Due to sign contracts Monday !!! can anything happen after that??

angeleyes

Hi Please advise
this is our first buy and sell of a property, our buyers are FTB and our vendors are buying a shop ( they have been since last yr when their prev sale fell through).
When we first viewed the house they seemed keen for a quick sale as they said they could rent the shop/house above so we could move in, anyway after a delay with the survey getting done and getting a morg offer ( the house is a concert house so had a few problems) as the offer was taking a while we instructed our solictor and paid upfront for the search fees (we thought this is what times the longest time) after we had everything done we kept ringing their EA re contracts and things as my solictor hadn't recieved any details of their solictor etc, the sellers are not very pro active in getting out of there, it took them 21/2 wks to get the sol instructed even with us going back around saying that they hadn't been instructed .. they kept on saying they had, we finally got the contracts through to our solictor yesterday (after telling them ours buyers were going to start looking elsewhere... which they are). My solictor and EA rang yesterday the EA to say that our buyers need to move (they are renting) in by the 22nd , when I phoned my solictor she said that it would be ok for that date as long as the vendors agreed.......anyway tried to get in touch with them all yesterday via mobile phone.. left messages .. called round there house (no one in) left note through door exp situation, then again later that night (they had been in since and gone back out) ,, still no phone call back. our buyers needed an answer the next day (now today) The only way I could get hold of them was to go around on the way to work this morning at 7.30am I spoke to them and after a lot of well I supposed you will have to move in on the 22nd Sept but we haven't sorted ours out yet (since found out they haven't even got the yes/no from the bank although we were told all sorted ages ago from their EA)
I have now confirmed with our buyer and the solictor they have agreed to 22nd to move in on ..I am going in to my solictors on Mondayto sign the contracts
my questions are
1) do they have to sign contracts on the same day as us
2) after signed contracts can they back out?
3)If we sign contracts and they back out will we be homeless?

Any advice I am worring myself sick over this

goldbyron

This is my understanding in basic answer form.

1. No, they don't have to sign contracts on the same day.
2. Yes they can.
3. No.

Unless you meant to say 'exchange contracts' instead of signing them. It is only once contracts have been exchanged that the property transactions become legally binding and thus people are accountable. You can the sign the contract so exchange can happen however everyone has to agree to the exchange. Exchange happens when the bottom of the chain releases the deposit and it moves up the chain and everyone legally commits to the contract agreement on the same day. After this point if someone pulls out they can be sued for breach of contracts and/or lose their deposit.

I hope this helps.

izoomzoom

... but how does exchange actually happen.

I assume that each party will sign their copies of the contract and that this can happen in advance of the exchange but how does that actually happen ?

Do the solicitors agree to exchange them, but what happens if one doesn't send them, or they get lost in the post ???

tifnstav

exchange takes place over the telephone when the sols agree the terms of the contract and confirm the date - they should post them out to the other solicitor on the same day under law society rules but it doesn't invalidate anything if they don't get sent out on the day or if they get lost in the post.

izoomzoom

Oh, quite simple then