even long-term ownership of this house, these things are virtually immaterial. Losing £5k for a not good reason surely isn't?

This is not rational behaviour; it is (over)emotive, in my view.

May I ask if you have a condition that could be influencing your decisions here? If so, do you have a family member, friend or colleague who could help you here to work a reasoned way through to completion?

You shouldn't be 'happy' about walking away over such trivial matters, and the loss of £5k.

As others have pointed out, that £5k contract does make them liable if they don't leave the property 'vacant' on completion, so perhaps this makes them nervous too? Tbh, I don't know if 'vacant' includes such goods, or is it just humans!

The fridgefreezer is worth about £2k second hand (new about £3.5-4k). The washing machine is worth about £500 used. I have accepted they dont want to part with that and that is fine. only issue now is the gates.

Vendors will not repair the gates...and we don't know how much it will cost to repair....

So you haven't pulled out yet?

Couldn't you ask a tradesman that deals in electric gates to give you an idea of cost to replace the whole mechanism so that you know the potential upper range - and then it can only be cheaper from there if only a part needs replacing.

Full kits are only a couple of hundred pounds on Amazon, add on a couple of hundred pounds labour to fit - can't be much more than £500 to get them working again. Or you could temporarily go back to the old way of opening the gates manually until you've settled in and then decide on how you might want to progress from there.

It’s all speculation on the cost of fixing it….
Why aren’t the EA or vendor bothering to even get a quote?

I was repeatedly told that it works by the EA and the vendors were trying to find the fobs etc 

Because lots of sellers just want to sell the house as it is - and in this case it's a probate property. They don't want to spend anything - just sell. The price that you've negotiated is for an 'as is' purchase. It's common for things not to work when you buy a house. Sometimes you spot them before you buy - sometimes you spot it once  you've moved in. You're buying the bricks and mortar - the plot of land - your future home. There will be things wrong. It's not like going to buy a used car and asking the dealer to fix this that and the other.

Estate agents sometimes say things and they are wrong.

If you're serious - then you need to take the action to find out what it costs - not badger them to do all the legwork.

As I've said it's not going to be a stupendously expensive repair (Unless it's a mansion with 50ft wide wrought iron gates). Stop looking at the little details that'll cost a few quid here and there to sort out and look at the big picture that you're buying a house!

When I bought earlier this year - there were things I knew needed attention - and I've been doing that ever since. There were also things that caught me out - like only one socket in the kitchen actually working. Cabling was fine - just the physical on/off switch had worn out. I've now replaced them all with more modern brushed metal sockets and it looks so much better than the white plastic. Did I go back to the seller and complain? No. I knew it was part and parcel of buying a house.

You seem to be constantly focused on the little problems rather than the overall purchase.

Hoenir

raptor2004 said:

cymruchris said:

raptor2004 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

raptor2004 said:

Grizebeck said:

I am stunned you paid a deposit.

Lesson learnt. Rather let it go and move on if I am not happy 

Hi Raptor.

The two second-hand appliances are worth, what? £200? (Check Facebook Marketplace for similar second-hand items). 

The kitchen stools, ditto - check Google for a guide price. (Are they of a rare and specific vernacular?)

And you are considering walking away, forfeiting your £5k deposit, over this?

Even the gates, if they don't work, are likely to be pretty cheap to repair. And you are considering forfeiting £5k over this?

In the overall scheme of things, that of your short, medium, or even long-term ownership of this house, these things are virtually immaterial. Losing £5k for a not good reason surely isn't?

This is not rational behaviour; it is (over)emotive, in my view.

May I ask if you have a condition that could be influencing your decisions here? If so, do you have a family member, friend or colleague who could help you here to work a reasoned way through to completion?

You shouldn't be 'happy' about walking away over such trivial matters, and the loss of £5k.

As others have pointed out, that £5k contract does make them liable if they don't leave the property 'vacant' on completion, so perhaps this makes them nervous too? Tbh, I don't know if 'vacant' includes such goods, or is it just humans!

The fridgefreezer is worth about £2k second hand (new about £3.5-4k). The washing machine is worth about £500 used. I have accepted they dont want to part with that and that is fine. only issue now is the gates.

Vendors will not repair the gates...and we don't know how much it will cost to repair....

So you haven't pulled out yet?

Couldn't you ask a tradesman that deals in electric gates to give you an idea of cost to replace the whole mechanism so that you know the potential upper range - and then it can only be cheaper from there if only a part needs replacing.

