Pulling out of a house sale

Reasons Why It’s Worth Pulling Out of a Home Purchase Following a Survey

During the process of purchasing a property, homebuyers should have a survey conducted to check for any serious issues with the property. A survey can bring up a range of issues that might have gone unnoticed at the viewing such as structural problems, issues with damp, mould and rot, and much more. Understandably, some buyers might not be as excited about a property if they find out from the survey that it’s going to take a lot of time and money to repair the issues.

Pulling Out of a House Sale After Survey – Why It Happens

Buyers can pull out of a house sale for various reasons, but unsatisfactory survey results are some of the most common. Many buyers are not interested in fixing up a house that has problems and wants to move into a property that they can live in straight away while feeling safe and being able to enjoy the property. If your buyer has had a survey conducted and is now pulling out of the sale, chances are that something has come up on the survey that they do not want to deal with.

Is It Worth Pulling Out of a House Sale After a Survey?

Before the exchange and completion dates and after your offer has been made, you can pull out of the sale for virtually any reason. After learning more about a property from a homebuyer’s survey or similar is when most buyers will decide to pull out. Whether this is worth it is entirely up to you and your circumstances and preferences. You may decide that you still want to go ahead with the sale if you are happy with a property that can be a renovation project. On the other hand, if you don’t want to move into a house that has problems that you will need to repair, pulling out of the sale is always an option.

What to Do if My Buyer Has Pulled Out?

Negotiating the price to be more favourable for the buyer is often the first thing to do if your buyer is talking about pulling out of the sale due to the results of their survey. Often, the reason that buyers decide to pull out is that after getting the survey results, they no longer believe that the asking price for the property is worth it. You could offer to reduce the asking price by the amount that the buyer will need to pay in repairs as is detailed in their survey results. However, bear in mind that some buyers are not looking for a house that they will need to carry out any work on.

My House Buyer Has Pulled Out – Next Steps:

Another option to consider is committing to making the repairs yourself. If your buyer wants to pull out of the sale as a result of the survey since they do not want to move into a house that needs work done, you can commit to making the necessary repairs in your exchange contract, which will then become legally binding. However, bear in mind that this can be a lot of extra work for you as the seller and could mean that you end up spending more money than you planned, which may not always be possible if you are also in the process of buying a new home.

What to Do When Buyer Pulls Out of House Sale?

Unfortunately, there is little that you can do if your buyer decides to pull out of the house sale at the last minute. Buyers in England have every right to pull out of the sale or withdraw their offer on the home before the contracts are officially exchanged. This is because the buyer is not legally obliged to purchase the home before the exchange of contracts, and they are not liable to pay any of the costs that the seller might have incurred during the process. Because of this, it’s advisable to avoid paying out any fees until the buyer has had their survey completed and they are still happy to proceed with the sale. It’s also worth noting that at this point, the buyer has also spent money and as a result will be less likely to pull out of the sale. You can ask your solicitor to hold off completing any work until you are sure that you are not going to be losing any money.

What to Do if House Buyer Pulls Out Due to Survey Results?

If a buyer decides to pull out of the sale, this can be very stressful for the seller since it can lead to major issues if you are about to complete on your new home or have already purchased another property. To keep the property chain moving and reduce the risk of losing the property that you are about to purchase, it is worth finding a first-time buyer or a cash buyer since the process tends to go faster during these instances.

Buyer Pulling Out of House Sale – Final Words

Unfortunately, it is often impossible to avoid incurring fees when a buyer pulls out of a house sale. Research has found that just over half of home sellers incur financial expenses at an average of just over £2,700 when a buyer withdraws. Around 12% of sellers ended up paying more than £5,000 in costs, which included legal and conveyancing fees, legal searches, and surveys on purchase properties. For this reason, it can be worth holding off on anything that is going to cost you a significant amount of money either during the process of selling your own home or when buying a new home until you are sure that the buyer is going to commit to the sale.

If you are a buyer, having a survey conducted on a property can bring up issues that might change your mind about buying the house. For sellers, it’s important to be prepared for the survey to change the mind of even the most interested buyer.

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