Completion but not moving in

jonas123

Hi everyone.

I've had the misfortune to be taking a mortgage out with HSBC. I won't go into the awful details, but it has basically meant I have been delayed by a month since submitting documents to Countrywide to review.

I'm expecting to be allowed to exchange very soon, and hopefully complete by this Friday.

However, someone in the chain has to move asap (it's a short chain). What are the legalities / issues behind completing this Friday so that the person up the chain can move, but myself and the person I'm buying off not moving (there are issues with getting a removal van at short notice)?

Effectively I would not move in until next week, so I would own the property but the seller would stay there for a few days after completion until they are able to move.

motherofstudents

No I'm sure the solicitors involved would not complete without vacant possession.

Grimbal

jonas123 wrote: »

I'm expecting to be allowed to exchange very soon, and hopefully complete by this Friday.

I don't want to send the thread off on a tangent, but just double check that you can complete so soon after exchange. I took out an HSBC mortgage recently & they wanted 10 working days between the two points

ETA: I agree with MOS that you'll generally need vacant possession before completion (even exchange to be sure)

jonas123

I believe HSBC have shortened the time between exchange and completion due to all the problems they've been having

mildred1978

Absolute minefield. Has been asked and answered many many times and has never ever been thought of as a good idea.

steve1980

You can complete on your sale, move out and then complete on your purchase at a later date.

sirmosh

To do it legitimately you would need to draw up a tennancy agreement for them to stay in the house and this means of course getting all the necessary permission from the lender (which isn't going to happen and would require a BTL mortgage in most cases at a much higher rate than a normal mortgage) and things such as a gas safety certificate.

Then of course is the problem of needing a vacant possession to complete the sale. Basically there's not an easy way of doing it and in most cases there just isn't a way of doing it.