can banks back out of a property sale?

hi, I was purchasing a property, from a bank, via an agent, assisted by a lawyer whose name is listed on gov.uk website, deposit paid, contract signed by both sides, power of attorney signed, money transferred to Spanish bank account, proof of earnings all done, just waiting for NIE appointment, on the ball throughout, etc... then approx. 3 weeks down the line, the bank just sent an email saying they now decline my offer thank you good bye. no reason, no explanation, and leaving me with about a £1000 loss in euro exchange rate transfers, plus notary fees, plus whatever the lawyer wants!

i've been told that each side pays a security deposit, if one backs out the other side gets it, and this is to stop gazumping. yet I'm NOW told the bank can do what they like, no penalty what so ever! is gazumping illegal?, but banks CAN do it?? incredible.

after viewing around 40 properties now, until I decided on this one in Quesada, I had heard an endless range of info and supposed required processes that have to be followed, in order to buy a property in Spain. each agent tells me a slightly different version. how the heck do people like me who know nothing about spain property purchases, get to follow the correct path if everyone official insists on their own route. there must be thousands of successful purchasers in spain, yet all I have ended up with is a lawyer and an agent who are blaming each other for not giving me the right information, and a financial loss for nothing.

I have total respect for everyone out there who is successfully owning a property. and it looks so easy on TV. what a nightmare though. good luck to all those yet to embark on this mission, based on my experience, make sure you have a reserve cash amount you are prepared to lose. any tips or advice appreciated.

This awful for you. I hope you can get some good advice on here about what you can do about this. It can't be right!


Jan.

I think you should ask your lawyer. They should be able to answer your questions, they are acting for you. Good luck

I was told, by the estate agent,when we bought our house, that if we didn't go through with the purchase then we would lose our deposit, We were also told that of the vendor pulled out, they would have to pay us double whatever we had paid out as a deposit, What difference it makes that the vendor is a bank, I don't know

That is dreadful behaviour by the bank. They should be named and shamed. They should not be able to get away with that.

Garsyl - what you've said is correct.

We had a purchase fall through last year because the vendor pulled out. We had our deposit returned, plus the deposit (less agent's commission) on top.

Great for us as it turned out, as we found a better (cheaper) property and spent the deposit on a lot of new stuff!

The whole "bank" thing does seem unreasonable, though...

Hi we used PM Property in Quasada Kevin and his family offered a FIRST CLASS service made everything go so smoothly was a real pleasure

I think you're only entitled to compensation when the vendor pulls out if you've signed an offer contract which sets out those conditions.

Pete.

Banks are a nightmare to deal with. They make sure the contract is 100% in their favour, with clauses allowing them to abuse their position in any way they see fit. They regularly change their minds when they think they can get more money elsewhere and show a total disregard for people trying to buy their properties. I've been through this myself on two occasions, as stated here before, and both times it was a nightmare.
It seems everything with repossessions either goes great, or horrendously, there's no in between. Now I wouldn't even think about buying from a bank now unless it was for speculation and I didn't really "need" the property because I would likely be disappointed again.
So sorry this happened to you and I agree that it's about time banks were controlled more in their practices when selling repossessions.

This is a terrible situation, see a laywer as fast as you can !