Buyer suddenly springs a completion date on us for 3 months time

worriedhouse

Yes agreed... the only thing we dont want to happen is for them to think "well they HAVE to fit in with us, they have to move because she's pregnant..."!

worriedhouse

sorry, that reply was to clarabelle... but G_M yes, we did think about saying that but then we worried we were being unnecessarily harsh -... we don't want to be complete a***holes, it's just so tricky. that's great to have the clarification on the renting thanks!

Judith_W

Just putting it out there, but I know a colleague who ended up doing this or they would have lost their house as the chain would have collapsed - could you and the next person in the chain stump up some of the rent they would have to pay whilst they pay mortgage? might 'only' cost you £300-£500 but if it means you can get the work done before you are 5 months along might be worth it?

missile

worriedhouse wrote: »

It's just so frustrating... and like I said, we haven't spoken to the guy we are buying from yet, he's elderly and I don't want to ring him hundreds of times changing the story and worrying him every call, I'm waiting to hear what the buyers response is and then we will call him. .!

It may be annoying that your purchaser is delaying but it seems you are doing the same.

A good solicitor would have told you about the danger of accepting a bid without agreeing dates for completion and exchange. He should be helping to expedite.

hazyjo

They might well be committed to their flat - not by 2 months' notice, but it might be that their contract is only 9 months in. Do you know how long they've been renting it?

Is there anything else on the market you like? It'll take around 3 months to buy something else.

Your choices as I see them are:

1. Wait until Christmas - with the risk they'll pull out anyway! I certainly would not want to exchange now with a completion in 3 months' time! I also believe that they might start saying the market's dropped and they're lowering their offer (you'd probably have waited around 6 months by then and they'd probably think you would do anything they asked)
2. Offer to pay a month's rent for them (through gritted teeth)
3. Tell them to naff off and put your house back on the market
4. Get them to agree to the Oct half term holiday

Will their mortgage offer run out before then anyway? Mine was only for 3 months and we had to extend it.

I would not consider option 1. I would not trust them as far as I could throw them.

Jx

worriedhouse

Yes, our estate agent is trying to find out exactly what the deal is with their rental terms. He always said to us that they were ready to proceed, and has now said it's because that was the impression they gave him.. whether they did that on purpose because they knew we might turn down their offer if they were bound into renting I don't know. All I know now is that last they told the estate agent they said "we want to move at christmas because we need to give 2 months notice" which conveniently.. takes them to Christmas, so whether this is true or whether they are manipulating the truth i don't know. If they do come back with some bad rental agreement, it's definitely going back on the market for sure.
Regarding telling the person we're buying from, we're not stalling with him, we found this out yesterday and are hoping for a reply from the buyers today. I would prefer to ring this poor old gent with the bad news only if we're SURE they can't sort anything else out. If they come back and say they've managed to fiddle it, we don't have to worry him. We would only leave it a day , we really don't want to mess him around, that's not in our nature!

casperlarue

What a tricky situation for you to be in..... selling and buying property is so complicated in the UK!

however I do agree with Hazyjo's suggestions ..... I would offer to contribute towards a months rent payment, say £500 if they will agree to exchange and complete in the October school holidays. A financial sweetener for them and an earlier completion for you. I wouldn't want to be waiting until December, gives them longer to worry about the whole thing. If they are as committed as they say they are they should meet you half way.

worriedhouse

Yes I do see your point... it's just such a hard lump to swallow (as you said with gritted teeth) especially since we could literally only JUST accept the offer they gave us, which was below what we wanted BUT it meant we could move on the house WE wanted, so we took it. And i know they have an 80k (40%!) deposit.. so they're not desperately hard up!!!

terryya

This moving in the holidays could be a bit of a red herring IMO. Whenever they move they're going to have to do it in a day and despite the fact they're teachers and can't chose their holidays they will more than likely be entitled to a day off work for moving house.

Sure, they may prefer to move during the holidays but they probably don't have to.

SkyeKnight

hazyjo wrote: »

1. Wait until Christmas - with the risk they'll pull out anyway! I certainly would not want to exchange now with a completion in 3 months' time! I also believe that they might start saying the market's dropped and they're lowering their offer (you'd probably have waited around 6 months by then and they'd probably think you would do anything they asked)

Just to say that if you exchange now then they can't lower their offer or drop out so it isn't very risky.