Buyer pulled out

saajan_12

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. 

Well the reason is how would you distinguish between the buyer pulling out because they changed their mind, and pulling out because there's major issues with the house. If you wait for them to check there's no major issues, then at that point you would be ready to exchange. 

Bigphil1474

OP, we were the third buyer for the house we bought last year. Their first buyer pulled out for personal reasons, and their second buyer died a week before exchange was planned. The vendors had been packed up for months by the time we turned up. Still took another 4 months to get sorted. It's a rubbish system, but it usually gets there in the end. Obviously, lots of people have their finger in your pie of money.

caprikid1

ReadySteadyPop said:

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

Sorry the article as always does not fit the narative you are trying to pedal.... don't let facts get in the way... do you ever read beyond the title ? or is it CHATGPT research.

"The good news is, the annual fall-through rate has been edging down in recent years. And it’s significantly down on 2020 during the pandemic, when 43% of property sales collapsed."

wittykitty24

whizzywoo said:

It's very frustrating and I do feel for you opening poster.
We've had the same happen to us three times in the last 12 months.

The worst one was the 3rd time we sold it, a cash sale to a developer.
On the date when Exchange & Completion (together) should have taken place our buyer could not be found.
Not answering his phone to the Estate Agents or his solicitor.
Turned out he was in hospital with a heart attack.  Two days later our EA managed to contact him and he had decided not to proceed due to his health.

We had already moved out in temporary accommodation for the 2nd buyer.  So up for sale it went again and it was 4th time lucky for us.  Bought and sold with money in our bank in less than 3 weeks.  They decided not to do the searches which made it much quicker.

I hope you sell it quickly this next time.

Sorry to hear this happened to you, sounds absolutely awful. That is the only saving grace, at least we aren’t packed up ready to move like I am hearing a lot of. I think I would have a breakdown if that happened to me (especially as we have a baby and a young child)! 

Glad it worked out in the end for you and hoping for a quick resale for us.