Vendor being unreasonable on Completion Date

mchu6am4

LATEST UPDATE:

Intructed on 22nd March - No chain as I'm FTB & property is vacant possession.

Well I've had all the searches completed, mortgage, deposit & insurances all in place. My sol is ready to exchange & complete ASAP. Unfortunatley, the seller wants until AFTER early May bank holiday to complete. :mad::mad::mad:

I'm not happy as I wanted to complete asap - my sol was willing to do it this coming Friday! I'm not happy (especially with the excuse - they need time to move stuff out of house - well there's not much there apart from a few personal possesions!!!). I changed my sol half way through as the original sol was messing me about (and I wanted no timewasters!)

Reason why I want to complete asap is because the house needs alot of work and a good clean up etc. (to make it partially habitable) and I wanted to use the weekends to assess what needs doing & clean up the place etc. and more importantly plan my attack of the jobs that need doing. I want to make most of these long evenings (light hours) to do as much work as I can before winter sets in. I'm unhappy with the fact that there is hardly anything in the house that needs moving (all curtains/fittings/carpets/appliances & furniture are included in the sale - what else is there to move???).

Any ideas on how I need to approach this as I'm willing to compromise a little bit but not too much (i.e. I am willing to give them till end of next week - Friday).

Any ideas?

benood

Are you prepared to lose the house because of this delay? If so play hardball and make sure they know you are serious - start looking for alternative accommodation now.

Alternatively print off your post and discuss it with them they may come around - offer to help skip their junk!

helping_hubby

Does vacant possession mean that they aren't living in it? (sorry newbie here with regards to house buying).

Having been what I've been going through (person at top being uncontactable, them swearing they were renting, when all along they were sneakily buying another house!), I would be a bit suspicious as to their reasons for not moving sooner, if there's nothing stopping them except for moving a few possessions out.

Surely though as people advised me, there's not really much you can do about it. There's no point in threatening to pull out unless you really intend to. Maybe you can compromise and agree to the date they want but make sure you exchange this week so they cant delay it further?

mchu6am4

Not really as I've spent quite a bit of money on surveys/sol fees etc., but they have to a bit more reasonable - If they were living there and were looking for another place I could understand. There's not much to move - so why delay?

oodlenoodle10

No help or advice.

But I wish you were our buyer. We have no chain they are FTB we have already moved out waited for 6 weeks to do their survey! They don't seem to be in a hurry.

Doozergirl

Do they live far from the property? Maybe they want the Mayday weekend to travel over and move their stuff.

Would it be possible for you to 'look after' their stuff until then and move it out of the way. That way, you'd both get what you need to do done.

I'm sure if you word it so that it looks like you're doing them a favour, they will agree.

mchu6am4

Doozergirl wrote: »

Do they live far from the property? Maybe they want the Mayday weekend to travel over and move their stuff.

Would it be possible for you to 'look after' their stuff until then and move it out of the way. That way, you'd both get what you need to do done.

I'm sure if you word it so that it looks like you're doing them a favour, they will agree.

No they live locally.

First of all, as I said there is nothing significant that needs moving but I am willing to put their stuff to aside and they can come and collect anytime (weekend by prior arrangement as I don't live locally) - that's not a problem and I can even put this in writing.

I am keen as I want to get cracking in getting some work done on it - before the winter sets in - it needs a-z of internal decor. I just want to be able to have a good look properly in my own time and plan what/which rooms etc I'm going to do first etc.

I've tried very hard to get everything in place so that I can exchange/complete asap only for vendor to delay things - I got every single thing in place and even changed sol (someone who would try their best to get things done quickly!)

rsykes2000

"Before the winter sets in". You have 5 months until Sept when the days get shorter. Hardly winter setting in quickly.

mchu6am4

rsykes2000 wrote: »

"Before the winter sets in". You have 5 months until Sept when the days get shorter. Hardly winter setting in quickly.

As I said, it needs a-z of internal decor + new kit/bath etc. - Just say its alot of work (that's without touching the outside yet!) and I don't live locally so can only do any work generally on weekends (one man DIY job!). Hence five months may seem a long time for someone who spends full time doing it up but I work full time (someone's got to keep mortgage being paid!)

I just feel its very unfair - I've done my bit - and vendor doesn't have much to move as its vacant - so why delay?

icklejulez

Personally I think you are being a little unreasonable, it is still there house after all and completing within 6 weeks is still a good achievement. Trust me, I am in the position of having no chain and I am buying a vacant house. I have my auntie doing all my conveyancing and I know she is moving things through fast and Id personally be happy at a 6 week mark...

You may have all this work to do but 2 weeks is nothing. Perhaphs Exchanging ASAP and arranging a completion date agreeable to both parties would be a good option. If you presurise the seller to sell(he may have personal issuess over the house) then you may risk him pulling out all together at no cost to himself but financially a disaster for you.

icklejulez

It isnt the vendor's issues as to how much time you have to do up the house. You agreed to purchase the house. If searches and surveys had taken a longer period of time would you be blaming people??? You purchased the house on the date you did on the knowledge that there is no guarenteed date that you would exchange.