buying house vendor cant find or has lost deeds

googler

How did England & Wales end up with a house-buying and selling system that allows a buyer to spend 8 mths getting to contract-signing, only to be told that there's no defined entry date, and effectively that the seller will remain in situ as long as they please?

I'm in Scotland, and the entry date, the date when the buyer gets the keys and possession, is set out in the offer letter, which forms part of the contract of sale. Sometimes it gets varied in negotiation, but when missives are concluded (contracts exchanged), that's it set in stone, so that the seller knows that's when they're moving out, and the buyer knows that's when they're moving in.

nik1984

hi when we went to view property we were told by vendor they had somewhere to move or were looking to move , im thinking their deal has probably fallen through, thing is this house has everything we need and what we were looking for.
do you think its best to get legal advice?

Leory

Listen now, people are telling you to change solicitors. If you do this and avoid a conflict of interest then it can start to get moving

nik1984

if i was to change solicitors then could the vendor change his mind and not go through with sale ?

Richard_Webster

this sale is turning into a nightmare 8 months in we have signed contract but not legally binding , contacted solicitor to check situation and told us that the vendor is yet to find a home so that means they cant move out , but we were told few months ago that they were in process of a house buy .

Listen now, people are telling you to change solicitors. If you do this and avoid a conflict of interest then it can start to get moving

Yes, the new solicitors will send the heavies out to threaten to kneecap the sellers if they don't exchange!

So, to be serious, how earth is changing solicitors going to make the sellers move if they don't want to?

nik1984

so best thing to do is get the contract i signed back and that would stop involvement from them?

nik1984

we feel some of the reasons are that the vendors are buying time until they find them self a place think their orginal deal may have had problems or they are still in the process , the solicitor is saying they wish to connect this sale to an onward purchase however he has yet to find a purchase.

Richard_Webster

Yes, you can disinstruct the solicitors and get the contract back if you want, but I don't really see what that has got to do with your present problem that the seller isn't in a position to proceed.

Getting the contract back isn't going to make any difference to whether or not the seller exchanges contracts, if he doesn't want to move unless he can buy something else and he hasn't found anything yet.

Even if you don't get the contract back they can't exchange without your express authority to do so, and you make jolly sure they know they haven't got it.

There could be a complaint about conflict of interest etc but I don't see where that is going to get you at the moment. Your main problem is that the seller isn't about to move any time soon.

Tell the solicitors you are not going ahead with the purchase and are looking for something else to buy. Then find another property and go ahead with that and use another solicitor to do so. If you are seen by local estate agents to be seriously looking then that might, might, cause the seller to change his mind and be prepared to move out into rented, but I wouldn't hold your breath.