exchange/completion cancelled last minute

maunders

hi, I'm a FTB and thought I was buying a no chain property. It has gone on for 13 weeks now and today we were meant to complete, the funds were all ready and the other side have been pushing and pushing for exchange and completion.

I get a phonecall at 4.30 yesterday from my solicitor who is livid, she says exchange and completion wont happen today and sends me an email from the other side. Which says that due to an error on their related mortgage application that completion all has to happen on the same day in a chain and as they are about 20 days behind on their purchase I will have to wait until they are ready to complete. He said the sellers are eager to help me out and will arrange me to go and measure stuff and also start moving stuff in(which my solicitor obviously advised I dont, and I wont)

I immediently call the estate agent to challenge him on this as to why he told me there was no chain and I read him the email. He sounded gobsmacked and said that as far as he was aware the vendors were going their seperate ways and renting different flats. Infact he said one of them came and dropped the keys today as the place is empty and apparently the delay was because they have to pay the whole mortgage back to the original lender, and there was an error with the amount they want paid back?

Anyway he said he'd call the vendors and get back to me and I sent a long email to my solicior, I'm awaiting replies to both. Does this sound dodgy to you guys and should I be worried?

theartfullodger

Until the keys are in your hand, your solicitor has said it's all OK & you've walked through the door and found them & their stuff gorn.... anything can (& does..) go wrong..

Very frustrating, very annoying, very inconveniencing .. but it happens: You'll probably never find out if there is an innocent reason or they are dodgy.. hope it works out soon.

If you are feeling brave you could advise you'll have to drop the price if it doesn't get sorted within xx days - but if it were me I'd bite me lip and do nowt...

Ivana_Tinkle

Sounds like one of the vendors changed their mind and decided to buy, not rent, so they're porting their mortgage. Exactly the same thing happened to us and delayed our move by about 2 months. It drove us nuts at the time but I look back on it now (a month after completion) and can't quite remember what I was so stressed about! We did get there in the end.

Just one thing, though, I don't really understand why your solicitor is "livid". These things happen (in fact they seem to be pretty common), and the last thing you need is your solicitor getting wound up on your behalf!

maunders

perhaps livid was too strong a word! It seems like that must be the case, I think my solicitor is more annoyed that the other solicitor didn't read the mortgage offer until the day of my exchange(their sale is apparently two weeks behind mine so they must've had the offer a while) Though I hope its not delayed by two months, its been going on since may!

Mrs_b_4

I hope this gets sorted for you quickly maunders. I understand how frustrating it is when completion takes so long without a chain. We also started our house purchase in May and we are still waiting for an exchange date!