Disagreement with vendor about exchange-completion

Cara79

Is he looking for somewhere to purchase or rent?

If purchase, unlikely it'll be done in 6 weeks

And if he's gonna rent, it don't take 6 weeks.

Better_Days

Stu_Dent wrote: »

The exchange has been the problem. We've both been wanting to exchange, but the vendor has decided not to look for anywhere until we have. That means that now we're close to exchange, he wants at least 6 weeks from then till completion. I don't know why he hasn't been at least looking previously!

I am in this position, but from the other way round. We are selling and going into rented. I didn't look for a rental until I had been told that exchange was imminent. Also it is very unwise to sign up for 6 months rental contract until exchange has taken place.

We were told exchange was imminent just before Christmas, but we still haven't exchanged. I do have a rental lined up but may now well lose it because of the delays (and lose over £200 in application fees)

I have told my EA that I will need at least 4 weeks between exchange and completion if I lose my rental because of the delays resulting from an incompetent EA at the bottom of the chain.

Therefore I can understand your vendor not wanting to look for rental until you exchange (because until then he can't commit) and also wanting 6 weeks after exchange to find a rental.

Once you have exchanged you will have some certainty and actually 6 weeks will give you a good period of time to sort out utilities, removers etc. Like you I am very impatient to move, these delays are grinding me down, but I can see both sides of this.

GL with your move.

Stu_Dent

Cara79 wrote: »

Is he looking for somewhere to purchase or rent?

If purchase, unlikely it'll be done in 6 weeks

And if he's gonna rent, it don't take 6 weeks.

He's looking for somewhere to rent. Wants until Monday 25th February!

Stu_Dent

Better_Days wrote: »

I am in this position, but from the other way round. We are selling and going into rented. I didn't look for a rental until I had been told that exchange was imminent. Also it is very unwise to sign up for 6 months rental contract until exchange has taken place.

We were told exchange was imminent just before Christmas, but we still haven't exchanged. I do have a rental lined up but may now well lose it because of the delays (and lose over £200 in application fees)

I have told my EA that I will need at least 4 weeks between exchange and completion if I lose my rental because of the delays resulting from an incompetent EA at the bottom of the chain.

Therefore I can understand your vendor not wanting to look for rental until you exchange (because until then he can't commit) and also wanting 6 weeks after exchange to find a rental.

Once you have exchanged you will have some certainty and actually 6 weeks will give you a good period of time to sort out utilities, removers etc. Like you I am very impatient to move, these delays are grinding me down, but I can see both sides of this.

GL with your move.

Thanks BD

It's not that I wanted the vendor to commit to anything in advance of exchange, but knowing that we exchange is imminent, it would've been nice if they could've at least looked. Who knows, maybe they were, but still, six weeks seems like a long time. I was expecting this move to happen before Xmas so most things are sorted and ready to go.

I completely appreciate that the vendor needs time to find somewhere and move out, but from what most people have said here, six weeks seems like a lot..

Thanks to everyone for responding so far. Really helpful to think it through from all angles.

InMyDreams

Cara79 wrote: »

Is he looking for somewhere to purchase or rent?

If purchase, unlikely it'll be done in 6 weeks

And if he's gonna rent, it don't take 6 weeks.

But none of that really matters if the vendor isn't budging on the 6 weeks but happy to exchange now with a 6 week gap. He'll be committed.

To the OP, to be fair the fact that your rental has already run out is not the vendors problem and it's unfair to use that as persuasion if you gave your notice prematurely.

I could understand you being frustrated by this if it was the vendors pressuring you to hand in notice before exchange, and now they are the ones stalling. (But I'm assuming that's not the case as you would have said.) The advice is not to give notice on a rental until you've exchanged for this very reason.

I do understand it's frustrating, but I don't think there's anything to be gained by applying any more pressure. I think your best bet for getting your new place asap is to agree to the 6 week gap and exchange asap.

Probably more to be gained by keeping relations good as you want them to look after that house for those 6 weeks between exchange and completion!

Good luck!

Edited to add... could it be that if the vendor knew you were in rented, he was expecting that you would be wanting a long time between exchange and completion, to give you time to hand in your notice and not have things overlapping too much? Maybe that's why he didn't start to look beforehand?

Stu_Dent

InMyDreams wrote: »

But none of that really matters if the vendor isn't budging on the 6 weeks but happy to exchange now with a 6 week gap. He'll be committed.

To the OP, to be fair the fact that your rental has already run out is not the vendors problem and it's unfair to use that as persuasion if you gave your notice prematurely.

I could understand you being frustrated by this if it was the vendors pressuring you to hand in notice before exchange, and now they are the ones stalling. (But I'm assuming that's not the case as you would have said.) The advice is not to give notice on a rental until you've exchanged for this very reason.

