Sold my house -Nightmare of a purchaser
Discussion
Sounds very much like the buyer of my last place, a complete b
h who made life hell for everybody up to and beyond completion. I did get my own back, as I knew she was desperate to purchase (it was a very unusual property & a rare opportunity) I threatened to pull out unless she coughed up another £2.5k, which after some whining she did 
Any calls after completion I suggested she checked her deeds or called her solicitor as I was unable to help, rather amusingly 'somebody' had left loads of old tins of paint & other junk in the garage, she must have left the door unlocked
h who made life hell for everybody up to and beyond completion. I did get my own back, as I knew she was desperate to purchase (it was a very unusual property & a rare opportunity) I threatened to pull out unless she coughed up another £2.5k, which after some whining she did Any calls after completion I suggested she checked her deeds or called her solicitor as I was unable to help, rather amusingly 'somebody' had left loads of old tins of paint & other junk in the garage, she must have left the door unlocked
friend had similar, arse of a purchaser deciding on the day of exchange to get difficult about a conservatory. (it was falling off the side of the house - but this was not new news, having been identified by the survey, purchaser on viewing etc. It was a known issue.)
End result of this was that we had a phone call and had 3 hours to make the house match the agreed inventory: There had been lots of "that workbench, you'll leave that will you. That lampshade, you'll leave that will you" conversations between my mate and the purchaser. None of this had been written down, so the inventory was well short of what the purchaser was expecting.
There wasn't even a cat hair left if it wasn't identified on the official docs. Clean as a whistle. Proper Victor Meldrew take the lightbulbs time (and where lightfittings had to remain they were replaced with 20W stoat warming bulbs). Quite amazing how many things 10 people can find to remove from a house if they have to.
FIL had similar when selling his large house in chilly scotland. House was fitted with a hugely expensive and complicated Alpha/AGA thing built in which was the sole provider of heat. The control unit for this was (not sure why) hidden behind a false panel in another room. Whereas before he had been intending to leave the panel open with the instructions next to it he responded to the buyers brinkmanship by turning it all off, pulling the fuse, aralditing the panel shut and burning the instruction manual. No hot water, no heating, no cooker. House exchange was in december.
He took great delight in pointing out what an ahole he thought the buyer was when he got the "can't work out how to turn it on" phone call and then offered no help whatsoever. No idea how long that took to sort out.
End result of this was that we had a phone call and had 3 hours to make the house match the agreed inventory: There had been lots of "that workbench, you'll leave that will you. That lampshade, you'll leave that will you" conversations between my mate and the purchaser. None of this had been written down, so the inventory was well short of what the purchaser was expecting.
There wasn't even a cat hair left if it wasn't identified on the official docs. Clean as a whistle. Proper Victor Meldrew take the lightbulbs time (and where lightfittings had to remain they were replaced with 20W stoat warming bulbs). Quite amazing how many things 10 people can find to remove from a house if they have to.
FIL had similar when selling his large house in chilly scotland. House was fitted with a hugely expensive and complicated Alpha/AGA thing built in which was the sole provider of heat. The control unit for this was (not sure why) hidden behind a false panel in another room. Whereas before he had been intending to leave the panel open with the instructions next to it he responded to the buyers brinkmanship by turning it all off, pulling the fuse, aralditing the panel shut and burning the instruction manual. No hot water, no heating, no cooker. House exchange was in december.
He took great delight in pointing out what an a
hole he thought the buyer was when he got the "can't work out how to turn it on" phone call and then offered no help whatsoever. No idea how long that took to sort out.Amazing how many buyers are unaware that once contracts have been exchanged they are tied in. I pushed for a rapid exchange on one place as the buyer was a bit of a dick and all things pointed towards him playing silly buggers. Had exchanged and date set for completion 30 days later. Lo and behold day 28 the buyer starts making noise about this that and the other demanding 20k off the agreed price. I took great pleasure in informing him what exchanging contracts meant and reminded him that a fat chunk of that 20k would be coming my way if he failed to complete on time.
