Guidance on Money Back from Seller Post Completion

Charlie1985

Hi All,

We are in the process of purchasing a property and very close to exchange. We agreed a sale price of £608k and the vendors advised they would repair a broken fence which we highlighted to them between exchange and completion. Note the vendors have moved abroad.

Yesterday the estate agents informed us the vendor will now give us £2,000 post completion to repair the fence damage.

We have agreed to this and let our solicitor know however they have advised they now need to let the lender know and this needs a change to the purchase price as a result. They keep saying they are acting for the lender also.

We are trying to explain to our solicitors we don’t want to change the purchase price as it will add delay to exchange and complete ie the bank needs to review and amend our offer. We just need something to confirm the seller will pay us £2,000 on completion.

Grateful if anyone can advise on options we have to help move this forward. Is amending our mortgage offer really the only option here?

Note we don’t trust the estate agents word so need this £2k fence repair payment in writing so it’s legally binding.

Kind Regards
Charlie

Wyndham

I'm not an expert, but you are paying your solicitor for legal advice. If they are advising a course of action, it will be for a reason. If you don't understand why, talk to them to find out. They should know more than a bunch of random strangers on the internet!.
 

MeteredOut

Even with something written, I'd not be risking being owned £2K by people who have moved abroad.

And you'll save a little stamp duty too with the £2K reduction in price.

I suspect your solicitor has to do this, as the purchase is now £606K so that's what has to be recorded. Your solicitor is right that they're also representing the lender.

kingstreet

If this £2,000 remains as you want it, it becomes part of a vendor gift/incentive; not permitted outside the newbuild sector.

Your solicitor is correct. This has to be documented as a price reduction, so the £2,000 comes to you as a lower payment on completion.

EssexHebridean

Echoing that the Solicitor is correct - they do have to advise the lender about the effective change in price, and it would be incredibly unusual for the lender not to want to issue a revised offer.  It's the only way that this sort of arrangement can really be made. Your choice is - accept that it will be done that way, but that it may slow things down a little, or alternatively pay the current price and accept that you will have to pick up the tab for the fence repair.