Sellers want to stay in the house up to 6 week after completion...

bitsandpieces

ScarletFox2012 wrote: »

We have agreed to discuss this again tomorrow as she will have the final details from her builders on the work that needs doing... she also said that these arrangements are in the form of a "gentlemans agreement" and it would be based on trust...but this screams red flag to me but I wanted to reach out to the wider community to see what you thought...

My instincts say no, we want to move in on completion date but I get the impression this will affect our house purchase and the seller will pull out...HELP!

You're being asked to rely on a 'gentlemans agreement' when dealing with an asset worth tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds? People have different ideas about trust - but that's a lot to trust a stranger (the vendors are strangers to you?) with!

Having a gap between exchange and completion - with the vendors getting a bridging loan - might be an option. This will cost the vendors more, but if they can't afford this I'd worry about other problems if you did as they ask. The building works, if planned to take 6 weeks, must be significant - so they should have some spare cash for contingencies.

ScarletFox2012

yes they are strangers but we have gotten to know them personally over the last four weeks during the process... and it is hundreds of thousands... I'm sure they are good people but this is a step to far for us and the risks too high... bad karma all round methinks...

Ulfar

As others have said the answer is no, you are buying with a mortgage which will require vacant possession.

I would be polite but firm with the vendor and advise them that it is a no, you need to be able to move in on completion.

If they need somewhere temporary to live, well that is why there are hotels or caravans. They could just rough it in their new house, get the minimum done to make it habitable which in my book is a weather tight property, bathroom and a floor to put a bed on.

If the estate agent tries to get huffy, put them in their place. This is not common place as mortgages require vacant possession unless they are a buy to let mortgage.

This is another estate agent who knows sod all or who is criminally irresponsible.

Ivana_Tinkle

I was given the excellent advice on another thread that, once the offer is accepted, the estate agent has no further role to play. It's the conveyancing solicitors' job to progress the sale, so there's no reason for any of this to go through the agent at all.

blackshirtuk

Absolutely no!

You could offer them your landlords number so they could rent your place for "6" weeks!

FireWyrm

ScarletFox2012 wrote: »

...she also said that these arrangements are in the form of a "gentlemans agreement" and it would be based on trust...but this screams red flag to me but I wanted to reach out to the wider community to see what you thought...

SF

You've been given your answer by others, but the quote above caught my eye, so I wanted to tell you a cautionary tale about 'gentlemens agreements'.

I too was like you once, a green as grass FTS (seller). I had a nice young couple come around to view my home as it was for sale. The had a small boy, good jobs and seemed to be fine upstanding citizens. I'd had other offers, but this pair spun me a sob story about how they absolutely had to get on the ladder and this was their last chance before house prices spun out of their reach. I probed gently around finances and came to the conclusion they couldn't afford the mortgage in the long run. They however seemed to have their heart set and assured me all was fine despite my oblique references to housing bubbles and crashes. This was June 2008. I agreed to the sale. However, try as they might, they just couldn't get a mortgage for the asking price and I wasn't going to drop any more.

My buyer came to me with a proposition. He could get a mortgage but he was in fact £5000 short and could he short me by £5K temporarily in order to pay the moving fees and then pay me back to the tune of £600 a month thereafter. I stupidly agreed.

At first, I came every month at my own expense, we exchanged civilised receipts and I walked out with cash. Then the housing bubble popped and the excuses started. I'd had 3 months payments by then but he pled poverty. I gave him room for a year. I then went to the door and asked for my money...he laughed and slammed 'his' door in my face. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. To this day, I have never received the balance and am never likely to either. I don't have a legal leg to stand on. My only consolation is that he can't sell the house (it's been on rightmove intermittently) and he's in massive negative equity, so I guess karma really is a female dog.

So, if he was prepared to stiff me for a few thousand on a house sale, how much trouble do you think your sellers could get you into?

Gentlemens Agreements are for people who can afford to lose the cash. They arnt worth used toilet paper.

Emmzi

or you could offer to pay the "investment property" rate as it'll have a sitting tenant? which I think is about 25% under the vacant possession rate...

GDB2222

Have you issued proceedings, Firewyrm?

FireWyrm

GDB2222 wrote: »

Have you issued proceedings, Firewyrm?

On what basis? It was a verbal agreement that lapsed nearly 4 years ago. No court in the land would uphold it even if I could prove it. Receipts arnt worth anything since they were just printed off the computer.

No, I fully acknowledge my stupidity. I just hope it's a lesson to others. I'll never be caught out like that again. A painful lesson if only to my pride. I also lent £1200 to a 'friend' that I will never see again either. She's not my friend anymore.

GDB2222

FireWyrm wrote: »

On what basis? It was a verbal agreement that lapsed nearly 4 years ago. No court in the land would uphold it even if I could prove it. Receipts arnt worth anything since they were just printed off the computer.

No, I fully acknowledge my stupidity. I just hope it's a lesson to others. I'll never be caught out like that again. A painful lesson if only to my pride. I also lent £1200 to a 'friend' that I will never see again either. She's not my friend anymore.

I am a bit surprised by this. You had a verbal agreement that is just as binding as a written one, just a bit harder to prove. In the end, it is just your word against his. Do you really have no evidence whatsoever? Think carefully. Even evidence of your buying train tickets every 3 months to go there would give the court some indication that you might be telling the truth.

I am not sure what you mean by the agreement having lapsed four years ago? You have 6 years to enforce the debt before it becomes "statute-barred", so if your sale was in 2007, you are still within time to issue proceedings.