question about house purchase.. thoughts please..

charliee_3

morning all, we are in the process of buying our first house. i think the chain is about 4 people long as far as i can work out. It is all going through and nobody has been chasing us, now suddenly we hear that the top of the chain is going mental as they want to move ASAP and they are thinking 2 weeks... aaaagh.. we cant do 2 weeks.. we havent started packing yet as we were waiting for at least an idea of dates (we were thinking july) so we could get the boxes off the removal man. we need to give at least a months notice on our house that we are renting and whilst we dont mind a small overlap as we want to change carpets etc in the new house before we move the furniture in, we dont want to pay for loads of extra time as we are not made of money. Our tenacy doesnt even come up till august so i've already got to go and beg the landlady to let us go a month early if we moved in july, but 2 months early.....

its so annoying.. we've heard nothing nothing nothing nothing then suddenly its all panic and everyone else has apparently agreed on june even though we werent even asked!!?

is this normal, can they bully us into moving before we are ready to?? are we being unreasonable? the top people have apparently threatened to pull out over it (again- first we hear about it -solicitor hasnt heard anything ether).. would they do this over a couple of weeks or are they just flexing their muscles?.. !!!!!!. we are still waiting for a reply to one of our questions from the vendors of the house we are buying over the fixtures and fittings list and have been since beginning of may...i dont want to proceed without sorting out all the issues first.. we have completed the contract pack and the deposit is wth the solicitors so they can see we are serious

what would you do??

poppysarah

If your questions are not all answered then you're not ready to complete.

However have you no contingency for renting until the end of your tenancy?

And moving in two weeks - heck you can pack on the day of the move if you really want (It's tiring but less tiring than ripping open boxes to find stuff you packed up weeks before)

pawpurrs

Yes this happens all the time, and in a chain like that, theres allways one, that wants it all their way.
How long has the chain being going, if its a couple of mths surely you knew this point would be coming up, and should have started to speak to your LL etc, august is mths away!!!
Get on to your soliceter and get those outstanding queries answered, and then your ready, I think it would be pretty unreasonable to make them wait untill July.

charliee_3

thanks for your reply, sorry.. maybe ive been confusing (wouldnt surprise me, my head is buzzing with all the stuff i have to do!) we are renting, our tenancy ran from aug last year till (for some reason i cant remember), nov this year, but there is a clause in the agreement that says we can leave after august with 2 months notice.. i am hoping that as our landlady is a nice and reasonable lady she will be ok with us leaving a month earlier than august with notice as we will help as much as we can, letting people look round etc and we have been model tenants.. anyway.. i am hoping it will be ok on that side, so we can stay here for as long as we need..its just sooner than we hoped... i suppose its not supposed to be completly stress free is it and in a few months it will all be forgotten about...

hethmar

Thats right, house buying doesnt go smoothly and I think you should be glad that the chain seems to be in place and ready to move. Go with the flow.

slipp_digby

Have you exchanged contracts yet - I assume as you have queries outstanding regarding fixtures and fittings then you havent?

Dont sign anythig until your are 100% sure, its a big purchase.

BUT

I think it would be reasonable to meet them part way, as when you move house it is always inconvenient and expecting the whole chain to hang about because yout tenancy runs out in the summer seems a little unreasonable. Your want to work on the house before moving in, so some overlpa with tenancy will give you this opportunity (although it will cost £££).

I am sure that if contracts are to be exchanged and a reasonable compromise date agree this will be back on track.

hethmar

Im also concerned that your solicitors doesnt appear to have kept you up to speed on what is happening?

charliee_3

i dont think the solicitor has kept anything from us, i dont think anyone else has actually mentioned dates to them at all, (we only found out about all this coz OH went into the EA on he off chance that the finacial advisor could give us a good quote for insurance.. (could it be the EA giving a bit of flannel to push it through for their commision?). we were on holiday for 1 week, but i had my mobile if anything urgent came up (like 'you need to be moving in a month' for example).. and they have chased several times for the info from the vendors solicitor so i think they may be the weak link in the chain and arent passing info down... we have signed the paperwork and sent it back, but the solicitor said they keep it on file until all the issues are resolved, it stop it being held up once all ready to go...

i've left a garbled message for my landlady trying to explain and asking her to call me (why does my mouth not work properly at the moment lol...???), they did know we were in the proess of buying so it cant be that much of a surprise to them.. i think we need to start planning in earnest now and just see what happens...

charliee_3

stupi question but if we do have an overlap of a month do we have to pay full council tax on both properties or just the one we are living in??

pawpurrs

If the rental property is going to be empty you won have to pay CT there, if the LL is as nice as you say she is, now she knows when you are going she will be able to advertise for new tennants, and if she can find someone to come in as soon as you leave, then I am sure she wont charge you rent, be as accomadaing as you can letting her have access straight away for viewings.

hethmar

The person you need to be asking is your solicitor. If he is not aware of this push from the top of the chain, then you may not have anything to worry about.