Sale about to fall through - advice needed

hoolah

Any advice or suggestions much appreciated...

We sold our house very quickly to cash buyer and we had offer accepted on a house in late June. We told the EA that we wanted to move quite quickly so we didn't lose our buyer and they told us the vendor had other property to move into (while their new house was being done up) so there was no problem with this.

So here were are in mid Sep still no exchange of contracts. Our vendor took over a month to find the planning documents which materialised as soon as our solicitor was going to ask the council for duplicate copies. We are now at loggerheads over a completion date as we want to move asap and it turns out our vendor's not ready to move and wants as long as possible between exchange and completion.

We are considering pulling out completely due to being messed about so much (getting mixed messages from the EAs also) but not ideal as we would either need to move into rented to keep our sale and lose money on survey and mortgage fees etc. or just forget it all and wait until next year and hope we sell our house as quickly again (there was a lot of interest and it was only on the market for 2 days).

So, we are considering giving them an ultimatum that if we don't exchange tomorrow and agree completion date within next 10 days we will pull out, or we would agree to an extended completion date for a small reduction of purchase price (for inconvenience).

It's really frustrating as if the vendor had been honest from the start we might be more sympathetic and prepared to wait longer.

Sorry for long post but any advice would be very welcome,

Many thanks.

Cannon_Fodder

Take the cash. Get into rental. It will put you in a much simpler situation, and stonger negotiating position, when you find something else to buy.

DVardysShadow

As Cannon Fodder says. But to put pressure on your vendors, make it very plain to vendors EA that this is what you intend to do and once you have signed a rental contract, the offer is reduced by the rent for the whole term of an AST if they become ready to exchange and you will also look for another property.

Only do this if you are prepared to follow through and rent, otherwise, you could look foolish.

hoolah

Thank you both. We would be prepared to go into rented as last resort and i asked our EAs (also vendors EAs) for details of their rented properties earlier today to emphasise our intent. Although it sounds like the EAs are fed up with them also, and said they wouldn't blame us for pulling out.

We do need to clarify our mortgage fee for the extra money we needed, which we have already paid out, and it will be frustrating to lose our current mortgage rate which we wouldn't beable to keep in rented accommodation. But to be honest i think we would be prepared to sacrifice this to stop being strung along..

Cheers again.

Doozergirl

"Much stronger position"

Not really. Without a chain is nice but it's not worth the money that some people seem to think it is.

I think you should try to speak to your vendor directly. Ask them when they are planning on moving, explain that your buyers have been waiting and that they are threatening to pull out.

Frankly, there's never a reason to simply throw your toys out of the pram. If you want the property then you need to negotiate your way around this issue, both with your buyer and your vendor. You don't sound keen on moving into rented to break the chain; neither would anyone be if they genuinely wanted a house. Do you really need to move quickly or is it simply your desire and you've become frustrated with the whole thing? If you can push for immediate exchange with an agreed completion date then in theory, everyone should be able to relax a bit more.

Remember that sometimes you do have to compromise but leave the rented thing until you've exhauted all other avenues with your buyer. It is frustrating and I have been there before and shed the tears to prove it. I actually moved into rented and to be honest it was a really bad decision. We ended up moving house four times instead of once because we accommodated our buyers after it was their buyers making the whoole thing drag along so long that we lost the house that we were buying. I'm glad we lost that house thinking back, but we should have held firm until we were ready.

hoolah

Thanks Doozergirl. I agree that renting is not ideal and it is our last resort, but the dishonesty of the vendor has left a bitter taste in our mouths now that would make us be prepared to go to this length. We do like the property, but it's not perfect and we're sure we could find something else if we had to.

I think we are going to try and comprimise on the date. But if they still don't accept (or don't reply to the EA or solicitor which seems to happen a lot) then we will have to say enoughs enough.

Doozergirl

hoolah wrote: »

Thanks Doozergirl. I agree that renting is not ideal and it is our last resort, but the dishonesty of the vendor has left a bitter taste in our mouths now that would make us be prepared to go to this length. We do like the property, but it's not perfect and we're sure we could find something else if we had to.

I think we are going to try and comprimise on the date. But if they still don't accept (or don't reply to the EA or solicitor which seems to happen a lot) then we will have to say enoughs enough.

Are you close enough to drop a note through the door asking them to call you? It wil probabl help things if you can talk directly. When things go wrong it's almost always compounded by chinese whispers and the fact that you can't genuinelyt tell how they feel about it. The tone of someone's voice is incredibly important in communication and if you don't have that, you end up winding yourself up because you think they're purposely being obtuse.

A lot of people hide when they are having issues, not realising that people will be more understanding if they simply know what is going on. If you do speak to them directly, let the first question be about the house they are buying/doing up/moving into and how that is going. The answer to that may well be the reason you still are waiting. A problem shared is a problem halved. People don't seem to appreciate that when buying/selling houses but honesty is absolute key to a smooth, or even a slightly bumpy (but could have been worse) house sale.

Good Luck

hoolah

Thanks again.

Not really close enough to drop a note but you are right that chinese whispers (mainly from the EA trying to please everyone but actually p*ssing everyone off) has not helped, as we just don't know what's true and exactly what has been said.

I'm more open to compromise than my other half, who would happily say 'stuff it' rather than be messed about. But we'll see what tomorrow brings...

purplebuzz

I have/still am, recently been in a very similar situation. We are completing on our purchase next Thursday after a nightmare time with our vendors. There is another post here which explains more of the details:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1932947

But basically to say that they were a complete nightmare all along, caused all of the problems with the chain and the delays and then were the ones who threatened to pull out if we didn't exchange last Friday.

We had basically already been contemplating pulling out ourselves because of all the hassle that they had caused, and my OH was all ready to go round and tell them this, until I convinced him that we really should keep our mouths shut cos was wanted the house so much!!

It has/will all work out in the end, and I think that they just wanted to stamp their feet and be heard.

I suggest that you contact your solicitor/estate agent and see exactly where you are with things, and find out if you can exchange asap with a mutally agreeable completion date, which will make everyone relax.

Good Luck

hoolah

Hi purplebuzz,

I've just read your thread and there are definite similarities! Our buyer is fine it's the vendor causing the delays, apparentely. And this extra property appeared at the top of the chain very late on, which the EA claim they didn't know about either.

We have spoken to our solicitors this morning and now the vendor is saying they can do the date we gave so hoping to exchange today. Why they couldn't have just agreed to this last week i don't know, then we would have all had a bit of extra time to sort things out.

It's just a shame when what is a potentially very short chain with low probablilities of issues and delays ends up this way. We said from the start it was all a bit too 'easy' so were slightly prepared for this if not still really frustrated.

If exchange does happen today i am also wondering what state the house will be like when we move in, and also finding out the process of what happens if they are not physically out by 12 noon on the completion date. Just for peace of mind. It's a shame as we were on really good terms with them at the start and now they are annoyed at us for hurrying them out of their house and us with them for delaying things, so no one is happy!

Good luck with your moving date.

purplebuzz

What you have just described sounds identical to the position we are in.

We are also wondering about the state of the house when we eventually get the keys!

I am really hoping that the vendors are well and truly gone by the time completion time comes and I can collect the keys and never have to see/think about them again!:j