Full kits are only a couple of hundred pounds on Amazon, add on a couple of hundred pounds labour to fit - can't be much more than £500 to get them working again. Or you could temporarily go back to the old way of opening the gates manually until you've settled in and then decide on how you might want to progress from there.

It’s all speculation on the cost of fixing it….
Why aren’t the EA or vendor bothering to even get a quote?

I was repeatedly told that it works by the EA and the vendors were trying to find the fobs etc 

It's a probate property. Sold as seen. Executors may not even live locally. 

ReadySteadyPop

cymruchris said:

This feels more like buyers remorse than a problem with a washing machine and a fridge. If you decide to pull out (which does seem daft on the face of it to me - but it's your money that's going down the drain) - be much more selective with your next choice.

Better to reduce your offer price than to pull out completely?

Tiglet2

As Executor, I sold my late mother's property and there were lots of big and small jobs that needed doing that I didn't want to do.  I couldn't keep driving over there and back to wait hours for trades people for quotes (who might not turn up at all) and then the work, so I agreed with the estate agent that the property was sold as seen and the offers I received (6 offers), reflected the work they estimated they would need to do.  So, I lost a couple of thousand from the asking price, but the price eventually agreed was acceptable to me and the buyer.

If you were my buyer, I would probably have lost interest in selling to you by now.  Being picky about what furniture you want and having a hissy fit over a problem with the gates would have annoyed me.  As the seller, it would be up to them what furniture they are willing to negotiate on.  You don't know if the fridge freezer was being gifted to a relative of the deceased or whether a grandchild buying a home needed the stools.  If the said furniture is not a "Fixture", then generally it would not be included.  The point is, the seller is not willing to sell to you for whatever reason, even though you've offered money.  It's a negotiation between buyer and seller.  As far as the seller is concerned, they are selling you the property, nothing more.

EssexHebridean

I suspect you are on the verge of the sellers simply putting it back on the market in the hope of finding a better buyer to be honest OP.  I think you need to make your mind up - if you want the property, then time to start acting that way. If you don’t then do the decent thing and stop stringing the sellers along! 

Tiglet2

raptor2004 said:

Hi, currently in the process of buying a property and need to understand the process of setting the exchange date and completion date.

Just for a bit of context, I have appointed a solicitor back in early August (made initial payment on 16th Aug) and I have now received my mortgage offer only yesterday. I had received the fittings and contents list from my solicitor around 2 weeks ago and I had a few concerns, one of which was that the vendor needs to repair the front electric gates. I haven’t yet had a response.

Both parties are chain free so I’m not sure what the hold up is exactly. I had contacted my solicitor around a week ago to get a date in for completion but was told that they still need to do their checks and it will take another 8 weeks?! It’s been 6 weeks now from when I appointed them so not sure why it’s taking so long.

so my questions are:

- do I agree a completion or exchange date first?

- how do I go about setting this up and what can I do to expedite it?

I am getting quite frustrated and not sure what to do now. My partner is looking at other properties and we are getting to a point where we may just cut our losses and find another property if this is going to take a long time. 

@raptor2004 You've just said that queries are outstanding.  The process of setting the exchange date and completion date cannot proceed until the queries are answered in full and everything else is ready.

Usually your solicitor will initiate a conversation with you about your preferred completion date and the seller's solicitor will do the same with the seller.  Once a completion date has been negotiated between you and your seller, the solicitors will contact each other to exchange the contracts, but will only exchange once everything conveyancing related has been completed.  Once exchanged, the completion date will be set.  

bobster2

You keep posting the same questions on different threads...

How and when can I agree the exchange date and completion date?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6557996/how-and-when-can-i-agree-the-exchange-date-and-completion-date

I am on the verge of backing out of a property sale. What are my options?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554853/i-am-on-the-verge-of-backing-out-of-a-property-sale-what-are-my-options

It's best to keep things to one thread.

horsewithnoname

What is it you want? Do you want the sale to hurry up and go through like in some of your posts or do you want to pull out? I think your best bet is to decide that first!

jimbog

raptor2004 said:

jimbog said:

At least you know now that the gates are being sold ‘as is’ so that issue has now been dealt with 

not quite, as I was told otherwise by the EA and misled which influenced my decision to go ahead with the sale

What did you ultimately decide to do?