Should I back out?

oblib

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Okay - here is the story:

Booking Deposit of 6K put down on a 315K home early November with EA.

We've been mislead several times already by the EA and home-owners.

1)Initially told the vendors are looking to move out right away. See below but we're not even close yet.

2) We viewed the home once and told the beds could be included in the contents (decent beds). The next time we came back to see the place again they had replaced two of the beds with manky bunk bed split apart.

3) Told several times and explicityly by the EA that the dishwasher would stay - it is now not in the 'draft' contract.

4) Purchase price listed on 'draft' contract is now Eur 317K - raised by 2k although we have prior documentation with our intial agreed amount. Not sure of the motive - likely trying to draw the process out further since the sale has taken so long already. Very cheeky indeed though.

Are these vendors trying to completely fool us??? The way I see it, someone has to be responsible for the estate agent making empty claims and that is ultimately the vendors.

I know no one can judge how much we'd like to live in this place but I'm more curious what exerienced people would think.

Thanks!
 
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Tricky situation indeed and seems a bit like they are trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
You will have to ask yourself a few questions yourself.
Are you under pressure to move and if the answer is yes then you may be as well to stick with it and have your solicitor fight your corner - if you say the documentation is in place at the 315k price this should be done easily enough. It would take you longer maybe to find another house and then wading through the whole legal process with that one will take 6-8 weeks approx all going well.
Is this house the one? Have you planned to have it as a home for a long period of time? Are there other houses in the area that are for sale that you like that you could view/put offer on? Is the area the only area you want to live in or are there others that you considered.If all or some of these options are available I would not stick around to be made a fool of.
On another note personally I wouldn't take contents like beds if included in the sale, I'd get my own.
Best of luck with the whole lot I hope it works out.
 
Its hard to say right now how replacable we feel that house is. By the price its nothing too fancy but could suit us for quite a while if it had too.

With that said though - there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of choice right now in places we are looking for our budget so in some ways we are tempted to fix the blatent errors on the contract and move on with it. But we're determined to NOT get pushed around on this one.
 
Whether you decide to proceed or not, document all the details of the effective 'breach of contract' and ensure they are submitted in a written complaint to the estate agent, and copy to your solicitor and the IAVI. This is just the type of crazy messing around that estate agents have been getitng away with for a while, and the more people that confront these issues the better for everybody.
RANT OVER!

In relation to your quandary, I think you are certainly within your rights to withdraw form the sale if you so wish and recover the deposit paid. Don't know the area, but anecdotally, there seems to be much more property on the market these days than a few months ago, so maybe you should consider your options. The current state of the market would also suggest to me that you won't lose any money by waiting, but then again I can't speak for your specific area.
 
Any idea how long the house is on the market? If I was under no pressure to move I'd pull out of the deal, telling the EA that you didn't appreciate being messed around and planned on submitting a complaint to IAVI (for all the good that will do).

If the house is still on the market in a few weeks I'd start the bidding again only this time, I wouldn't go above €310k (and I'd start much lower than previously). This way, if you succeed, the extra €5k is reasonable compensation for being messed around.

Might teach the owners a thing or two about trying to sell in a flat market as well.

Meanwhile, with all the property currently up for sale, you may find something even better!
 
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