Advice and a Panic Rant!

goldbyron

Just wanted a bit of a panic rant really. I am currently stuck in the middle of a property chain which is incredibly stressful and anxiety provoking. My buyers are ready and so are theirs and have been for about 2 weeks.

The house I am selling currently contains an ex partner of mine who has been very difficult. I have been living back with my parents for 1.5 years. Originally I posted on here as she was refusing to sell last year and I had to get solicitors involved. In April this year she eventually agreed to sell the house if I paid costs and her an extra 1k. I did this as I wanted to get the house onto the Spring market. The agreement was that she would ensure the house was sold as quickly as possible. She wanted to tie in a purchase however I did not agree and this was never put into writing either way.

Now we are waiting on her purchase and the related purchase in the chain. She did not inform me that she had found a property to tie the sale into. I found out through the estate agent! She has since made a formal complaint to the agents as apparently they released personal details to me. They were actually just informing me of the chains process. Therefore the sales processing team can not deal with it and they were the only decent means of communication. The manager of the EA is now chasing it but he is never in the office.

I have actually spoken to her solicitor and the solicitor of her vendor in a bid to find out what is happening. Last week the top of the chain’s solicitor stated that matters should be resolved within the next week or so. More emphasis on the ‘so’ I am sure. Both have outstanding leasehold enquiries however this seems to have been the case for weeks now. Obviously both myself and our buyers are getting impatient.

To make matters worse I never agreed to tie in her purchase and I am terrified that this will jeopardise the sale if this goes on without any movement. I just want to exchange and get this mad ex partner out of my life. I am also just beginning the process of buying another flat privately and therefore I am paying out for it. I am not sure if I can force my ex partner to exchange or whether I should just exercise a little patience and hope this resolves naturally in the next week or two. She is hoping to complete in early-mid Sept.

What are anyone’s views on how long leasehold enquiries take and whether I force her to exchange on the sale anyway?

Thanks!

Jorgan_2

It depends exactly what leasehold enquiries are outstanding. If they are waiting for management companies to come back with info it could take weeks, do you know what/when the enquiries were raised.

I don't think you can force her to exchange, the solicitor acting in the sale will probably have to take joint instructions for the exchange.

Did your ex give you any indication that she was intending to purchase another property or did you assume she would just move out of the property?

goldbyron

The enquiries for my ex are apparently simple ones but I would assume they are for the management company. They were raised in June but the solicitor lost the letter and they were raised again on the 19/07 – almost 2 weeks ago. For my ex’s vendor they are waiting for a copy of the lease from the land registry and this was raised about 2 weeks ago.

I know I can’t force her as such but I feel she is breaking the terms of the agreement of which I am paying the costs and her some extra money. I feel if the sale falls through due to the wait (of which I didn’t agree to) then I will not have to pay her any costs as agreed and will take her to court as I should have done anyway.

She did not indicate either way. She will walk away with £54k and I feel she can rent if needs be. Meanwhile I have been expected to find accommodation and refuse to let me enter my property without her being there. She is a control freak to say the least.

Just to put it into context she is capable of violence and threatening behaviour and this is adding to the anxiety and my unwillingness to wait. She also routinely threatens to kill herself – as you do.