Buyer can't meet offer / My Rights? Scotland

mepone9

Looking for some advice here
I had accepted a written offer on my house from a first time buying couple through their solicitor exchanging in 6 weeks, last week got a phone call from buyer saying they could not get all the money that their mortgage had not agreed before they put in the offer, decided to accept less which they could afford to keep the deal on, their solicitor said NO to this and that they would need 6 more weeks to complete for even less money, we were supposed to complete at the end of this week. We then refused and put the house back on market, we are meant to be exchanging on another property the same day. Our solicitor has told us these people are not liable for any costs lost by us. Is this true.

merlinthehappypig

It's hard to say from what you have said.

Whilst it's true that buyers and sellers are legally bound at an earlier stage than in England, it depends very much on what stage you and your buyer had got to.

The written offer isn't binding, despite what the media would have us believe.

The deal is only legally binding once the missives have been concluded (similar to pre-contract enquiries in England). Even then, the buyer usually has some get out clauses.

That said, an inability to get the mortgage isn't usually one of them, unless this was built into the contract.

It's not unusual for the missives to be concluded without a formal mortgage offer though, which seems odd. This was certainly the case with our buyers and our solicitor said it was usual practice.

It seems to me most likely that you hadn't concluded the missives in which case you won't have any comeback on the buyer at all.

I'm sure your solicitor knows more than a bunch of people on MSE and he has said that you have no comeback. Unfortunately I don't think any Scottish solicitors post on here. There are some excellent English ones like Richard Webster, but Scottish law is very different.

If you can find out from your solicitor exactly what stage you were at and why you have no comeback, you could get a second opinion from another solicitor.

Just watch out that you don't legally commit to buy on your new house before you have a legally binding sale on yours.

cazmanian_minx

I'm not a solicitor, but I am buying a house in Scotland at the moment. What was in your offer letter to the buyer, was it accepted and were missives concluded?

My offer letter from the seller states that if I fail to pay the entire purchase price by 2pm on the date of entry, I'm in breach of contract. I have 28 days to pay the balance, during which interest will be charged at 5% above Barclays standard variable rate, and if I don't come up with the money, the seller can rescind the contract, put the house back on the market and I am liable for a) his costs and b) any difference in price between what I'm paying for it and what it sells for, if it sells at a lower price.

I agree with merlinthehappypig, it does seem likely that missives weren't concluded, in which case your buyer does have the right to walk away from the purchase with no penalty.

Caz