Problem with purchase

Hammyman

We're currently in the process of buying a house. We've signed the contract two weeks ago and the solicitor has the deposit. Basically we're ready to go and waiting on the seller to do their side. The people we're buying off were supposed to be chain free as they're retiring. They stated they were either going to move in with their son or go rented. They also stated at the end of August they could be out in a few weeks if we wanted.

However it now appears they've decided to buy a house so we're now in a chain we didn't want to be in. We have a tenant waiting and ready to move into our house (we're letting it out and not selling so wanted to be chain free when buying) and the sellers have just told us an expected date for their completion of 8th October. Only problem is this means we'll have lost a months rent of £500 (£300 net profit) from our tenant as she's due to pay another month to her current landlord on 1st October and he's a bit of a nasty piece of work so she'll pay.

If we were to pull out based on the grounds that now being in a chain, it is no longer "as described", do we have any way of reclaiming the solicitors fees, valuation fees etc from the seller? I'm at the point where I feel like leaving it to a few days before the 8th and pulling out to stick two fingers up to em and leave them shafted as they have with me. If I was willing to be in a chain, I could've bought another house for £15k cheaper.

Talking it over with their estate agent, we got the "I just can't understand them" in a "we're sick to death of them" tone. They've had the house for sale for nearly 3 years and a few buyers have pulled out in the past for reasons we don't know.

DVardysShadow

No, generally you cannot reclaim fees. In your position firstly, I would not have added to my pressure by taking a rental commitment to a person in need and secondly, I would be on to the agent tomorrow to state that the offer is reduced by 15k if exchange does not happen by Monday next. And thirdly if exchange did not happen by Monday next, I would start looking at other houses - not withdrawing from this one until I had another offer accepted. At that very moment, I would drop this house.

Jowo_2

Have you actually exchanged contracts? I thought at the time of exchanging contracts, a completion date is set.

vectistim

Essentially there's no redress - they're not committed to sell to you until contracts are exchanged.

Try and find out from the agent how long the chain is and how long each element of the chain has been in place. If you can get that information that will give you an idea of how likely completion on the 8th might be.

G_M

No you can't reclaim costs if you withdraw.

Don't withdraw. Doing so will set you back another 2, 3, 4+ months. But DO start looking for other properties.

And consider the suggestion above of putting a timelimit on Exchange after which you'll lower your offer. The vendor's have changed the agreement (albeit nothing is legally binding till Exchange) so you can do the same.

Doc_N

Hammyman wrote: »

We're currently in the process of buying a house. We've signed the contract two weeks ago and the solicitor has the deposit. Basically we're ready to go and waiting on the seller to do their side. The people we're buying off were supposed to be chain free as they're retiring. They stated they were either going to move in with their son or go rented. They also stated at the end of August they could be out in a few weeks if we wanted.

However it now appears they've decided to buy a house so we're now in a chain we didn't want to be in. We have a tenant waiting and ready to move into our house (we're letting it out and not selling so wanted to be chain free when buying) and the sellers have just told us an expected date for their completion of 8th October. Only problem is this means we'll have lost a months rent of £500 (£300 net profit) from our tenant as she's due to pay another month to her current landlord on 1st October and he's a bit of a nasty piece of work so she'll pay.

If we were to pull out based on the grounds that now being in a chain, it is no longer "as described", do we have any way of reclaiming the solicitors fees, valuation fees etc from the seller? I'm at the point where I feel like leaving it to a few days before the 8th and pulling out to stick two fingers up to em and leave them shafted as they have with me. If I was willing to be in a chain, I could've bought another house for £15k cheaper.

Talking it over with their estate agent, we got the "I just can't understand them" in a "we're sick to death of them" tone. They've had the house for sale for nearly 3 years and a few buyers have pulled out in the past for reasons we don't know.

Tough luck - happens all the time. It's just a risk you take when you buy. Until contracts are exchanged you have no rights against the seller unless there was some kind of side agreement (extremely unlikely).

Simple choice - pull out and start again, or just accept the situation.

harz99

Sorry Hammyman, I misread your OP.

sinbad182

He's let the house he's moving out of, not the one he's buying.

Hammyman

Thanks for the suggestions. The lower offer if not completed by a week Monday sounds like the way to go. I made what was a fairly reasonable second offer during initial negotiations which was rejected with the agent saying they were daft not to accept that one with the length of time they'd had it on the market so I think that's a value I'll mention.

The rental isn't really a massive issue, more an annoyance. The tenant is unemployed, has a pet and a child,no money for a bond and no credit worthiness (don't worry, I know exactly where things are with this) which pretty much rules out every estate agent/letting agents so she's not going anywhere else in a hurry Just means I'll effectively be losing rent on the period between me moving out and the start of the next calendar month which grates with me a bit.

I'll have a look at whats for sale in the meantime.

Hammyman

sinbad182 wrote: »

He's let the house he's moving out of, not the one he's buying.

That's correct, we're upsizing now no1 son is in his teens. There was only 5 years/£20k left on the mortgage so it seemed daft to sell it so we just released the equity we needed to put down a 25% deposit on another house and use some of the rental income to offset the additional cost. The plan is to sell it in 10 years time and clear off both mortgages. Just a bit miffed the mortgage company wouldn't let us rent it so we've had to remortgage it. We were on 1.75% above BoE base rate as a standard variable. As you can imagine, the remortgage was higher.