FTB - how to deal with vendors

gcpa

We had our offer accepted on our house on the 16th of August. The EA said that the owners were looking for a quick sale and have already seen a house they were keen to purchase. Finally this Monday they have had their offer accepted on a house and the person they are buying from is in search of a house now.

We have sorted out our mortgage and signed contracts from our side. We live in a rented property at the moment and our contract is due for renewal at end of October. We have been asking them to exchange contracts mid October with a completion date in January, which means that we could give our landlord two months notice instead of renewing contracts. They have been refusing to proceed further till they are ready to exchange contracts with the person from whom they are buying.

Any suggestions on how we deal with this. Should we give them an ultimatum and say we would pull of from the sale if they do not agree. I thought 8 weeks was a good time to exchange contracts !

sonastin

Only give them an ultimatum if you really mean what you say. If you would rather not buy this house than not have exchanged by (thursday, next week, 1st October, whenever you are thinking) then tell them that. But how would you feel if they were actually ready (friday, the week after, 2nd October, etc) - would you have been willing to hang on that bit longer or would the problems the uncertainty brings you outweigh the benefits of buying this house?

Am I right in thinking that if you don't renew in October, you go onto a periodic tenancy anyway so you can hang around until your LL gives you 2 months notice after that?

BS1112

Exchange mid October and complete in January 2011? Is that correct?

Before you hit them with ultimatums, try find out from your landlord if he is willing to let you stay on, on a monthly basis as you have not yet been given an exchange/completion date. The other question to ask is to find out if your Vendor is willing to rent if needed.

I hope that helps!

G_M

Do NOT give notice on your rental till you Exchange. Anything can happen to delay or cancel your purchase.

You do not need to sign a new fixed term contract on your rental. By simply staying one day beyond your fixed term you automatically move onto a periodic contract. The terms are the same except you need to give one months notice and the LL needs to give you 2 months (both ending with a rental period).

It is polite and good practice of course to tell your LL this is what you intend to do. If your LL (or agent) does not like this idea, they may try to pressure you into re-signing a contract (agents in particular as they can charge a fee for so doing!), but if you refuse there is little they can do apart form giving you notice, which few LLs will do if you are otherwise a good tenant.

gcpa

BS1112 wrote: »

Exchange mid October and complete in January 2011? Is that correct?

Before you hit them with ultimatums, try find out from your landlord if he is willing to let you stay on, on a monthly basis as you have not yet been given an exchange/completion date. The other question to ask is to find out if your Vendor is willing to rent if needed.

I hope that helps!

Exchange mid october and completion 2nd January, as we have to give our LL 2 months notice to vacate according to our contract. We just want to be sure that they are selling the house to us before serving up a notice. We are on a fixed yearly contract which is renewed every October 31st, for past five years. If we tell LL about our purchase I am sure she will issue notice immediately and we will have to vacate at the end of 2 months. It will be big gamble as we could be homeless.

Doozergirl

gcpa wrote: »

Exchange mid october and completion 2nd January, as we have to give our LL 2 months notice to vacate according to our contract. We just want to be sure that they are selling the house to us before serving up a notice. We are on a fixed yearly contract which is renewed every October 31st, for past five years. If we tell LL about our purchase I am sure she will issue notice immediately and we will have to vacate at the end of 2 months. It will be big gamble as we could be homeless.

It would be unusual to expect a vendor to exchange contracts before being ready to go up the chain as they'd be making themselves homeless. You already appreciate that purposely making yourself homeless is not a good move - it wouldn't be a great one for your vendors either.

Because you are at the bottom of a chain, you are actually the ones in the best position to be flexible. All you really need is a month or so between exchange and completion, but with exchange to suit everyone.

You do not need to renew your contract, it will roll into a Statutory Periodic Tenancy where you only need to give one month's notice which would make the whole thing more palatable for everyone. If you have lived the refor five years, it's pretty unlikely that the LL will dump you before you are ready to move. She'd be silly to do that.

You should not even be proceeeding with this purchase formally until you have a complete chain - you risk losing money by marching forward at such a rate when your vendor's vendors have not yet commited to moving.

I would slow down. Stop stamping your feet - you do not even have a complete chain, how can you possibly be demanding exchange dates to suit only you and then threaten to pull out? Unfortunately you have to accept that thisall has to be done by mutual agreement and is not really a purchase affecting only you and your vendor.

Relax. Don't sign a new agreement and just wait. And don't spend any more money on this deal until you have a complete chain and try to appreciate other people's positions.

G_M

gcpa wrote: »

We are on a fixed yearly contract which is renewed every October 31st, for past five years. If we tell LL about our purchase I am sure she will issue notice immediately and we will have to vacate at the end of 2 months. It will be big gamble as we could be homeless.

What makes you think she will issue notice immediately? How does that help her?

If you think that, you could stall on signing the new contract. 'Lose it', ask for a new copy, delay. Wait till Nov 1st and 'oops, we are now on a periodic tenancy'.

Finally, even if she does give you 2 months notice, you'll actually have much longer. After 2 months she'll have to apply to the court for possession (1 month?), the court will give you a month (2), then she'll have to apply for bailiffs (3 or 4).

I'm not advocating this approach - it's pretty underhand, but it is the law. In most cases, communication and mutal understanding between LL and tenant is a better approach.