Seller delaying, should we push for better completion date?

hats123

We have had an offer accepted, mortgage signed off, solicitor undertaking searches, we are first time buyers, and the house we are buying was "no chain" - said he was moving in with partner. However he now has a house he wants to buy, so wants to delay completion until the end of January so he doesn't have to move twice - we were aiming for exchange the end of this month, and completion before xmas. Would you accept this delay, or tell them we aren't happy? We have a housemate moving out, so it will most us a full months rent in our current house. Am I within my rights to say no?

Thanks All

poppysarah

Push.

He needs you.

hats123

I know I am just being impatient, but I want to be in asap now, another months rent will be money we could be spending on the house. 4 weeks should be long enough for us to be ready to exchange, I will just have to toughen up and tell them to stop delaying.....

hazyjo

How many weeks are you into the purchase now (from when your offer was accepted)?

Jx

hats123

Offer accepted 2 weeks ago.

There are tenants in the house he is buying, so they need 2 months notice to get them out before he can exchange. Could there be potential problems here?

Yorkie1

The tenants do raise a further difficulty. It depends on when they were given notice to leave [technically notice of seller's / LL's intention to seek possession] (if that has happened yet) and when that notice expires.

There is no guarantee that they will leave when the notice expires so the LL will then have to go to court, followed if the worst happens with bailiffs. That will add a couple of months onto the process, plus any time needed by the LL to rectify any damage caused by the Ts before they left.

It does sound as though the notice has only just been given to them if your seller is talking about January.

What I would observe, however, is that it is now realistically not much more than 6 weeks until Christmas. It is only 2 weeks since your offer was accepted. 8 weeks is a relatively short timescale for all the paperwork to be done and the sale completed. In reality, January is probably a more likely time for you to move than before Christmas.

I would not want to tie my purchase of the seller's house, to his purchase of the currently rented property. It is clear from your post that your transaction is not necessary for his to occur. In that case, I'd consider conceding a firm completion date in January if that's what he wants, with exchange in this year. If the rented property falls through or gets delayed, there is no risk to you (or your mortgage offer if it is at risk of expiry) because the seller can simply move in with his partner for a short time if necessary.

pinkshoes

hats123 wrote: »

Offer accepted 2 weeks ago.

There are tenants in the house he is buying, so they need 2 months notice to get them out before he can exchange. Could there be potential problems here?

Eeeek! This has the potential to be a nightmare!

Personally I'd push for completion before Christmas, or, if he really wants to create a chain, then tell him you'll agree if he drops the price by 5%.

(i.e. you paid a premium as he wasn't in a chain).

smudge2013

I am finding myself in a similar position. I'm a first time buyer and had an offer accepted on a property a in June. The conveyancing work has now been completed on all sides and we are ready to exchange.
My solicitor has gone to exchange but the vendors side have come back saying that their seller is not ready to exchange. The vendors seller are a splitting up married couple where the husband has yet to agree new accomodation.
My solicitor is pushing everyday for an update on when my vendor expects to exchange on the property they are buying - but they are not giving any date back. They seem to be not pushing their seller at all and happy to let things just take their time.
This is frustrating for me because I have been ready to exchange for many weeks and have waited for various different reasons from the vendor. Is there anything I can do apart from keep on pressuring the vendor to exchange?

hazyjo

Is the husband likely to want to buy something, or does he have other plans?

One of the worst scenarios - buying off a couple splitting up. Some on here wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole for that very reason. We bought off a couple splitting up, only they weren't doing so (as far as we know) until a few weeks before we exchanged. Thankfully it didn't seem to hold anything up. I think each went into rented accommodation.

There's nothing you can do - unless you want to threaten to pull out. However, don't be surprised if they call your bluff and then you'll either have a lot of backtracking to do, or they'll know your threats are empty and meaningless. If you threaten to pull out, you should be prepared to do it.

Ask your solicitor and EA exactly what is causing the delay, then what needs doing once that's been sorted out. They can check up the chain.

Jx

DVardysShadow

jamesl85 wrote: »

... My solicitor has gone to exchange but the vendors side have come back saying that their seller is not ready to exchange. The vendors seller are a splitting up married couple where the husband has yet to agree new accomodation.

... Is there anything I can do apart from keep on pressuring the vendor to exchange?

Oh divorce. Never buy from divorcing fools. They carry on their feuding through a house sale regardless of the damage to their buyer. So much so, that people won't buy from divorcing couples, because you risk all your legal expenses for a purchase which never comes off. Which in turn reduces the price the property can command.

In your position I would double check with agent and solicitor that both sides have done all their legals. And then I would ask how much time they need to exchange. And then I would set their time scale as a deadline for exchange [if the time scale was unreasonable i would set 21 days as the deadline after which the price is dropped by £5000. And then I would walk away and start looking at other properties.

Don't grizzle about your legal costs so far, I am afraid losing that money is all part of the game.

[BTW, it would have been better if you had started a new thread, rather than resurrect an old thread where people will probably start replying to the original post again]

wackorash84

We are also buying a property from a divorcing couple. It has not been an easy ride. Loads of delays in getting paperwork sorted since they both have to sign it but live separately. Also, disagreements between the 2 also end up holding the process.

We had to persevere and made sure we kept applying pressure to the EA in requesting status updates every 2 - 3 days. Had mortgage offer on the 2nd week of October but major delay on conveyance because the vendors were so slow in getting their paperwork to us.

Frustrating but you it comes to a point where enough us enough. We were nearly at that point and was close to pulling the plug on the process but they finally pulled the finger out.

As other advice, you'll come to that point where you'll be just sick and tired of the crap. Here use your final play and threaten to pull out. However you git to mean it otherwise you'd look silly if they call your bluff.

Good luck.