I do understand it's frustrating, but I don't think there's anything to be gained by applying any more pressure. I think your best bet for getting your new place asap is to agree to the 6 week gap and exchange asap.

Probably more to be gained by keeping relations good as you want them to look after that house for those 6 weeks between exchange and completion!

Good luck!

Edited to add... could it be that if the vendor knew you were in rented, he was expecting that you would be wanting a long time between exchange and completion, to give you time to hand in your notice and not have things overlapping too much? Maybe that's why he didn't start to look beforehand?

You make a fair point. Although to be honest, I've never discussed my personal circumstances with the vendor. All I've said is that I'm ready to move asap. Our rental contract ran out and unless we wanted to extend it for a period of months, we had to move out. The vendor doesn't know this but even if they did, it's not their problem. I'm on excellent terms with the vendor so it's not his fault, it's just impatience on my part really!

Better_Days

Stu_Dent wrote: »

I completely appreciate that the vendor needs time to find somewhere and move out, but from what most people have said here, six weeks seems like a lot..

Does your vendor have pets? If so it will greatly decrease the availability of rentals, I have been told by LA's only about 15% of LL accept tenants with pets around here (a rural area). Certainly we have been very restricted in what we can rent, (we have 2 cats and 2 dogs) even though we are willing to pay up to about £850pm rent. It could easily take us 6 weeks to find another let which will accept pets and that is accessable for me (I have mobility difficulties).

Actually I wish we had not started to look for a rental at the 'exchange imminent' stage just before Christmas. We were incredibly lucky to find a rental bungalow that will accept pets, and I doubt we will be that lucky again. It has caused grief for us, the LL (who is very pleasant), and the LA (who are also very pleasant).

Ohhh, it's so stressful, supposed to exchange today or tomorrow, but my EA off sick and struggling to get an update about what is going on at the bottom of the chain.

I do feel your frustration over the delays and hope that when you do get into your new home you will be very happy there

pinkteapot

To be fair to the OP's vendor, it can take a while to rent in some areas. Bigger towns etc have zillions of rental properties available and you can find one and move in within a couple of weeks if you have to. In some areas though rentals don't come up that often.

If the vendor is wanting to rent, they are absolutely right not to sign a rental contract until they have exchanged, because up until exchange OP could pull out and they'd still be committed to paying rent. BUT, they're being a bit stupid by not viewing already. My mum recently sold and she started viewing rental properties when she was a week or two from exchange. She chose one, and then signed the contract for it the day after she exchanged on her sale.

Could just be that the vendor has a busy job or something and wants to allow him/herself plenty of time to find something, arrange removals etc, without it being a big rush.

I do sympathise OP. As I said, we were faffed about for ages with our purchase. No chain as we came from rented and our vendor was going into rented. Still, we completed five months after our offer was accepted and had two months from exchange to completion at the vendor's request! It does feel unfair if you feel like you're caving in to their demands and they won't give at all, but unfortunately someone has to and if you come up against a stubborn person it's usually better to bite the bullet than lose out on the house. As soon as you get the keys, the delay of a few weeks will all be forgotten, I promise!

InMyDreams

Another thought... it could be that the vendor doesn't actually think that it *will* take 6 weeks, but obviously once exchanged he's committed, so he really can't take any chances.

But actually, as far as I'm aware, there's no reason not to change the date after exchange if both parties agree. If he does find somewhere much sooner, he may be very happy to complete sooner as it means he gets his money quicker too.

Usually changing dates after completion would be more trouble than it's worth. Once people have started booking removals and time off work etc, it would be impossible. And in any case, why would you want to? But if none of that applies, it's easy. We did it once when we moved into a vacant property once. We had completed on our house three weeks previously and were staying with parents. (We had taken pity on the impatient ftb who wanted to be in before Christmas... wish we hadn't... it was a nightmare and the ftb didn't even actually move in straight away, but anyway, I digress...) The house we were moving into had been tenanted and the tenants left earlier than expected, so we ended up completing and picking the keys up a few days early.

harrup

Stu-Dent, the vendor may not be as stubborn or uncooperative as you think.

A friend of mine has had a "sale agreed" on her property since November. Now she, and her family, would happily go into rented accomodation EXCEPT......no LA/EA would even consider them prior to exchange of contract. The first thing she did after accepting the offer and the buyer starting formal purchase proceeding was to trot to all the EA's to secure a rental place, but alas, to no avail.

I suppose, and after witnessing how socicitors can drag their feet endlessly, I understand WHY estate/letting agents are reluctant, if not fully averse, to enter into a rental agreement with someone who hasn't exchanged yet. Too many potential delays if not full-on u-turns.

I'm not saying that this is the case with your vendor, but I wouldn't be surprised!