Buyer pulled out

wittykitty24

Accepted offer on our house 2 months ago. Cash buyers which was great and they were super keen to get moving. We found a perfect property and had our offer accepted, short chain as they were buying a new build which was ready in 2 months time. Our buyers did all paperwork, searches etc. on our house, we were close to exchange and we signed our contract last week for the sale side.

Yesterday our buyer pulled out due to “personal circumstances.” We are devastated and the house we are buying are not willing to wait for us so have out their house back on the market at a reduced price. 

For the house we were buying we had paid upfront fees to solicitor and around £500 for the searches. Will we lose the money for the searches if we cannot buy that house (due to it possibly selling before we get another buyer)? Luckily we have 6 months grace with our solicitor so won’t lose all of our money. 

We can’t believe there are no penalties for pulling out of buying a home in England when you’re close to exchange, it’s just wrong. 

Mark_d

Conveyancers I've used in the past don't charge fees where the sale/purchase does not complete.  Of course you lose search fees, survey fees...that's just a risk you take.  As with any contract, it can be cancelled until there's firm agreement.

gm0

It's been like this for decades.  Nobody is committed to anything pre-exchange.  I lost survey fees as undisclosed "2nd string" buyer to an unscrupulous seller who had a transaction on the way to being locked in - in much the same way. 

It's a rough game but it works the way it does.  And hasn't changed legally in forever. 

People make assumptions about how it "should" work or how other people will behave (decently) and this wishful thinking occasionally bites. As here and with my transaction.  Good luck next time.

youth_leader

So sorry, it is absolutely devastating and there is absolutely no come back for you at all.  Until exchange everything including the goal posts is changeable.

My EA were urging me to 'move fast' because my 'cash buyer' wanted to 'move fast'.  I sold my gigantic Tetrad sofa for peanuts to a couple (who then sold it on ebay for a huge profit).  I should let it go as a bad experience but I gave them my very favourite cushions and wolf throw, they seemed so nice!

A week later the cash buyer pulled out by email at 7 pm at night.  He didn't have the cash, his ex wife in Sweden had it and he wasn't getting any of it.  

Tiglet2

You can let your solicitor know that you would be willing to sell the searches to a new purchaser.  The new purchaser and their solicitor may purchase them (for quickness) or may say that they require new ones - totally up to them of course.  Searches do expire after six months so if a new purchaser doesn't appear anytime soon and they require a mortgage, they may not be willing to purchase 'old' searches.

Nothing is legally binding until exchange has taken place unfortunately.

grumpy_codger

wittykitty24 said:

We can’t believe there are no penalties for pulling out of buying a home in England when you’re close to exchange, it’s just wrong. 

How about pulling out of selling? This happened to me twice and the first time cost me about £1K in solicitor's fees.

MynameisMichaelCane

I cannot believe that such a terrible system exists in this country. I wish Martin Lewis, or someone with similar expertise, would look into it and come up with a better system for buying and selling houses. We should all be lobbying our MPs as well to sort the system out. With all the advances in technology during the past decades surely there must be a better way.

poseidon1

wittykitty24 said:

Accepted offer on our house 2 months ago. Cash buyers which was great and they were super keen to get moving. We found a perfect property and had our offer accepted, short chain as they were buying a new build which was ready in 2 months time. Our buyers did all paperwork, searches etc. on our house, we were close to exchange and we signed our contract last week for the sale side.

Yesterday our buyer pulled out due to “personal circumstances.” We are devastated and the house we are buying are not willing to wait for us so have out their house back on the market at a reduced price. 

For the house we were buying we had paid upfront fees to solicitor and around £500 for the searches. Will we lose the money for the searches if we cannot buy that house (due to it possibly selling before we get another buyer)? Luckily we have 6 months grace with our solicitor so won’t lose all of our money. 

We can’t believe there are no penalties for pulling out of buying a home in England when you’re close to exchange, it’s just wrong. 

Consider obtaining cheap insurance for exactly this kind of financial loss in future.  See link below to an article on the subject. 

https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/homebuyer-protection-insurance/#:~:text=Buying a home is stressful,should your purchase fall through.

Other insurance companies are available, I used Rhino Protect in 2020 and successfully claimed when my vendor withdrew the property I was buying 1 day before contracts due to exchange. 

I would not dream of selling or buying within England's dysfunctional conveyancing system without  utilising such polices. Been doing so since 2004.

Albermarle

Accepted offer on our house 2 months ago. Cash buyers which was great and they were super keen to get moving.

Another example that having a cash buyer is not always the advantage it seems. I have obviously no idea what happened in this particular situation, but they do seem to be more prone than most to not completing deals. Couple of possible reasons;
1) They are not as committed to a deal as someone in a chain, or even someone who has set up a mortgage, so if they have a bit of a wobble about buying ( which is common) then can easily pull out.
2) The cash is not as easily available as they make out, when it comes to the crunch.

ReadySteadyPop

wittykitty24 said:

Accepted offer on our house 2 months ago. Cash buyers which was great and they were super keen to get moving. We found a perfect property and had our offer accepted, short chain as they were buying a new build which was ready in 2 months time. Our buyers did all paperwork, searches etc. on our house, we were close to exchange and we signed our contract last week for the sale side.

Yesterday our buyer pulled out due to “personal circumstances.” We are devastated and the house we are buying are not willing to wait for us so have out their house back on the market at a reduced price. 

For the house we were buying we had paid upfront fees to solicitor and around £500 for the searches. Will we lose the money for the searches if we cannot buy that house (due to it possibly selling before we get another buyer)? Luckily we have 6 months grace with our solicitor so won’t lose all of our money. 

We can’t believe there are no penalties for pulling out of buying a home in England when you’re close to exchange, it’s just wrong. 

It is also very common now

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/more-than-a-quarter-of-property-sales-collapsed-in-2024-heres-why-278309

wittykitty24

grumpy_codger said:

wittykitty24 said:

We can’t believe there are no penalties for pulling out of buying a home in England when you’re close to exchange, it’s just wrong. 

How about pulling out of selling? This happened to me twice and the first time cost me about £1K in solicitor's fees.

Oh I agree. I meant as in both ways buying and selling as know it can happen the other way round too.