Re-negotiating the day before a planned exchange on a house
Discussion
Hi all
I had an offer accepted 3 months ago on a house that was in the process of being part exchanged with a builder. The day after acceptance we received a letter from the builder's management company demanding a £250 deposit and also a 28 day exchange. The result of failing to do both would result in the property going back on the market.
Maybe naively I took this very seriously and got all my stuff together to meet the 28 day deadline.
28 days later, nothing. I've pressed the EA, management company and my solicitor has sent umpteen emails to the builder's solicitor but nothing. Not even a peep other than that they were doing their best to answer our queries (year right).
Anyway 3 months on and we are ready to exchange and we've now found out that the delays were due to them not finishing the new build for the current occupiers. The sudden rush (we've received a number of forceful calls from the management company) to exchange/complete is due to the builder wanting to meet his half year end (cheeky b'stard).
To say we're cheesed off is an understatement given we've no chain and have had the money waiting for 3 months. In fact I'm so cheesed off that I'm thinking of giving him an ultimatum. Either knock another £12.5k off the price, for messing us about, or we'll walk.
Naturally we still like the house, so is a risky approach but we will find something else and I'm sure any normal vendor would snap our hands off given we could now exchange very quickly.
However, I'm not sure how many people there are out there that are buying £300k houses with no chain and can offer such a quick sale. From friends that have made the same move, most have had to sell before buying something else, thus resulting in a chain of some sort. Are we in a relatively unique position to be making such a bold move at such a late stage or will this be like a red rag to a bull?
Ultimately it's the builder's fault for completely failing to build the house as promised so has brought this upon himself. The alternative is that we pull out and he has to start all over again.
Any advice would be greatly appreicated.
Thanks!
I had an offer accepted 3 months ago on a house that was in the process of being part exchanged with a builder. The day after acceptance we received a letter from the builder's management company demanding a £250 deposit and also a 28 day exchange. The result of failing to do both would result in the property going back on the market.
Maybe naively I took this very seriously and got all my stuff together to meet the 28 day deadline.
28 days later, nothing. I've pressed the EA, management company and my solicitor has sent umpteen emails to the builder's solicitor but nothing. Not even a peep other than that they were doing their best to answer our queries (year right).
Anyway 3 months on and we are ready to exchange and we've now found out that the delays were due to them not finishing the new build for the current occupiers. The sudden rush (we've received a number of forceful calls from the management company) to exchange/complete is due to the builder wanting to meet his half year end (cheeky b'stard).
To say we're cheesed off is an understatement given we've no chain and have had the money waiting for 3 months. In fact I'm so cheesed off that I'm thinking of giving him an ultimatum. Either knock another £12.5k off the price, for messing us about, or we'll walk.
Naturally we still like the house, so is a risky approach but we will find something else and I'm sure any normal vendor would snap our hands off given we could now exchange very quickly.
However, I'm not sure how many people there are out there that are buying £300k houses with no chain and can offer such a quick sale. From friends that have made the same move, most have had to sell before buying something else, thus resulting in a chain of some sort. Are we in a relatively unique position to be making such a bold move at such a late stage or will this be like a red rag to a bull?
Ultimately it's the builder's fault for completely failing to build the house as promised so has brought this upon himself. The alternative is that we pull out and he has to start all over again.
Any advice would be greatly appreicated.
Thanks!
It really depends on whether you are really prepared to lose the property........I wouldn't reduce the price if I was the vendor, certainly not by £12.5k anyway. But as the vendor is a company they may prefer to just get rid of the property and take the £12.5k hit.....especially as the end of June is approaching....
Cheers guys.
I've got lots of things floating about at the minute and this is one of the bigger ones.
In some ways I don't even want to exchange tomorrow as I don't want him to see a penny of my money until he's actually serious about completing. I appreciate you are covered financially for your losses if you exchange beforehand but out of principle I would rather exchange/complete on the same day. If he fails to get his finger out then he will miss his deadline.
Because of his lack of communication I don't even know if he's solvent enough to finish the new build and needs our deposit to finish off.
He seems solvent on companies house but he also has a number of other businesses that are in the red to the same tune to what he has in the building firm (although I don't know how relevant this is).
