Vendor taking the mick?

mrstinchcombe

Long story which I will keep as simple as I can.

I put in an offer end of November on a terraced house which was accepted. Turned out the property was leasehold and there wasn't long left on the lease, in fact there werent enough years on it for anyone to get a mortgage on the property so the deal was the vendor bought the freehold before selling the property to me for the agreed price.

The vendor was quoted a ridiculously high price for the freehold (12k!) but if he wanted to sell the property he would need to buy the freehold anyway. I did everything my end but weeks went by with the vendor negociating a price for the freehold and all this time I was quite patiently waiting. Eventually a couple of weeks ago both the parties agreed a price and the sale was back on.

Now though nothing is happening. My solicitors have requested information from the vendors solicitor (regarding planning permission on a couple of things etc) and its taking two weeks (and counting) for my solicitors to hear back from them.

Am I at a point where I can give a date I want the sale to complete on? The vendors soliciotrs don't seem to care but I'd feel a date would aid things.

Advice appreciated.

milliejo

I would get onto the vendor himself & ask what is going on as if his solicitors are not supplying information its usually because they are waiting for it from their client.
dont give a deadline to exchange unless you really intend to walk away from the deal.

mrstinchcombe

milliejo wrote: »

I would get onto the vendor himself & ask what is going on as if his solicitors are not supplying information its usually because they are waiting for it from their client.
dont give a deadline to exchange unless you really intend to walk away from the deal.

Thanks for the reply

To be honest I can't contact the vendor. I don't have his number and he doesn't live at the property. The solicitors wont contact them as they aren't allowed.

I don't intend to walk away but I really don't want a poor solicitor holding things up as I have been VERY patient so far!

SavingSteve

Are you buying via an EA? Can the EA step in and contact the vendor?

getmore4less

What if the reason for the delay is there is no planning.

mrstinchcombe

getmore4less wrote: »

What if the reason for the delay is there is no planning.

Then tell me now and stop wasting my time, if there is no planning then messing me around is even worse!

Contacting the EA is possible, they have the vendor's details, cheers!

poppysarah

What's not got planning on?
Our council has a really good search system so you can look at planning permissions granted

hamblettamaud

i may be wrong, but isn't there a law somewhere that allows freehold to be bought compulsorily by the person living on the land?

i mean, if i own a house on 100-year leasehold, i am allowed to buy it from the leasehold owner, and the amount is fixed. & i think it's quite a low amount, like £3,000 or so. am i right or wrong in this?

mrstinchcombe

hamblettamaud wrote: »

i may be wrong, but isn't there a law somewhere that allows freehold to be bought compulsorily by the person living on the land?

i mean, if i own a house on 100-year leasehold, i am allowed to buy it from the leasehold owner, and the amount is fixed. & i think it's quite a low amount, like £3,000 or so. am i right or wrong in this?

Well I don't think there was any danger of the freehold owning company of not selling it, but if the amount you quote is true then the amount they paid is about 3 times too high.

Which would suggest hat by missing that their solicitors are more incompetent than I had imagined!

hamblettamaud

mrstinch, on the price, i read that somewhere it was something like £3,000, but like i said i could be wrong. i do know that you can make an application to compulsorily buy freehold.

mrstinchcombe

hamblettamaud wrote: »

mrstinch, on the price, i read that somewhere it was something like £3,000, but like i said i could be wrong. i do know that you can make an application to compulsorily buy freehold.

Cheers, luckily the purchase of the freehold has been sorted now but def something to bear in mind in the future.

I'm just a little annoyed that I now feel my initial patience has been exploited and others are taking the mick. 3 months and counting for a ftb to purchase a property with no chain and noone actually living in it. Its crap.