Q. I had sold my property and was due to exchange last week with a completion set for the following week. However I was devastated to receive a call from my solicitor saying that my buyers had decided to pull out of the purchase for personal reasons. I am still in shock as you might well imagine having already arranged removal vans and having most of my possessions in boxes. I just don’t understand how the law allows buyers to do this; surely there must be some way around this dreadful situation that would prevent buyers from pulling out without good cause. I would understand if they had found a problem with the lease that couldn’t be resolved or a major issue with the building but surely people can’t just walk away with no real apparent reason without any kind of comeback?
A. Unfortunately at the moment I am afraid they can and it happens probably more frequently than you would care to imagine! Sadly the British property laws allows the sale or purchase of a property not to be not legally binding by either party until exchange of contracts, and both sellers and purchasers alike can walk away with just their solicitors bill to pay for the conveyancing and the surveyors’ and mortgage arrangement fees, a drop in the ocean when you consider the impact this kind of action bestows upon the other party! There is at the moment little that you can do to prevent this happening, in the past many have demanded a large non refundable holding deposit be put down by either side to form some kind of commitment from both parties but even that is not without its troubles as solicitors are never really keen to move forward with deposits as there are so many clauses that the deposit would be subject too that its usually pretty much useless. The only suggestion is to continue marketing the property whist the sale is agreed and running, this way other interested parties can be lined up in readiness in case this horrible position rears its ugly head a second time. The only issue with this is it works just fine for you as the seller but the new buyer would likely object to having the property remain on the market whilst they have committed themselves financially by having a survey instructed and appointed a solicitor to carry out the conveyancing. A move towards the Scottish way of things would be the best solution where once you have an offer accepted the deal becomes legally binding.