Either way I'm booked into the solicitors tomorrow morning so need to bash it out there.
Why do these things get so messy toward the end?!
I've got lots of things floating about at the minute and this is one of the bigger ones.
In some ways I don't even want to exchange tomorrow as I don't want him to see a penny of my money until he's actually serious about completing. I appreciate you are covered financially for your losses if you exchange beforehand but out of principle I would rather exchange/complete on the same day. If he fails to get his finger out then he will miss his deadline.
Because of his lack of communication I don't even know if he's solvent enough to finish the new build and needs our deposit to finish off.
He seems solvent on companies house but he also has a number of other businesses that are in the red to the same tune to what he has in the building firm (although I don't know how relevant this is).
Either way I'm booked into the solicitors tomorrow morning so need to bash it out there.
Why do these things get so messy toward the end?!
I know someone that was selling and the day before exchange the buyer demanded £10K off. He was told to do one. A week later he came back and offered to exchange at the previously agreed price, the seller even though he hadn't found a new buyer still told him to do one. A chain was invloved.
I know someone else that was selling and the day before exchange the buyer demanded £7K off. They got it. No chain was involved.
You take your chances, but be prepared to walk if you don't get want you want.
I know someone else that was selling and the day before exchange the buyer demanded £7K off. They got it. No chain was involved.
You take your chances, but be prepared to walk if you don't get want you want.
I remember being homeless, for 7 months living in a 9 x 9 room with wife and 1 year old (in my parents house 130 miles from my new job) because the buyer of our house insisted that unless we moved, their buyer would pull out, and the seller of the first house pulled out because apparently thier promise that they'd resolve the 'flying free hold issue' that was slowing things down within 2 weeks, was actually bulls
t, and they didn't take kindly to us putting pressure on by asking them to exchange within 4 weeks or we'd have to look elsewhere and the second seller, despite agreeing to move an 8 week exchange, and promising that as they had no kids they could move into rented or even with a parent, had no intention, and when we asked them to exchange they pulled out because we were too pushy.
This and the buyer of our house, who was getting it for a knock down price, then wanting a further £1000 (off a 45,000 house) given that we'd accepted an offer £2K below the asking price which meant I had to find £982 to give to the building society on completion of our sale.
In retrospect. I should have said "No" and made them wait, and NO to the reductions, and NO to believing a word any seller said in order that I spent money on surveys when they had no intention of moving in the next year or so (My new work mate lived up the road from both houses and informed me a year later that I must have really been pushy, because niether house was on the market and nobody had moved.
t, and they didn't take kindly to us putting pressure on by asking them to exchange within 4 weeks or we'd have to look elsewhere and the second seller, despite agreeing to move an 8 week exchange, and promising that as they had no kids they could move into rented or even with a parent, had no intention, and when we asked them to exchange they pulled out because we were too pushy. This and the buyer of our house, who was getting it for a knock down price, then wanting a further £1000 (off a 45,000 house) given that we'd accepted an offer £2K below the asking price which meant I had to find £982 to give to the building society on completion of our sale.
In retrospect. I should have said "No" and made them wait, and NO to the reductions, and NO to believing a word any seller said in order that I spent money on surveys when they had no intention of moving in the next year or so (My new work mate lived up the road from both houses and informed me a year later that I must have really been pushy, because niether house was on the market and nobody had moved.
Oh well, I bottled it and failed to go in with a lower offer. Wuss.
However, I stuck to my principles and we have decided to exchange/complete on the same day. They're not getting a penny from me until they get their finger out. Being a complete bunch of wkers the builder has now threatened to pull out if we don't exchange today. Being a man of principle I will not be bullied or threatened into bending over so am sticking to my guns.
F'ing cheek of it. I've waited patiently for three months while they've been pissing about building and now there's some urgency for them they think they have the right to suddenly make demands. They can GTFO.
But we'll see. Either they can wait 7 days to get their cash or they can wait much longer to find a new buyer. It'll be an interesting week and interesting to see what happens. In some ways we would have been protected by exchanging today but I'm not being bullied into it.
