I am interested to see what the general views and opinions are on this board as I am guessing we will have people who have had experience on both sides of the fence.
As happens a lot, my Dad has just had someone pull out (for the 3rd time in fact) as he is ready to exchange on a house purchase and sale of his house. A generally emotional time anyway as he prepares to start afresh in a new home after Mum died a couple of years or so ago.
In this example, the guy selling didn't have the decency to phone and explain what had happened and why. He just 'doesnt want to sell anymore'. The Estate Agent cant get hold of him, and apparently his solicitor cant get hold of him. My Dad has obviously lost all his survey fees (for the 3rd time), and a chunk of legal fees I guess. And to make matters worse, for reason unknown to me, a young family near the foot of the chain exchanged yesterday - a day ahead of my Dad (I personally cant see how that could work - I thought the whole chain went together) and so are now apparently facing being 'homeless' at Christmas. With 2 kids.
I remember I was utterly livid when it happened to me.
My question is - do you think Mr A. Hole at the top of the chain should be liable for everyone's costs down the chain bearing in mind he has pulled out a day ahead of exchange? Unless somebody can come up with a damn good reason (financial circumstances have changed etc) I think they should be forced to cover the thousands of pounds that they have cost everyone.
Thoughts?
0
Comments
In answer to your question, yes he should be liable 100%. Git.
The house buying system in this country is nothing less than an utter disgrace. Up until the point of exchange, anyone in the chain can pull out for any reason with no comeback. Making or accepting an offer on a property should be legally binding other than for certain, strictly controlled, specified reasons. I believe that Scotland has such a system in place so why not us?
I'm at the point now where I am extremely reluctant to move house, mainly due to the stresses of the system. I am fortunate that we have an end of terrace and have room to extend but if we didn't I don't know what I'd do.
I worked with a guy - (Bastard) - who would take a purchase to the edge and then pull out and then a relative would come in and make a low offer which they needed to to take. Now that is immoral!!
Insurance is a good idea
I had someone pull out on buying my house earlier this year, suddenly decided she didn't want to live in the area. Fair enough I thought, that's why I was moving. Cost me time and money though, as I'd taken the house off the market and turned down other bids that couldn't be resurrected.
A change to the law is difficult because, particularly in the present economic climate, there are a host of genuine reasons such as redundancy, withdrawal of mortgage, relationship breakdown etc, etc why someone may need to pull out before exchange given that the process from offer to that point often takes months.
They say that buying and selling property is second only to bereavement on the stress list and I can well believe it.
I have noticed that most house selling is somewhat of a 'dark art', and the survey even at 'structural' does not include drains or the boiler. I think this can be obtained at a further cost. The house buyers report that banks use, seems just to cover the aspect of wether the property is worth the valuation/mortgage and rebuilding costs.
The so called EPC certificate introduced by Cooper, in the last labour goverment was supposed to speed up the process, although in my opinion it now takes longer for the deals to be completed.
For most people this is a major financial outlay, you would think that HM Goverment would afford people at least some protection against this type of behaviour. Buyer beware.
Personally I am astonished that as a nation obsessed with house prices/ we do not have a fair system in place in 2014 that stops liars and individuals trying to protect people with legitimate complaints.
It would quickly sort out those who were serious and those who were playing games.
About one week before the moving date my wife and I visited the couple to discuss a payment for some curtains that were not part of the house sale.
To our amazement the guy told us he could not move on the agreed day as he could not get the day off work.
We contacted our solicitor who told us that he had to move on the day (Friday) as moneys for the purchase would be exchanged on that day.
After many phone calls between solicitors it became apparent that the man was not going to move on the agreed date.
Our solicitor advised us to move on the day – arrive at his house and await entry and telephone confirmation from the solicitor that the deal had been completed.
We followed instructions and arrived at the house but were denied entry.
To cut a very long story short – the daft bloke ended up paying for overnight storage and insurance of our furniture and overnight accommodation for my wife and I.
He also incurred costs for our and his solicitors to complete the paperwork on Saturday.
Oh the joy of moving house.
The estate agent was a bit miffed, shame. It didnt really impact on the seller to much the house was quite a nice one and was quickly bought by someone else.
It cost me for all the work my solicitor had done plus the normal things. I was able to sell on the the searches and the parish church repair insurance con thing.
I'm sure some would say I didn't behave correctly but I had been strung along for months by a greedy home owner and an estate agent who could never find my telephone number to return a call and generally behaved like a 1980's yuppie. (one in Chislehurst near the pond)
I am sure some of there political ideas have rubbed off on me, and unlike quite a few of the lot on here I was born in Charlton, and lived within the roar of the Valley, on the council estate at the top of the hill.
I could assume that you think I believe that 'Karl Marx famously asserted that property is theft [actually, I'm told the original of this was Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1843 in What is Property?' but when has a fact ever got in the way of a prejudiced point of view?
It's a messed up and expensive process, Algarve's insurance point is a good one.
In the scenarios where the survey showed up issues, surely this would be apparent quite some time before the point of exchange though, which was the point at which Damo's Dad was let down?
In Dad's case, there don't seem to be any special circumstances. The guy has just buggered off and is not answering any calls leaving the whole chain in limbo. All the Estate Agent can say is 'deal is off' essentially.
Dad is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He really doesnt want the family with kids further down the chain in this situation around Christmas, and wanted to consider moving in to rented and completing the chain with him as he doesnt need a mortgage and is a cash buyer.
Problem with that is that at the rate house prices are going up, he could end up losing a (relative amount) in the region of £50k easily if it takes a while to find something. He may end up doing that though, I think.