Due to complete today then this happened...

princessposh

Thanks to everyone who's posted replies...you have all confirmed what we think is going on!!
Catti - is right the vendors solicitor is liable if he agrees to exchange without a final redemption figure .
The BS so far are refusing to give redemption figure until exchange contracts hence the "rock and hard place" scenario.

No doubt we aren't being told the whole truth...our dilemma is how long this could go on and what if anything we can do to break the deadlock?? We really want this house.

Lastly could i be right in thinking that the BS could be considering reposession hence the reluctance to give a redemption figure? If so what are the chances of buying it as a reposession? We are ready to complete!.

Thanks again

maninthestreet

Call the vendor's EA, and make it clear to them that unless exchange takes place before a reasonable date (end of this month?), you will reduce your offer to reflect changes in house prices since you made your offer.

princessposh

Thanks Maninthestreet....its something we are considering. My only concern as the agreed price was 75K under the asking price of £350 ( price he paid for it in july 07) i'm wary of reducing the price much further and losing the property. Granted the place needs some work which was reflected in the offer along with the market conditions but the last time a similair property was sold on the estate sold at £275 was 2003! Having said that its worth a go!

jaynes2326

Ask your solicitor to exchange Contracts with a clause added to the Contract that completion is conditional upon the BS providing a redemption statement and the seller having funds to discharge the mortgage.

Then sellers solicitors can exchange, knowing that they will then get a redemption statement from the BS and in the unfortunate event of seller not having enough to pay off the mortgage, they don't have to complete the sale.

You will need to NOT pay a deposit on exchange. It doesn't help you much as you still have the uncertainty but it seems this would break the deadlock.

Talk over carefully with your solicitor.

sarah_elton

Sounds like a very strange policy from the building society in question - can you tell us which company it is? Although same day exchange and complete isn't common, it's not exactly a one in a million occurrence either so presumably no sellers who have mortgages with this BS can do it?

Also agree with others that it sounds like a very odd policy since the seller is committed to selling once you exchange, but can't work out precisely how much he owes until the redemption figure is received, and therefore doesn't know with absolute certainty that he can sell!

I sold recently, also in negative equity. HSBC told my solicitor the redemption cost well before exchange. The vendor's solicitor should tell the BS the planned completion date, and they should give a redemption cost as of that date. If completion is subsequently moved, obviously the figure isn't valid.

We were selling to a cash buyer who wanted to move fast. We'd hoped to exchange one day and complete the next but ended up exchanging and completing on the same day due to a slight delay in my buyer's transfer of funds.

The only thing is, the BS will want ALL the redemption money on completion day. That means the seller must transfer sufficient funds to his solicitor to cover the negative equity in advance. That way, on completion day, his solicitor gets your money, then adds it to the money from him and sends it all to them in one go. In fact, they'd never know there was a negative equity situation if they weren't told.

Catti

I recently had tremendous difficulty getting a final figure out of a lender - the sellers were in arrears and the figure had to be obtained through the Solicitors who had started possession proceedings. It took me days to get a final figure because they would not communicate effectively. It would not surprise me if this was the same situation.

p00hsticks

I know it's no help in this case but WHY is it so common now to try exchange and complete on the same day. When I first started buying houses you always had several weeks between the two and you avoided a lot of this sort of thing.....

princessposh

The vendor asked for a 28 day exchange which we agreed and worked too. This was the reason exchange and completion were arranged for the same day.
I've heard from our solicitor today - apparently the solicitor has lodged a formal complaint with the financial ombudsman. The vendors BS has apparently agreed to send a final statement to him directly so were told we might hear something in a couple of days!!!...yeah right!.

The BS in question is B'ham Midshires -
Thanks for the suggestion of asking for exchange with a clause which may help if what we've heard today is bull****!!!

Margin_Walker

Might not help any but I know some lenders are careful about issuing redemption figures for mortages that are in arrears.

At HSBC they would only usually issue a figure on the effective date when an account was at a certain level of arrears. As far as I can gather the rationale for this was the unpredictable nature of any legal/solicitors costs that may be added to the balance in relation to any court/collections activity that may be ongoing at the time. Obviously wouldn't help you much if you were trying to buy the house though!

tomterm8

princessposh wrote: »

Thanks to everyone who's posted replies...you have all confirmed what we think is going on!!
Catti - is right the vendors solicitor is liable if he agrees to exchange without a final redemption figure .
The BS so far are refusing to give redemption figure until exchange contracts hence the "rock and hard place" scenario.

No doubt we aren't being told the whole truth...our dilemma is how long this could go on and what if anything we can do to break the deadlock?? We really want this house.

Lastly could i be right in thinking that the BS could be considering reposession hence the reluctance to give a redemption figure? If so what are the chances of buying it as a reposession? We are ready to complete!.

Thanks again

Withdraw from the sale. Wait for the house to be repossessed. Buy at auction at a 30% discount.