Russell & Butler Limited

I was in two minds whether to respond or not, however the more I thought about it, the more unjust I feel your comments are. This transaction has never been straightforward and what amazes me is that most of the delays were caused by you moving the goal posts and subsequently being completely inflexible on anything. This includes a time delay so long it cost the chain to lose a first-time buyer whose mortgage offer ran out which could not be renewed. This somehow became our fault. When another buyer was found out of area, not by us, that buyer also pulled out, still seemingly our fault. At this point despite our buyers offering considerably more than their original accepted offer you sold to someone else by another agent. At that another complete chain was in place but you chose the other party. Meanwhile we continued to push on with the chain to the point where they were all, but for a couple of points, ready to exchange. Our buyers then offered even more on the basis an exchange of contracts could take place by a given date and they were prepared to move in with relatives to meet your now new completion date. The reason they wanted the exchange by a certain date was so they could complete their sale allowing their buyer to save their own mortgage offer, otherwise the rate would increase so high she could no longer afford to move. As you will no doubt be aware the mortgage market is in turmoil currently and your buyers found that unknown to them their lenders criteria had changed and they were no longer able to extend their mortgage offer to tie in with your completion date. Perfectly justifiable reason to request an earlier date but again your inflexibility came to the fore and you decided to drop them again in favour of your other buyer. To be honest how you have treated our buyers has been cruel, they have hung on through thick and thin and done everything they could to buy your house. The following is an extract from our buyers about us: "I will say though that you have been nothing but utterly professional and have had the utmost tact and diplomacy when dealing with such a difficult woman. We thank you for that and the hard work you have put in for us. You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty in trying to secure us a home." I am happy we acted correctly, honestly and professionally at all times.