Buyer pulled out

ReadySteadyPop

Albermarle said:

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.

Or they may have found a cheaper/better house that gave more value for their money?

wittykitty24

poseidon1 said:

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

Thank you I did not know about this, will be looking into this going forwards!

grumpy_codger

If it's true that more than a quoter of sales collapse, I'd be surprised if this insurance was really 'cheap'.
And it's unlikely to pay for your wasted time and for the loss a buyer makes if house prices go up after several months (or a seller makes if prices go down).

wittykitty24

Thanks everyone for your comments. I do feel like it has been mentioned that they may have found another property and as they have led us on before. 

They viewed our house twice and both times said they were going to buy it/put an offer in the next day etc. First time they just went AWOL after the viewing and then after the second viewing said they had found another property for the same price that was slightly bigger downstairs. They then came back with an offer on ours a week later after that seller wanted £20k extra. 

So we always had a niggling feeling that they may pull out, but as they had paid for the searches on our house and done all the paperwork we thought that they were set on buying. Gutted is definitely the feeling! 

user1977

wittykitty24 said:

poseidon1 said:

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

Thank you I did not know about this, will be looking into this going forwards!

Be aware that such policies are very restrictive in the types of scenario they cover (e.g. from a quick look at that link, the first option of policy wouldn't have helped you here). So you might be better just budgeting for some abortive costs, rather than suffer them anyway plus pay for useless insurance.

ReadySteadyPop

wittykitty24 said:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I do feel like it has been mentioned that they may have found another property and as they have led us on before. 

They viewed our house twice and both times said they were going to buy it/put an offer in the next day etc. First time they just went AWOL after the viewing and then after the second viewing said they had found another property for the same price that was slightly bigger downstairs. They then came back with an offer on ours a week later after that seller wanted £20k extra. 

So we always had a niggling feeling that they may pull out, but as they had paid for the searches on our house and done all the paperwork we thought that they were set on buying. Gutted is definitely the feeling! 

Do you have interest from other buyers?

pinkshoes

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. 

So the race begins .

Put your house back on the market ASAP. At a reduced price too. 

As you have already had searches done and are ready to exchange then you're still in a better position to buy than others and could still be the quickest option for them.

Albermarle

ReadySteadyPop said: if

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

I thought a 25% to 30% drop out rate was historically normal, so not sure 2024 was much different from any other year

penners324

MynameisMichaelCane said:

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.

It also takes a ridiculously long time. 

It should take a 3/4 weeks maximum not 5+ months

Skiddaw1

OP, it's horrid isn't it? We were in just the same position the first time we tried to sell previous house. It wasn't the buyer's fault- one of them was unexpectedly made redundant- but it's still gutting. We were gazumped on a previous house sale too.

On the positive side, both times we eventually ended up with houses we liked far more than the original ones and if you don't find another buyer quickly and lose your onward purchase I hope it's the same for you.

And I agree- for all it ain't perfect I'd far rather have the Scottish system.