Vendor wont move

FireWyrm

Hi All

I have a problem and I'm not sure who has what rights or responsibilities in this case.

I am due to exchange on a house tomorrow. All the way through this process, the vendor and her EA have been on me to get this finalised asap which I have done. I actually got the contract to sign last night and it's back in the post today for completion tomorrow. My solicitor has the deposit as well as my cover note for buildings insurance.

My solicitor tells me that it's normally 5 working days between exchange and complete, but the vendor complained that she cannot get rented accommodation until she has exchange, hence the haste. She advised that she can only look for a place on a Saturday due to work commitments which is fine, I understand that. So, I voluntarily pushed the complete date back to the 19th August.

Now, I've just had an email saying that the vendor cannot possibly move until the 23rd at the earliest and therefore completion will be after this date. I'm more than a little annoyed to be honest since this means nearer 3 weeks between exchange and complete. More to the point, my employer has granted (under protest) holiday for the week of Monday 22nd giving me Saturday 20th to Sunday 27th to get it all finished and ready for me to come back. I cannot move this time, if I dont take it, I lose it due to company rules and we've already pushed it back twice.

Can anyone advise what happens in this situation? Who has priority in the sale of the house?

Thanks

ILW

Until you have exchanged, nothing is binding. You can either agree to the sellers terms, negotiate or walk away.

pinkteapot

Nobody has priority - the buyer and seller have to negotiate and agree the completion date.

Did the vendor previously agree to the 19th, or is that what you offered? If they agreed to it, you can try standing firm and saying the agreement was the 19th, I can't change my holiday at work, etc. But to be honest you're at their mercy here if they decide to dig their heels in.

I'm not sure 5 days is standard to be honest. People don't look for rental property or arrange removal services until exchange has taken place, due to the likelihood that things will fall through or the date will change. 5 days would be pretty short for everyone to get sorted.

G_M

It is entirely a matter of negotiation.

If you are not prepared to wait for as long as the vendor wants between Exchange and Completion, say so. Threaten to withdraw from the purchase. But be prepared for the vendor to call your bluff - are you willing to lose the property?

The vendor rightly would not sign a tenancy agreement for her future rental home till Echange - if you withdrew from the purchase before Exchange and she had signed a rental contract, she'd be stuck with TWO properties.

It takes time to get a rental organised - so I understand her issue. Whether it is a show-stopper for you, only you can decide!

googler

Time for E&W to take a leaf out of Scotland's book, and for the lawmakers to introduce standard forms for property offers, to include price and entry date.

Make an offer on a property, and the offer specifies an Entry Date, the date when the funds change hands, the current owner has to be out, and the new owner gets the keys.

Agree this early on in the process, and you avoid the situation you're in now.

FireWyrm

I cant walk away from this. We've spent allot of time and money and we're within sight of the goal. I feel really annoyed since the EA said the vendor has been trawling around and has found a couple of properties she likes and was all set to sign the rental agreement as soon as exchange had happened, thus the all fire hurry to get it done before the weekend. Now, I'm going to be left paying building insurance for 3 weeks between exchange and complete not to mention trying to move a whole house on a Saturday and being back to work on a Monday thanks to her flipping well being a pain in the a**se. I just want to scream at the EA who has been riding me like a god-damned 3 legged pony to get this through asap and now I'm at the mercy of the conniving twerp. I've been HAD and I'm hopping flipping mad about it. I've a good mind to delay exchange tomorrow until next week and we'll see where she sits with that. I've bent over backwards to accommodate her.

I am in a rental myself, I understand that it takes time to arrange, but it should all have been arranged pretty much already, all she need do is sign. In any case, both of my experiences with rentals have taken no more than a week to arrange so I cant understand why she needs 3 weeks for herself considering I was told she has been packing for the last month since she accepted the offer.

JimmyTheWig

It's always been 2 weeks when I've done it (3 times). Had assumed that was standard.

Agree with the above that it's about negotiation and until exchange nothing is set in stone.
You could suggest you drop your offer by the equivalent of a week's wages if you don't complete by the week you have taken off.
But you need to consider what you will do if they say no.
And remember that you are moving into their house and will be neighbours with their current neighbours. Think about the damage they could do and get away with if they are particularly miffed with you. They could weedkiller the lawn or tell all your new neighbours you've been out of order. (I'm not saying you're being out of order - but they could tell them that.)

Soot2006

As above, it's about negotiation. If you don't want to exchange unless you get your way about completion, don't. But if she calls your bluff, don't come posting here asking whether you can get redress for moneys spent on surveys, etc.

The 5 days thing is a bit odd. Never heard that before - some people do both on the same day, some people exchange months ahead of completion and then get stuffed for a mortgage on a new build *cough*, some people - like me - have 4 weeks as this fell roughly in line with giving notice on the flat ... Yes I had to pay insurance for those four weeks, but no mortgage + rent, so suited me very well. Vendor was happy to accommodate so I was lucky with that. If not, I'm sure we would have been able to agree on something. Negotiation.

ILW

In my experience, the gap between exchange and completion has been between 2 and 4 weeks.

RedwoodBrook

Same day for me

Gwhiz

No idea where this "it's normal for 5 days between exchange and completion". It's always been a totally negotiable goalpost.