Thanks Gents!
Sorry, I should have pointed out that in England and Wales, once the offer is accepted we have about three/four months of legal crap including the engineer's surveys etc. before the deeds are transferred (and it becomes legally binding) and any money changes hands - so yeah, this guy has saved a real load of hassle and money - because whilst the vendor can possibly* claim any work etc. on their buildings insurance, we'd have to pay for it ourselves if we continued with the sale as the insurance companies wouldn't insure us on a known defect.
*that's assuming the extension/building work was legal, which is increasingly looking like it wasn't, as the seller can't produce any paperwork to say otherwise - so their insurance may not cough up either and they may well also be prosecuted by the local council. The stupid thing it, if we bought the house, we'd actually be liable, even though we didn't do the work!!!
So we're having to back out of the sale which is annoying, but not as much as having our new house falling down around us! We have love about £4000 in legal payments and surveys etc. which we can ill afford - but what can you do - the house buying system in this country sucks.
The real pain in the arse is we were hoping to get there sometime in September, so my son can start the new school year in his new school, but now even if we like one of the houses we're going to see over the weekend, it's going to be November or December before we get there - As John pointed out, we're probably going to have to rent for a while to bridge the gap, although again this is going to cost money we haven't got, as you can only rent over here for 6 months minimum in most case. Tbh hones we might end up living in a caravan (Trailer or camper van) for a few months as it might be cheaper.
It's all very good fun....