However, I stuck to my principles and we have decided to exchange/complete on the same day. They're not getting a penny from me until they get their finger out. Being a complete bunch of w
kers the builder has now threatened to pull out if we don't exchange today. Being a man of principle I will not be bullied or threatened into bending over so am sticking to my guns.F'ing cheek of it. I've waited patiently for three months while they've been pissing about building and now there's some urgency for them they think they have the right to suddenly make demands. They can GTFO.
But we'll see. Either they can wait 7 days to get their cash or they can wait much longer to find a new buyer. It'll be an interesting week and interesting to see what happens. In some ways we would have been protected by exchanging today but I'm not being bullied into it.
If the builder is bullying you - bully them? Chip 'em £10k and see how they respond.
As someone else has said - the market is toilet and very fragile right now.
I'd make the phone call and say - exchange today on £10k less or forget it.
Can't understand why you continue to behaviourly correctly when the other side have consistently failed to honour their side of things?
I'm all for acting properly, where both sides do so but they 've taken the piss somewhat don't you think?
As someone else has said - the market is toilet and very fragile right now.
I'd make the phone call and say - exchange today on £10k less or forget it.
Can't understand why you continue to behaviourly correctly when the other side have consistently failed to honour their side of things?
I'm all for acting properly, where both sides do so but they 've taken the piss somewhat don't you think?
Thanks guys
We met the current owners when we viewed the place and they were lovely. The house is only 3 years old and immaculate when we viewed so is not a huge deal if they leave bits/bobs behind. They seemed to go for the minimalist look anyway so can't imagine they'd leave it in a heap for us.
The current plan is for them to complete Thursday so that we can complete on Friday. I have no idea if the builder will send round the cleaners (probs not) but we'll see.
We're in the fortunate position that we're renting our house out so the usual stresses with simmultaneous exchange/completion won't apply. We're just going this route so that the builder has to work for the money. If they can't get their act together then they don't get the money. Simple as that.
Of course we are also exposed and stand to lose what we've spent thus far but I can absorb this out of principle.
We met the current owners when we viewed the place and they were lovely. The house is only 3 years old and immaculate when we viewed so is not a huge deal if they leave bits/bobs behind. They seemed to go for the minimalist look anyway so can't imagine they'd leave it in a heap for us.
The current plan is for them to complete Thursday so that we can complete on Friday. I have no idea if the builder will send round the cleaners (probs not) but we'll see.
We're in the fortunate position that we're renting our house out so the usual stresses with simmultaneous exchange/completion won't apply. We're just going this route so that the builder has to work for the money. If they can't get their act together then they don't get the money. Simple as that.
Of course we are also exposed and stand to lose what we've spent thus far but I can absorb this out of principle.
Defo go for it. The builder will have wanted all the figures boxed off for his year end. His next finance may well be dependent on everything he said was going to happen, happening. If you really could find somewhere else if this didn't go through, then chip the builder and give them some of their own medicine.
cashmax said:
Defo go for it. The builder will have wanted all the figures boxed off for his year end. His next finance may well be dependent on everything he said was going to happen, happening. If you really could find somewhere else if this didn't go through, then chip the builder and give them some of their own medicine.
This is a good point. Lots of builders have June as year end and they will need an exchange to count it.Having said that, most builders do not treat part ex properties in this way, they tend to have a rolling pot and the value of the part ex is counted.
Well, after threatening to pull out if we didn't exchange when the builder wanted to we stuck to our guns and went for the exchange/completion on the same day. Lo and behold the builder decided not to pull out (all hot air) so the sale went through and I'm now the owner of a new(er) home.
I was pretty dissapointed with myself for not being brave enough to go in with a lower offer. However, having moved in, I like the house so much that I don't think I could have just walked away. Not without being pretty upset with the loss anyway.
Now that we're finally in I can start looking at a new sofa - after posting up for help in 'Homes, Gardens & DIY' over two bloody months ago!
I was pretty dissapointed with myself for not being brave enough to go in with a lower offer. However, having moved in, I like the house so much that I don't think I could have just walked away. Not without being pretty upset with the loss anyway.
Now that we're finally in I can start looking at a new sofa - after posting up for help in 'Homes, Gardens & DIY' over two bloody months ago!
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