House buyer backs out, any recourse?

devastar

Hello,

I don't really know if there is anything I can do but I would love if anyone had any advice about this. We put a house up for sale in May and it sold within two weeks, thankfully for more than the asking price. The contract was prepared and with the contract was sent to the buyers solicitor in mid June. We received a list of 13 queries from his solicitor at the end of July. Some of these were quite complicated and involved me tracking down a retired engineer to pay for him to prepare an addition to the cert of compliance, specific requests we needed to get from the council which took time and the bank sent an incomplete mortgage discharge which they took two months to rectify. We sent everything back in August and received additional queries from the solicitor. Despite all this we finally had all the documentation ready in September and sent it to the buyers solicitor.

We got word today that the buyer is backing out of the sale. He was called by the estate agent to see what was happening with the contact and he said there were planning issues with the property and offered to pay half of what he had agreed to pay in May. I am livid. His solicitor had me running around all summer to get information that my solicitor found very unusual but when she queried them on it they weren't budging and now he backs out! The house is a trust house for my disabled brother and we can't move forward with renovations to his house until this one sells and I'm so frustrated!

I think he was just messing us around all summer so that we'd be desperate to sell in the winter and would take his offer. Do I have any recourse? Can I ask for him to pay for the documentation his solicitor asked us to get? Can I keep the deposit?

Gumbo

devastar wrote: »

I think he was just messing us around all summer so that we'd be desperate to sell in the winter and would take his offer. Do I have any recourse? Can I ask for him to pay for the documentation his solicitor asked us to get? Can I keep the deposit?

Sounds like he is chancing his arm trying to get it cheaper.

No you cannot ask him to pay for the documentation, as you can now use the same documentation for any future possible sale. Planning Compliance Certificates, and any other requirements will be required no matter who you sell to so you would of having to get these anyway.

seamus

devastar wrote: »

Do I have any recourse? Can I ask for him to pay for the documentation his solicitor asked us to get? Can I keep the deposit?

None, no & no.

As said, all of the documentation and reports you would have had to obtain anyway.

Call his bluff and reject his offer. He has invested significant time in this too.

devastar

We have already refused the offer and the estate agent is contacting the runner up bidder. It's been months so he may have already purchased something else.

I don't understand why the buyer is chancing his arm at this stage or why is using planning issues as a reason. Apparently he was talking to the estate agent every two weeks, he had surveyed the property, there are no planning issues that I can see that were not in place from day 1.

The Compliance cert we had was fine, it had the planning application number on it to identify the site (it's rural so there's no number or name) and we had maps form the planning office showing the site with the application number. In addition we had a declaration of identity from the person who signed the cert showing the site, the planning application number and the works to be carried out. The solicitor rejected all of this and insisted we get a letter from the person who signed the form 20 years ago saying that the certificate of compliance related to the site in sale. They wouldn't budge on this, I think now the didn't actually expect me to get it.

They asked for confirmation from the Council that the LPT band was right as the house sold for two bands higher than it had been valued by an estate agent in 2011, even though the documentation says that a valuation in 2011 will be the same until 2016. They didn't accept the mortgage discharge cert that said all mortgages were discharged, they wanted it reworded to name both. They wanted me to sign an affidavit stating that no alterations had been carried out to the house in the 20 years since it was built, which I couldn't do as I was a minor for the first three years it was built.

My solicitor said she'd never seen a more complicated house sale before.

groovyg

If your estate agent has gone back to the runner up bidder then that person is not likely to give you the price you are looking for. Have you put the house back on the market?
There are also buyers out there who've been given the run around by vendors I saw a thread on the property pin recently where a buyer was sale agreed two months and the vendor then changed his mind about selling so unfortunately it works both ways.

seamus

devastar wrote: »

They asked for confirmation from the Council that the LPT band was right as the house sold for two bands higher than it had been valued by an estate agent in 2011, even though the documentation says that a valuation in 2011 will be the same until 2016.

Actually that's standard. If you sell a property two bands (or more) above your last LPT valuation you either require an exemption cert from Revenue or you have to revalue your property and pay the shortfall in LPT.

They didn't accept the mortgage discharge cert that said all mortgages were discharged, they wanted it reworded to name both.

That seems fair enough tbh. If there are two names on the deeds, but only one on the mortgage discharge cert, the second person could theoretically have a mortgage on the property.

Sounds tbh like the other solicitor was just exceptionally anal about everything. That may just be him, or it may have been the purchaser asking him to find reasons to argue you down on price.

In any case, you've gone through all this pain now, you won't have to do it again when you actually do sell.

devastar

It wasn't in two names, the original mortgage was extended a small amount five years after it was taken out. The original discharge said all mortgages were discharged, the solicitor wanted the extension named.

I suppose you're right, at least we have all the documentation that any new buyer could possibly want so hopefully the resale will go quickly. I would happily sell it to the runner up for €10,000 cheaper if he will buy quickly. I would happily have done that in May.

I'm just so frustrated that he has no intention of buying when he bid and was just messing us around to try and get the price down! This isn't me trying to make a fast buck, I'm trying to plan an estate legacy to look after my brother for the rest of his life, I get nothing from this sale or to compensate me for the months of running around that this buyer has made me do.

Deagol

devastar wrote: »

It wasn't in two names, the original mortgage was extended a small amount five years after it was taken out. The original discharge said all mortgages were discharged, the solicitor wanted the extension named.

I suppose you're right, at least we have all the documentation that any new buyer could possibly want so hopefully the resale will go quickly. I would happily sell it to the runner up for €10,000 cheaper if he will buy quickly. I would happily have done that in May.

I'm just so frustrated that he has no intention of buying when he bid and was just messing us around to try and get the price down! This isn't me trying to make a fast buck, I'm trying to plan an estate legacy to look after my brother for the rest of his life, I get nothing from this sale or to compensate me for the months of running around that this buyer has made me do.

I can appreciate your frustration but I would say that the buyer is likely spending the largest amount of money he/she will ever spend in their life. Caution is not surprising if you think about it. You have nothing to lose if any of the paperwork is not correct but they could potentially have a very large amount to lose.

The buyer has engaged the services of a solicitor for legal advise and I most likely think the solicitor is the one who is asking for all the documentation etc .

handlemaster

Put it back on the market.

The_Conductor

Some solicitors seem to have issues with conveyancing and basic property transactions- I've come across a few cases recently- including 2 forwarded by posters in this forum- where the most ridiculous questions were being asked- such as one solicitor who was demanding an apartment management company vest a parking space in a property being bought- apparently she wanted the purchaser to 'own' the parking space- and delayed the purchase for over 6 months- through an obvious incomprehension of how management companies work- and have common areas vested in them. They buyer lost that property- and found another (also an apartment). The solicitor then sought a legal undertaking from a separate management company that the balcony and surrounding areas were for the sole enjoyment of the proposed purchaser. Once again the sale fell through.......

That purchaser now has a new solicitor- and an offer on another property (all told just over a year later- and they've been living out of suitcases for most of the last year)

A lot of the solicitors who specialised in conveyancing- have left- many of them have emigrated- there is a whole company from West Dublin who are working together in the same practice in London- and this is not unusual.........