As usual you haven't read the post and made your reply about what you THINK you read.
I said no fees have been paid by the buyer, NOT by the seller. Therefore the seller will have paid fees.
I would feel bad if I pulled out and the buyer had paid for surveys etc, but the sale does not seem to have reached that point.
So up to the seller if they want to lose the estate agent fees to save the £8k fee.
You haven't read my post.
He's not going to be saving £8k at all.lts going to be far less.
He's paid fees to list it and spent money and time doing so. Those fees will need to be paid again when he relists in 6 months time.
If he doesn't sell he then has to pay for the mortgage and it's interest until it does sell in future.
Let's say the market crashes in 3 months and now his flat is worth £10k less. It's likely that could happen with Covid and job losses and the economy tanking.
He then has to re list and spend time and money selling all whilst paying the mortgage on a flat that's now much harder to sell with what could happen several months down the line. Furlough won't last forever.
He then ends up losing £10k in equity, £3k in fees and then another £5k in interest as he kept waiting for a better offer.
He should look at it as getting rid of a property he doesn't want rather than losing £8k as £8k isn't the full cost of backing out.