WeBuyAnyHome Scam

saajan_12

Key question: were your parents represented by a solicitor / conveyancer? 

They were the ones that should have spotted the mortgage charge, gotten a redemption figure and questioned how that would be paid if the sale price was lower. 

Note the lender doesn't have to agree converting a secured loan on an asset worth more into a partial unsecured loan. The point of a charge on the title is that they can block the sale until the amount is paid in full. That would leave the parents contractually obligated to a sale which they can't deliver. Even if the sale doesn't go through, they could owe WeBuyAnyHome any and all damages. 

HobgoblinBT

About 10 years ago the. Bank I worked for had a customer who bought and sold homes as an aid to house builders and took about a 10% margin on the estimated price.

I am very surprised that a house buying company has agreed to purchase a house at a price that is less than the mortgage outstanding.  Are you sure that the amount quoted is earlier is the total price or is it the amount the owners will get after webuyanyhome repay the outstanding mortgage?

mta999

There is indeed a way out of this and that is to just not complete the sale

The other party will no doubt issue a 'notice to complete' which your parents will ignore

There will then be financial implications but I'm not sure how much these will be - this is why you need the services of a solicitor.

Even if there are financial implications these cannot be enforced other than by going to court at which point your parents will no doubt plea dementia,  not enough information or whatever,  and it will be up to the judge to decide if this was a fair contract

Yes there is a contract in place to sell the house but judges are reluctant to rule 'specific performance' ie the contract has to be enforced - it will be more a matter of damages and even then it will be a matter of whether the contract was fair or not

Your parents should instruct their conveyance and not complete and they should not sign the transfer

Tabieth

To add to the consensus. They need legal advice asap. 

eddddy

It might not make too much difference - but did your in-laws sign and exchange a sale contract, or did they sign an 'irrevocable option to purchase'?

Generally, house buying companies get the sellers to sign the 'irrevocable option to purchase' first - because it gives the house buying company time to find a buyer (or to walk away if they can't find one).


If they've only signed an 'irrevocable option to purchase', I guess there's the possibility that the ultimate buyer hasn't yet signed a binding contract to purchase. If you can find out who the ultimate buyer is, maybe you can put pressure on them to withdraw before signing. (For example, by threatening a long and expensive court case to void the contract due to lack of mental capacity by the sellers and/or introduce some other "fear, uncertainty and doubt".)

But TBH, the above is a bit of a longshot.



(But having said this, you've named the house buying company in the title and body of this thread. So they're likely to find this thread through search engines, and work out who you are from the details you've given. So maybe it's better not to discuss your plans in too much detail here.)

WIAWSNB

Hi Proudlovej.

"1) ...my mother and father in law have engaged with an online house buying company in the past few weeks they have had the house valued and agreed a price that is less than half of its market value. They have signed a contract for the sale on Friday (21//11/25) at 10:30.

2) They then told the family afterwards, at this point we found out that the Mortgage company had been writing them letters explaining they still had outstanding debt on the property of £81,000 this had scared them into taking this unnecessary action of trying to sell their house. Mother is 69 and father is 79 and is just starting assessments for dementia. 

3) We have contacted the company on Sunday and again yesterday and they have refused to cancel the sale as they have exchanged contracts. We have explained they did not have the financial skills or understanding to make these decisions and this action will leave them homeless on Friday (28th Nov) proposed completion date. We have also learned yesterday that the agreed sale price(£72,000) is less than the outstanding debt on the property this seems to be our only way out of this mess. 

4) The Halifax have confirmed they are not looking to repossess the property and are prepared to work with the family to come up with a payment method or plan.

5) The solicitors working on the sellers behave have indicated that contractors have exchange and there is no way out of this deal."

There's a lot to unpack here, and I'm not in any way a legal bod. Some things stick out for me, tho', that might be useful, but you'd need proper advice to chase this. Re:

1) This all appears to have happened recently and very quickly - past few weeks - and the 'contract' less than one week ago. How was this contract agreed or signed or ratified? I have no idea if there is any 'cooling-off-period' get-out? No idea. 

2) What was the content of these Halifax mortgage letters? Did it 'threaten' repossession? Did it outline ways forward to address the outstanding balance? Importantly, I think, are your parents in a position to continue with this mortgage, even if it needs extending? If they are, then I'd suggest they were acting under a misapprehension if they considered selling their house for below the balance figure would solve their issues. Clearly not a reasoned or rational move, so why would they do this? Did they have the capacity to make this judgement?  

3) You have contacted the company on the 23rd and 24th to explain the situation, the key points made being that you do not believe your parents have the capacity to understand their actions, and that this can be evidenced by the simple fact they will be making themselves homeless in a few days time, and with debts. How did you contact the company? How much of what you said to them can you evidence? I would suggest that this represent the time they were asked to revoke or delay the contract, and that date stands regardless. So get that evidence written down. 

4) Is the Halifax saying this now, or was it also intimated in their earlier correspondence? If it was always the case, then again it suggests that your folks did not understand the situation they were in, or the action they took to 'resolve' it (simply because it wouldn't). 

5) What did they actually say? That, quite literally, it's too late to back out? There is no way out of the deal? Because, obviously, there is, tho' it might cost them*. So their wording is important. Folk have to back out from house sales after EoC for all sorts of legitimate reasons - it is not a 'crime'. 

*How much would this cost compared to the mortgage shortfall and being made homeless? 

What to do? Get legal advice... If they have Legal Protection included in their house policy, then it'll almost certainly include 'contracts', so call them up. Contact CAB. Contact the Telegraph - the only thing they do of value is their Consumer Section or Ask A Lawyer. No, they won't be able to act quickly enough, if at all, but do let Wbah know that you have done so, and that the story is that your parents are being made homeless when they didn't have the cognitive capacity to make a reasoned judgement. "And we have contacted the local paper - the West Coast Chip Paper - too". 

EssexHebridean

In English law, once contracts have been exchanged, that is it, deal done, and backing out at that stage gets VERY expensive in most circumstances. It's also entirely unclear whether the contract that has been signed here is with the "WBAH" people - in which case it could be that they were willing to agree to a mutual termination of the contract - or direct with a third party buyer. If the second possibility, then that could be an individual who is fully expecting to be able to move in to the property on Friday, and would themselves be homeless if that did not happen. 

Right now, the only person that the OP/the homeowners needs to contact is a contract specialist solicitor. 

In any event - the OP needs to return if we are actually to get to the bottom of what has gone on here - and as I said yesterday, at the moment, there is a lot that doesn't add up.