WeBuyAnyHome Scam

BungalowBel

From what you have said, it does not sound like a scam.

Did the parents have an interest-only mortgage?  Is that why they still owe £81k?  If this is the case, did they not understand that it would not pay down capital?

As for WeBuyAnyHome, they have offered your parents an amount to buy their home.  Your parents could have refused.  But they agreed that price.  There is no scam here.  WBAH's business model is to buy property cheap from people who for various reasons, are not bothered about selling at the  the market value.

If they have exchanged contracts, your parents would surely have been informed by their solicitor that this was due to happen, they must have agreed to it otherwise it could not have gone ahead.

I do not really see any way out of this .  If they have exchanged, then they are legally bound to complete. 

I hope your parents manage to find a way out.  Please keep us updated.

Scotbot

You need to get hold of the contract and get legal advice.

Do not even think of using an online conveyancing firm. Contact 3 or 4 of your local High Street solicitors , explain the situation and go from there. Explain the urgency.  Many solicitors will have on line query forms which you can use to contact them and in my experience they respond quickly. 

Good luck

Albermarle

elsien said:

Part of the trade off and the USP for these companies as well there is they are quite clear that they offer less than the market rate but that is to enable a quick sale. 

However the OP claims that  they have had the house valued and agreed a price that is less than half of its market value. 

That is a very low ball offer by anyone's standards, and it could be an area to be explored by a good solicitor.

They could accuse the company that they must have unfairly pressurised an elderly couple for them to agree to such a ridiculously low price.

I think blatantly unfair contracts can be challenged, but no idea if that would work in this case but might be worth a go.

elsien

That does rather depend on where the OP has got the market value figure from. Their perception of market value and the reality may not be entirely in line with each other. 

I’m not saying you are wrong, but we all know people who are massively overestimate the value of the house when they’re trying to sell it and then are puzzled when 12 months later it’s still on the market. 

I fully appreciate the OP is concerned, and in their place I would have a lot of questions as well but automatically labelling it is a scam and lack of capacity doesn’t really cover the complexities and there’s not enough information here about what the parents thought was happening to really make any sort of judgement either way. 

user1977

Proudlovej said:

 The soliciotors working on the sellers behave have indicatied that contractors have exchange and there is no way out of this deal (We dont believe this to be the case)

Eh? Your in-laws are the sellers - do they have solicitors? If the sale proceeds aren't going to be enough to redeem the mortgage, are Halifax content to turn the balance into an unsecured loan? Otherwise I'm not sure how they're going to complete the sale (and the in-laws are likely to be in breach of contract).

Generally, "normal" consumer laws about unfair contract terms don't apply to buying/selling property - on the basis that everyone (usually!) has their own professionals to advise them, and in any event "unfair" contract protection doesn't include something as fundamental as the price. If somebody wants to sell their property at a bargain price, and not take any professional advice about it, that's up to them.

EssexHebridean

I'd certainly be interested to hear why their solicitors hadn't made extremely clear to them that the sale price wasn't sufficient to clear he mortgage, too - that much would have been apparent once redemption statements were obtained. Actually, that's a further interesting point - the solicitors will have given an undertaking confirming that they will clear the mortgage upon completion - so they would have needed to ask the homeowners for additional funds to allow for this. 

Something really isn't adding up, here. 

GavCB

I'm surprised that the Solicitor who acted for your Parents/in-laws allowed contracts to be exchanged knowing that the outstanding mortgage is higher than the agreed sale price. They would have requested a redemption figure from the Halifax, and then asked your Parents/in-laws if they have other funds (and to prove that they do) to clear the mortgage. 

EssexHebridean

There's an echo in here...

GavCB

sorry! your post wasn't listed when I posted mine otherwise I'd have said nothing!

MyRealNameToo

Albermarle said:

elsien said:

Part of the trade off and the USP for these companies as well there is they are quite clear that they offer less than the market rate but that is to enable a quick sale. 

However the OP claims that  they have had the house valued and agreed a price that is less than half of its market value. 

That is a very low ball offer by anyone's standards, and it could be an area to be explored by a good solicitor.

They could accuse the company that they must have unfairly pressurised an elderly couple for them to agree to such a ridiculously low price.

I think blatantly unfair contracts can be challenged, but no idea if that would work in this case but might be worth a go.

It doesnt normally start that low... normally it will initially be higher but then they find problems with the survey etc and negotiate it down