House purchase nightmare- Should they be moving out

yodaegghoover

Bear with me on this one, here goes...
My Wife and I accepted an offer on our property in August of last year with the understanding that the buyer could move in before Christmas. We quickly found the property of our dreams and an offer was accepted by the owner in mid October. The chain had still not completed mid December so we had to move into a short term lease holiday cottage over Christmas with all of our belongings going into storage, all this to prevent our sale from falling through.
We have just been told by the estate agents of the property we are trying to buy that the house they were purchasing has fallen through. We can only stay in our short term holiday let until the end of January. This topped off with my wife’s Nan passing away over Christmas has developed into a real nightmare; the only ones that seem to be dealing with it well are our children.
What should we do? We really like the property but will be homeless by the end of January, If we move into rented accommodation we cannot afford to pay a full 6 months’ rent as well as pay for the mortgage when we finally move. It looks as if we may have to pull out of the purchase come the end of the month, do you think that its unreasonable to expect the owner of the property to exchange contracts and move out whilst they search for somewhere else?

We have not exchanged and no completion date has been set
All advice appreciated.

poppysarah

Why will you be paying a mortgage on a house you don't own?

Have you exchanged? Have you got a completion date?

zzzLazyDaisy

I think OP means that if they take an AST they'll be committed to rent on a 6 month tenancy, even if their sellers manage to get the chain in place and complete on the sale before that.

OP to answer you question, the sellers are not obliged to do anything. It really depends on how much they want to sell, and whether you are prepared to look at other properties and buy somewhere else if necessary. If you are prepared to wait, chances are they will let you. If you are prepared to pull out they may agree to go into rented... or they may just say 'go ahead'...

poppysarah

Well the only option would be to set a deadline and ask for completion by then or look for somethign else.

a 6 month tenancy sounds like a plan if they say no.

bris

The people you are buying from are only obliged to move out on completion date. If you have exchanged you are now commited to the purchase so you have little choice in the matter.
If you have not exchanged yet you can make a deadline for exchange and completion for by end of January to suit you.
The sellers might not want to lose you so would possibly aggree.

LittleMrsThrifty

For a moment I thought this was a like a real life version of "The Jones Family". I take it you opted to sell your old house before completing the purchase of your new property rather than loose the buyers? (Just checking!)

Anyway, assuming all that is correct it is entirely up to the current owners of the house you wish to buy whether they opt to complete on the sale to you now and move into rented (or elsewhere) themselves or stay put and risk loosing you as buyers. If I were you I would speak with your solicitor and say that you can't hold on much longer and ask them to find out the position of the vendor to see if they can get things moving.