HELP! FTB -Purchase going at lightening speed - am I being

morningcharlie

Was wondering if anyone has any experience with slowing a purchase ever so slightly?

Basically, there is no chain (I'm a FTB, and previous owner has died), and things are moving at pace:
Offer accepted last Monday (19th April), Mortgage valuation yesterday, instructed to sort out completion dates today.

Ideally, I'd like to complete on the 1st/2nd July, as I am away for the last 2 w/e's of June, and don't want to be paying for it whilst its sat empty for 2 weeks before I can move in!

I'm not having doubts, and am very happy with the property, I'm just trying to find out if this is reasonable?
In no way do I want to mess the vendors about, equally I'm keen not to be rushed into this before its logistically convenient.

morningcharlie

Wonder if anyone can share some experience here?

Just buying my first place and the sale seems to be going very fast as there is no chain (as previous owner has died).

Offer was made on Monday 19th April, and ideally I'd like to complete on 1st/2nd July as I'm away the last 2 w/e's in June.

My solicitor thinks that the vendor will push hard to complete before then, but whilst I in no way wish to mess them about, I'm also not keen to start paying for my new place to sit empty for 2 weeks until I'm able to move into it, because they are keen to get spending their inheritance.

Am I being unreasonable?

bigstevex

Not at all, just tell your solicitor to tell them the date you want to move, there's nothing they can really say, you've bought the house and a FTB is probably the best they can hope for!

You could stall it a bit by saying you have a finiancial commitment you need to clear/can't afford to clear by mid june before you can have your mortgage and then your away anyway so you couldn't move till early july!

Any old excuse will do lol, as long as you exchange contracts they can't be worried your thinking of backing out!

Running_Horse

Tell them??

goldengirl28

where is your solicitor in all this, there is still a load of paperwork & searches that need to be done, they took 3 weeks for me

protocol forms i think there called..........e.g fixtures & fittings forms etc.

also who is telling you to sort out the completion date?

morg_monster

our friends needed to slow a purchase down (both doctors and had to wait til they were both able to have a few days off to move, their vendors weren't being very accomodating with waiting despite their explanations). He just sent some documents back unsigned a few times... Sounds like you are not at this stage yet but might be a trick to keep up your sleeve...

goldengirl28

oh and also, forget to send the chq in for coal searches........they can't do anything with out the money

lfc321

What you really want is a long gap between exchange and completion, then you know that (almost!) nothing can go wrong. If you just stall on the purchase you risk someone else coming along and you being gazumped.

In your position I'd want to exchange asap and delay completion, but you'll have to negotiate this with the vendors.

SmlSave

forget to send the chq in for coal searches

Does the OP need a coal search?

I think that you should be honest about your requirements and remember the solicitor can't exchange with a completion date without your say-so.

If its the estate agents telling you to sort out the completion dates - tell them to p*ss off

However, if its a new build property there is very often a requirement to exchange before a set date.

And if the mortgage valuation has been sorted it's no guarantee that the mortgage offer will be issued very quickly.

sarah_elton

Everything you've described normally happens very quickly... except for setting of completion date.

This is normally agreed at exchange of contracts.

You can't exchange (well, your solicitor shouldn't let you) until your mortgage offer is formally approved. Has that happened yet?

As a buyer, you will have a really busy week or two instructing your solicitor, applying for the mortgage, getting mortgage survey results, then it's likely to go pretty quiet for a while, during which time the solicitors do their thing. You can chase them to get it done quickly, or not and it'll plod along at its own pace.

As I said, completion dates or normally agreed at exchange. Before exchange, anyone can pull out with no penalty so any completion date agreed is pretty much meaningless anyway.

If the seller just wants some idea of when you'd like to complete so that they can move their solicitor along at the appropriate pace then that makes sense.

goldbyron

My partner is in the opposite position with her mothers house under probate and am offer only received 1-2 weeks ago. The house has been on the market for a year and obviously there is a keeness to sell it as there is an outstanding mortgage etc. However the solicitor informs my partner the buyer is very keen to complete by the end of May! This is fine however it suddenly means dropping everything to clear the house. Sometimes I think solicitors and agents push things and it is not really coming from the buyer or seller. I think as long as you exchange people are generally happy to wait a little while to complete as it takes away the anxiety.