Tenant refuse to move out on completion day

Richard_Webster

We are not being told what the seller's solicitor is saying. Is he prepared to advise his client to exchange with any sort of vacant possession provision?

If the seller's solicitor won't advise his client to exchange until the tenant has gone (which is the advice I would give) then the transaction is going nowhere and the buyer should simply walk away. Walking away might cause the seller to do something about it, but if doesn't then OP can at least be getting on with buying somewhere else.

If the seller is prepared to exchange because he is confident that the tenant will go by completion then OP's solicitor should try to write in whatever penalty clauses he can get away with so that if tenant doesn't go OP gets 10% deposit back and compensation for his trouble if vacant possession is not delivered. The downside of this is that some time is wasted if tenant doesn't go and OP cannot be sure of having a new home on the completion date.

snow_suzi

Now the situation is the seller has withdraw… his point was, if he doesn’t get the money before x’mas to do whatever he needs to do, he rather no sale and wait for few more years until the market is better.

50% of me is to walk away and find somewhere else in the new year (but there are not a lot of this type in the area). The other 50% is thinking… they previously confirmed that the tenants will move out this week. EA agreed to show me around the vacant property and exchange before I go on holiday (That is after I check with my own eyes the tenants have moved out, but in whatever way, they could have moved back in I guess…). Completion in a week time (ie. before x’mas) while I am away. We will get our relatives to collect keys/check content/change lock for us.

Still struggling to come up with one conclusion… May be I should just walk away…
Thank you all for your advice by the way! Didn’t expect I would have so many responses.

G_M

It's obvious. Seller has withdrawn so has made up their mind. You need to change sellers mind.

Offer an additional £10K on the previously agreed sale price;
Offer to Exchange this week, with Completion before Xmas.

Seller gets decent money.
You get your new home.
Everyone happy.

(including the tenant who will still be in situ and refuse to move till Easter cos that's when THEY are buying new home)

Come on! Do you really need advice still??!!

Richard_Webster

Still struggling to come up with one conclusion… May be I should just walk away…

You really haven't any choice now!

zzzLazyDaisy

snow_suzi wrote: »

Now the situation is the seller has withdraw… his point was, if he doesn’t get the money before x’mas to do whatever he needs to do, he rather no sale and wait for few more years until the market is better.

Think about it:

1 he tells you he has a tenant who refuses to leave
2 next thing he says exchange or else he'll withdraw, knowing that you won't be around to check the place before completion
3 he must complete before christmas because he needs the money
4 but since you won't give in to his demands, he has decided to wait a few years before selling.

The seller is being completely unreasonable, in my view.

Walk away. If the seller is bluffing he'll still be there when you get back from holiday.

If he is serious and has decided not to sell, well the decision has been made.

Either way, there is no way in the world I would agree to a completion date when I was away and unable to inspect the property myself before completing.

snow_suzi

Decision made! Told EA I will never come close to this seller again. Surprisingly the seller’s EA was quite angry with the seller’s action and how they value me as a buyer etc etc.

Anyway, I feel so relieved now and not as sad as I thought I would be having not able to buy the property I like and lost a few hundred pounds.

Start house hunting again in the new year! Happy X'mas to you all.
Really, thank you so much for all the kind advices. They helped me through this and kept me away from troubles!