MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should you demand a last-minute property discount? 15 April 2008 at 12:03PM in Money Saving Polls 87 replies 18.7K views

MSE_Martin

Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:

Should you demand a last-minute property discount?

Six months ago, your offer on a new pad was accepted. Now, everything’s in place and it’s just days until you pick up the keys. Yet since you agreed to buy, the local market's dropped by 10%. You know that if you demand a discount, the seller is likely to give it, as she’s desperate to get the deal done and dusted. Yet if you pulled out the chain would collapse and there’d be serious consequences for the five families involved. Should you haggle for some money off the purchase price?

Click reply to have your say

Previous MMDs:

Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?

Should you save a stranger money?

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bobmccluckie

This was done to me over 20 years ago. I would still quite happily shoot the person that did it to me if I ever met them again.

Night_Security

I'd be cheeky and ask for a reduction, if they said no, id still buy anyway as i would have lost nothing, and the chain wouldn't collapse.

Taffybiker

Bearing in mind I am likely to be successful, I would make it clear that in keeping with the market value my offer now stands at 10% less than was originally agreed.
The seller won't like it but will probably take it. If she doesn't, I'd admit defeat and pay up in full.

Dorrie

No - it's morally wrong. You have agreed a price and should stick to it, unless there was something wrong with the property that had been discovered in the survey.

mossy

Absolutely no! :eek: I think it would be really wrong to do that.....maybe I'm particularly sensitive about it because I've sold my house and currently waiting for a completion date.

skylight

You can but ask. Are you really prepared to pull out if you do not get the discount? The worst the seller can say is no and pull out themselves.

brightonman123

that far in, i would expect everyone to have agreed a price, exchanged contracts etc. any fannying about now would be BAD news.

anyway, wouldn't your mortgage have to be redone, for a new figure? delays to the chain may incur charges to other buyers, and get you in trouble.

brownbake

This is exactly the reason why buying and selling properties is such a frustration and why chains collapse!! If the chain is reliant on you being the last link you are going to annoy a lot of people. 10% is quite a big drop in 6months I guess it depends how much you love the property / area. I think the English market should be like the Scottish to avoid gazumping and this shoddy practice. Then again I don't understand why the Scots are so heavily subsidised in healthcare and Education!!

Chrisp

I believe that if you've paid 10% of the asking price when you sign the contract you can't demand a price drop. If that's right and you're selling it would be wise to always demand the 10% deposit and be on your guard if anyone can't pay that amount.
I was always taught that what goes around comes around so do to others as you wish to be done to yourself.

koru

A pretty good guide to this and to many other dilemmas is to ask yourself how you would feel if you were the seller. The right thing to do should then be clear.

Just because you can screw someone does not mean you should. Do as you would be done by is not an outmoded concept.

Some of the responses already given do not seem to have caught on that Martin is asking what you think is the moral/ethical things to do. This is not meant to be a discussion about whether you could get away with it; it is a question about whether you should try.