sale just fell through this afternoon- unbelievable EA

first_time_buyer_X

hi just needed to rant a bit. in final stages of buying first house but sticking point has been an electrical inspection report that surfaced on monday (even tho inspection was done on 25th april). anyway installation classed as "unsatisfactory" and "poor" with a list of 10 jobs that need doing (2 urgently) with quote of £700 + VAT. I rang the estate agents and asked for the asking price to be knocked down by that amount if the sale was to proceed. they cam back next day with £200 off or sale is off threat. don't respond well to threats so i said fine the sale is off. next morning sellers come back with offer of £350 and the suggestion that the 2 jobs had been done by the husband of the couple. i pointed out that to comply with building regs the jobs in the kitchen and bathroom needed to be done by an electrician or inspected and signed off as being ok by one. this was brushed aside because the jobs were "small". anyway i said i appreciated they had upped their offer but said that £600 would be fair. big silence from EA before hanging up.

5 minutes later he phoned me back with a no from the sellers and in remarked we were at stalemate to which he replied no stalemate implied a progression may occurr at some stage and they needed a yes to the £350 or no. he then proceeded to tell me that he thought the sellers were being very reasonable and meeting me halfway. i replied that as THEIR estate agent oyu couldn't really say his opinion was impartial and he then said that altho i kept saying that they had a vested interest in the property being sold that wasn't really true and he would think they were being reasonable whether or not and i had already got a good price reduction (90000 to 87500). then he told me that if i was selling their house i wouldn't have this attitude and one day i would be selling and i would be on the other side and would realise what they were going through.

i was flabbergasted at the emotional blackmail aspect of his argument (probably naivity on my part as an FTB). i told him i couldn't believe he was saying this to me and that as an EA he must realise that sometimes its a sellers market and sometimes a buyers and at the moment the ball is in the buyers favour so they need to negotiate. they would still be getting more than the paid for it which won't be the case in 3-6 months time if the market carries on the way it has been and it was incredible that he was trying to make me feel like a bad person for trying to re negotiate a price on a very valid point. i said i needed to think about the offer. was that unreasonable..sometimes you get so sucked in to the situation that you can't see how you are behaving but i don't think i have done anything that terrible really. to be honest this EA has been aggressive/patronising/rude since day one and part of my bullish attitude about all of this is to do with him which probably isn't wise bringing feeling into the equation

5 minutes later he rang up and said that as of 9am tomorrow the sellers had instructed him to put the house back on the market. again i don't respond well to threats so i said fine the sales off thank you for letting me know and hung up. i can't believe he is advising them to put the house back on when they are so close to a sale..they are all packed up and ready to leave for their "dream home". they won't get what i am prepared to pay them..the house had been on the market for 6 months when i first went to see it. it seems a bit crazy to me.

anyway not sure there was a question in there. oh yes..will i still have to pay the full solicitors fees even is the sale didn't complete i suspect yes since she did all the contracts and searches. am i right??

thanks xx

Kez100

They are going to regret that big time.

You will lose the costs and the fees you will have to pay will depend on the solicitor and your agreement. However, thats the way the cookie crumbles. Cheap compared to buying a home with unsafe electrics - that could cost you your life.

clutton_2

you and the seller have both been acting like childish kids - for the sake of a few hundred quid both of you have lost the house(s) you both want

how silly .....

the house-buying-selling scenario is 3rd or 4th on the list of lifes stressful events - you have clearly let it get to you -

go back and offer what they want and move into the house that you want

building regs for electrics are a fairly recent bit of tom-foolery - folks have been buying houses for decades without this and seem to have got on alright

pinkshoes

It's their loss if they're going to be so an*l over something like that! It could be another 6 months before they get another buyer...

Go find another property, preferably through another estate agent!! £87.5k on a house "worth" £90k isn't much of a reduction, so what you lose in solicitor fees you will probably save on another purchase by getting a better reduction.

Debt_Free_Chick

I very much doubt that the EA is recommending that the house goes back on the market. That's a decision for the seller to make. It's also the seller's decision whether to make any offer for the electrical work.

The seller offered to meet you half-way ..... that's a good result, in my view. To be honest, the seller probably viewed your stance as a threat - pay £600 towards the electrical work or ........????

Whether you have to pay your solicitor depends on the agreement you had. Some do "no sale, no fee" but usually, you have to pay for the work done even if the sale doesn't go through.

Learn the lesson .... you need to negotiate as if this were a business investment. Yes, it's jolly hard when there's so much emotion involved, but none of us act rationally when we're full of emotion.

Negotiating means compromise - not one party pushing the other round to their way of thinking.

TTMCMschine

If they come back tell them that you've now heard that property is falling in price & you're revising your offer to £82.5K

first_time_buyer_X

thanks for the reply clutton


i consider my wrists well and truly slapped (as any child would).

i know you're right..it is childish but that sometimes happens with stress and narky EAs. i shall do some yoga tonight and attempt to regain some serenity and clarity.

of course your rather blase attitude to the building regs will be a comfort to me when i am frazzling in the fire that results from the dodgy electrics

xx
( i am joking by the way)

poppy10_2

Kez100 wrote: »

They are going to regret that big time.

Hell yeah. The average house value is losing £45 a day, a few months down the line £350 is going to seem like chickenfeed to them.

Hold your nerve, I'm sure they'll come crawling back in a couple of weeks time.

amcluesent

I wonder if their estate agent is hoping the sale will fall through, then he(?) can wangle it so that a 'friend' buys it off them on the cheap so they can move? Don't assume the EA is playing a fair hand with either party!

Have you tried going around to the vendors and having an unemotional discussion and look for a solution? How about they sell for £350 less and you both chip-in £350 for the emergency appeals for Burma cyclone victims?

poppysarah

Wow.
That's not nice of their EA to do anything other than pass on information. He's probably cheesed off as they do need sales to go through to get cash through their businesses.

It is silly but on a matter of principal if the person who has now fiddled with the electrics isn't part p registered who knows what they've done.
If you want to be a bit mean then ring Building control and ask them for advice (Tell them the address) and ask if you'd need a regulisation certificate for electrical works done by a non-part p person. He may well say yes (especially if work in bathroom/kitchen) and then you can ring the EA and tell them that the people selling their house now need to spend an arm and a leg because of their resistance to paying for the work to be done properly. (Or wait for the building control to make their day)

OK, so building control might not care, but in theory they have some muscle about electrical stuff.

Neillgb

amcluesent wrote: »

I wonder if their estate agent is hoping the sale will fall through, then he(?) can wangle it so that a 'friend' buys it off them on the cheap so they can move? Don't assume the EA is playing a fair hand with either party!

Have you tried going around to the vendors and having an unemotional discussion and look for a solution? How about they sell for £350 less and you both chip-in £350 for the emergency appeals for Burma cyclone victims?

Why not suggest they ask the EA to waive enough of his/her fee to resolve issue for both the seller and yourselves. Just in case they haven't got a friend to hand:rotfl: