Am I just being crazy??????

cankle

Ok bit of background, the vendors we are buying from are a very traditional elderly (ish!) couple that originally bought the property from the council. We have built up a good rapport with them and they have said they are leaving us loads of stuff as they are downsizing to a bungalow, Im a FTB with naff all!!!

Now here is my dilemma, the wife has been on her own this week due to her husband being away seeing his family, we are due to complete on Friday, she has said that she will get the keys to me probably Wednesday of next week! Now the reason for this is that she needs her husband to help move and he isnt back until this weekend and she said she wants to clean up Mon/Tue.

Im in rented accommodation so technically dont need to move in for at least a couple of weeks obviously I want to move in now!

I really want to be nice about this and not make a fuss as they have been really good to me and my partner but I feel a bit uncomfortable as I went round tonight to drop some stuff off in the garage (they have let us do this) and she said about just having this agreement between us and not 'involving' solicitors.

If someone had said this to me I would straight away be saying 'are you mad!!!' I know if we complete on Friday then the house is mine and the vendors should be out! I think they are wanting the money on Friday as they are going into rented accommodation so will need the rent up front but do you think I should say I want to delay completion?? this will no doubt annoy/upset the vendors but Im getting really nervous now and little things keep popping into my head such as squatters rights and what if they damage the property etc :eek:

wii_man1

think you need to advise them they no longer live their anymore come completion, and they need to sling their hook.

just delay the completion if need be

KateLiana27

Just tell her you have to move out of your rented place on Friday, and while you'd love to go with her crazy plan, you just can't. Job done. Blame it on the landlord - that's what they're there for.

Letting her stay on after completion would open up a whole world of legal complications and potential disaster. She might look sweet, but I would absolutely not risk it.

If you can delay completion, that's another option.

The_Mac_Attack

It is a predicament but as harsh as it sounds the only person I would trust in this situation would be myself. At the end of the day its your money you are putting into the property and above all else you need to look after your own interests and your own family.

p00hsticks

cankle wrote: »

I went round tonight to drop some stuff off in the garage (they have let us do this)

cankle wrote: »

little things keep popping into my head such as squatters rights and what if they damage the property etc

Just as you are (rightly) concerned about letting them remain in the property after completion, I would also be concerned about you putting stuff in the property before completion. Last time I was selling, my buyers asked if they could do this, but my solicitor warned me in no uncertain terms not to let them, as it potentially opens up a lot of cans of worms.
For example, what if it gets stolen ? or damaged ? or even worse, somehow damages the property before completion (e.g if you are leaving a lot of flammable stuff such as clothing or things that could ignite, like camping stoves etc....)

G_M

I'm sure this couple are sweet. And harmless.

But there is a 1 in a hundred chance that they are either NOT sweet, or are SO sweetngormless that they [EMAIL="WON@T"]WON'T[/EMAIL] be out next week. And they'll be semi-permenant house-guests.

You've kind of made yourself vulnerable by accepting favours (leaving stuff in their garage) which makes it hard to refuse to return the favour. But you must.

You're giving them, what? £200,000? More? OK, a bit less? Whatever. This is a serious transaction, NOT one to take a gamble on - however long the odds are of them doing you over.

The "My landlord's kicking me out on Friday" ploy is a good one, but needs to be backed up with "And I have NOWHERE else to go!.

Doozergirl

I wouldn't bother speaking to them. If you have exchanged contracts then telling your solicitor that they aren't moving out until Wednesda will cause things to happen.

Namely, that they breach contract and you get some extra money in your bank account when they finally hand over the keys next week.

It's their solicitor's job to explain what completion means if they don't understand it. I wouldn't be discussing it with them at all - they clearly don't understand what they've committed to, so the conversation is, frankly, dangerous.

cankle

Doozergirl, I understand what you are saying but as I said in my OP we have built up a good rapport with them and they are quite elderly and I think lady vendor wanted to wait until her husband came home at the weekend as she couldnt move things on her own. I think after reading replies and doing a bit of research I will give her a call tomorrow and explain that although I dont have a problem with allowing them the weekend to finish packing/cleaning its going to cause issues with insurance so if they cannot physically move out on Friday for completion then I will have to instruct my solicitor to delay completion till Mon/Tue.

G_M

Be careful how you word this.

If you delay Completion, you will be liable for costs. If they delay, they are liable.

Relying on your solicitor to sort this will be dependant on you telling him the keys have not been handed over on Friday.

If you don't tell him, he'll assume Completion took place. If you DO tell him, he won't wait till Thursday....

Sort this out now, not later.

cankle

so do you think I should speak to vendor and tell them about the insurance issue and that if they wont be ready to leave property on Friday then they need to tell their solicitor?

cooltt

First of all i find it bizarre that they obviously knew the date of the completion but the husband decided to "go away" for a few days. I think you'll find their probably trying to sort out their accommodation and they can't move to where ever their going to until Wednesday, hubby is probably still there!

Secondly you've got yourself into a silly situation whereby you have benefited from their generosity and now you don't want to give them any back? silly silly silly.

If you go ahead and ask them to leave on Friday i think you'll find everything they promised to leave will also be gone. I would say from what has happened already it isn't going to kill you to allow them to move out on the day they have specified. There is such a thing called human kindness you know and it worked perfectly well before the law came along!

Don't listen to all the doom and gloom merchants on here i just think your being a little paranoid, "can of worms" & "legal issues" are rare in cases like this, just go with your gut instinct on these people and don't put yourself in this position again.

Also this happened to me once and i was thinking the worst but nothing happened, they moved out 4 days after completion like they said they would because their son cracked his skull and spent months in hospital but it happend the day before completion. The last thing they were thinking of was moving all their stuff.