JPJPJP said:
If the buyer asks for £10k off on the day of exchange and you say no (as you should) then the buyer is very unlikely to pull out as she would forfeit her deposit wouldn't she?
No they only pay the deposit on exchange.They do lose the survey costs and probably legal fees too.
As others have said, it seems to be absolutely standard practice now to ask for say, £10K off, and then meet half-way.
scdan4 said:
FIL had similar when selling his large house in chilly scotland. House was fitted with a hugely expensive and complicated Alpha/AGA thing built in which was the sole provider of heat. The control unit for this was (not sure why) hidden behind a false panel in another room. Whereas before he had been intending to leave the panel open with the instructions next to it he responded to the buyers brinkmanship by turning it all off, pulling the fuse, aralditing the panel shut and burning the instruction manual. No hot water, no heating, no cooker. House exchange was in december.
He took great delight in pointing out what an ahole he thought the buyer was when he got the "can't work out how to turn it on" phone call and then offered no help whatsoever. No idea how long that took to sort out.
He took great delight in pointing out what an a
hole he thought the buyer was when he got the "can't work out how to turn it on" phone call and then offered no help whatsoever. No idea how long that took to sort out.
Yes we had the buyer from hell too with my Dad's bungalow. Day my Dad died I get a phone call from a chap which started off, "I hear your Dad's died, I want to buy his bungalow and we can cut out the agent and you can sell it to me cheap". OK with you?"
I was really pi**ed off with that, not a word of commiseration or sympathy, just straight to the point. Anyway I took his number and said I'd call him back in a few weeks. He called me every day asking for "my best price". In the end I got an agent round to value it at £200K so I phoned him and said he could have it for £210 no negotiation, decide today or it goes on the market tomorrow. He came round, had a look and offered me £185. By this time he'd so wound me up that I countered with £215 and he moaned that I'd put it up and said I can;t do that. Told him it's my house and I can sell it to whoever I want for whatever I want and that I didn;t like his attitude. I told him that's what negotiatings all about, getting the best deal for yourself.
He went away and called me later the same accepting the £215. But he was a right ar*ehole the whole of the deal moaning about everything and wanting me to leave more and more stuff. In the end I took everything to the dump just to be spiteful. Oh and I got my £215 out of him
I was really pi**ed off with that, not a word of commiseration or sympathy, just straight to the point. Anyway I took his number and said I'd call him back in a few weeks. He called me every day asking for "my best price". In the end I got an agent round to value it at £200K so I phoned him and said he could have it for £210 no negotiation, decide today or it goes on the market tomorrow. He came round, had a look and offered me £185. By this time he'd so wound me up that I countered with £215 and he moaned that I'd put it up and said I can;t do that. Told him it's my house and I can sell it to whoever I want for whatever I want and that I didn;t like his attitude. I told him that's what negotiatings all about, getting the best deal for yourself.
He went away and called me later the same accepting the £215. But he was a right ar*ehole the whole of the deal moaning about everything and wanting me to leave more and more stuff. In the end I took everything to the dump just to be spiteful. Oh and I got my £215 out of him
We had it the other way around. Agreed a price and all was going along fine, when a few days before exchange they wanted 10k more as there was 'another buyer' who was keen to buy the house and had offered that. I was ready to refuse this and walk away, but my other half really liked the property so I was presuaded to pay it. Still leaves a bad taste as I know we got done over, but thats life.
Will be putting my place up for sale in the next week or two ( Scottish system ) - reading your thread has made me think about a few things such as taking photos of light fittings etc. After your ordeal I'd be interested in any advice you had about selling. Last time I sold a place I bought the place I'm in now which was the place of my buyer ! Long story but he ended up buying mine and I bought his - both bought at valuation. I ended up treating the old boy as a friend - that was wrong since when we moved in there were a few things that were not right and we ended up paying to rectify them ( boiler problem for one ) because we didn't want to annoy the old boy or get nasty via solicitors letters etc
Anyway - hope things have calmed down for you now. If you had any advice on selling I'd like to read it. I think avoiding getting in any way friendly - no matter how pleasant they are will be my first step. being pleasant on viewings is it for me - everything else is dealt with via solicitor !
