Offering on house need to complete by March?

clairey22

Hello everyone,

I am planning to put in an offer on a house tomorrow (exciting!). We are currently renting and our rental contract will finish at the end of March next year. We have decided that we will definitely move out our current rental when the contract is up as we want to move to the new area so we can settle a bit before my baby is born next June. We are currently in Surrey and will be moving back to Sussex.

Ideally (if our offer was accepted of course) we would like to be in the house by the end of Feb/First week in March to give us time to move out the rental and straight into the new house.

Just wondered how I can do everything I can to make this possible? We have told the estate agent and I can mention it to my solicitor.

My question is...Do I make it part of the offer that we need to complete by a certain time? Or is this not the done thing?

I guess it depends on the sellers position which I do not know yet (The person showing us round the house did not know!). All I know is they have 3 kids and are wanting a bigger house.

Anyway, I will find out tomorrow but just wondered if I need to put it in the offer letter or not.

Thanks
Clairey

DVardysShadow

You can negotiate with the seller for a particular completion timeframe. But such negotiations don't effectively set things in stone.

As for your rental, you should research and understand the idea of a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. Your tenancy can go to this automatically. You do not have to sign up for another 6 months [never mind what the letting agent says]. This will probably give the flexibility you need.

clairey22

DVardysShadow wrote: »

As for your rental, you should research and understand the idea of a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. Your tenancy can go to this automatically. You do not have to sign up for another 6 months [never mind what the letting agent says]. This will probably give the flexibility you need.

Thanks for the info DVardysShadow. I will dig out the rental contract. From what I understand it is 12 months with a 6 month break clause (If I give notice in Jan, then I can leave end of March). Then I think it goes to a 2 month rolling thing but I could be wrong. Our reason for moving back in March is we really want to be settled in the new area (with doctors etc.) before the baby comes in June. If we have to then we will go into rented (or short term rental) in the new area but i'd rather avoid that if I can.

Thanks
Clairey

DVardysShadow

clairey22 wrote: »

From what I understand it is 12 months with a 6 month break clause (If I give notice in Jan, then I can leave end of March). Then I think it goes to a 2 month rolling thing but I could be wrong. Our reason for moving back in March is we really want to be settled in the new area (with doctors etc.) before the baby comes in June.

OK, you cannot go Statutory Periodic until about June. You will have to rely on the break clause in your contract.

When it comes to the completion date for your purchase, babies and completion dates never mix well.

And don't whatever you do mention deadlines due to pregnancy. If your seller is awake to it, it provides a good opportunity to gazump.

hazyjo

Find out their position first - if they're still looking, you've no idea how long that will take, or how long the chain will be.

Our buyer was an investor who wanted to exchange within 3 weeks. It took 5 very long months in the end due to various problems along the way.

If everyone's in a rush, it could be done, but I suppose it depends how long the chain is and what everyone's position is. What if you agree a timescale only for someone at the top of the chain to pull out (been there, done that - not nice, the whole chain fell apart and we lost the house).

Average is 3 months. Presuming the chain is complete, you can pretty much write off the rest of this month, so that leaves you Jan, Feb and March. Should in theory be possible, but you never know what problems are going to be thrown up...

Do you mean the 6 months break clause falls in March, or the end of the 12 months?

Jx