Anyway - hope things have calmed down for you now. If you had any advice on selling I'd like to read it. I think avoiding getting in any way friendly - no matter how pleasant they are will be my first step. being pleasant on viewings is it for me - everything else is dealt with via solicitor !
nobodyknows said:
Sounds very much like the buyer of my last place, a complete bh who made life hell for everybody up to and beyond completion. I did get my own back, as I knew she was desperate to purchase (it was a very unusual property & a rare opportunity) I threatened to pull out unless she coughed up another £2.5k, which after some whining she did
Any calls after completion I suggested she checked her deeds or called her solicitor as I was unable to help, rather amusingly 'somebody' had left loads of old tins of paint & other junk in the garage, she must have left the door unlocked
Lucky they didn't leave a few slightly open freezer bags of sardines or prawns under floorboards here and there..h who made life hell for everybody up to and beyond completion. I did get my own back, as I knew she was desperate to purchase (it was a very unusual property & a rare opportunity) I threatened to pull out unless she coughed up another £2.5k, which after some whining she did Any calls after completion I suggested she checked her deeds or called her solicitor as I was unable to help, rather amusingly 'somebody' had left loads of old tins of paint & other junk in the garage, she must have left the door unlocked
s1962a said:
We had it the other way around. Agreed a price and all was going along fine, when a few days before exchange they wanted 10k more as there was 'another buyer' who was keen to buy the house and had offered that. I was ready to refuse this and walk away, but my other half really liked the property so I was presuaded to pay it. Still leaves a bad taste as I know we got done over, but thats life.
Similar happened to me in '99. On day of exchange vendor asked for extra 12k as prices had gone up since we agreed the purchase. The time had dragged out only because the vendors had mucked around another vendor who had refused to sell to them. They had now found somewhere else but it was more money.Told them to sling it. We found somewhere else later that year.
The biggest thing for me, having thought about it all weekend is what exactly she hopes to achieve by all this? Arguing over a £15 light shade just beggars belief and makes me wonder what else she has discovered over the weekend. Image her surprise when she finds out the wheelie bins aren't empty!
Republik said:
The biggest thing for me, having thought about it all weekend is what exactly she hopes to achieve by all this? Arguing over a £15 light shade just beggars belief and makes me wonder what else she has discovered over the weekend. Image her surprise when she finds out the wheelie bins aren't empty!
I'd have been tempted to leave a big unflushed ste in each lavvy just for good measure; some people just go out of their way to make life difficult!Republik said:
Arguing over a £15 light shade just beggars belief and makes me wonder
I think your verbal response over the phone to her need to include a lot of swearing and offense.If she learns a torrent of abuse is her only reward for bugging you she'll stop.
If you want to be more polite then just wander off leaving the phone open, or get callerID and pretend to be the local double glazing salesman and try to get her to buy some windows etc. Lots of fun to be had.
The light fittings will have been mentioned in the fixtures and fittings form. I would ignore her. Her solictor won't care as she will be paying for him to write to you even though he will know there is no chance of any redress.
I bought a house a few years ago and it stated in the contract that the sellers would leave the (large) koi carp in the pond but take their light fittings (they wanted £200 for them and they were old lady 1960's brass things with plastic fake candle holders for the bulbs that were yellow and rotted)
On completion all the fish had gone and all the light fittings (tat) were left.
Some people are just plain dishonest.
I bought a house a few years ago and it stated in the contract that the sellers would leave the (large) koi carp in the pond but take their light fittings (they wanted £200 for them and they were old lady 1960's brass things with plastic fake candle holders for the bulbs that were yellow and rotted)
On completion all the fish had gone and all the light fittings (tat) were left.
Some people are just plain dishonest.
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