Late completion interest - Do we have a leg to stand on?

quat-fro

Hi there,

Long story short, we won a house at auction while still waiting for a mortgage application (House is really worth the stress!) and things looked pretty good for completion just prior to Christmas, or so we were told.

As Christmas neared and went we were held back by the lenders briefly, our solicitors and mostly the vendors solicitors, who over Christmas were closing due to retirement and moving to another company and seemingly have been dragging their feet unnecessarily through the whole process.

At every stage my partner and I have been ready with money, any information and the inside leg measurements they needed to get the job done but somehow despite promises that we could all be wrapped up in the 28 days we had to play with, nearly a month later we're charged interest for late completion, in order to complete!

Do we have any grounds for complaint?

I must add, as an auction property there were some unique issues along the way, namely the large warehouse and an extension which no planning permissions could be found as they had been constructed 80odd years ago. But, it's not like this circumstance is new to the buying and selling of property trade! No chain, as previous owner had passed away.

I just feel like we've been taken the !!!! of and used as a cash cow.

G_M

Presumably you were given a Completion date at the auction.

You missed it.

You pay interest charge.

Alternatively, the vendors missed the Completion date, in which case you charge them interest!

If you can lay the blame on someone (your solicitors?) you could claim off them.

Hiw much is involved? Is it worth the hastle?

quat-fro

Hi,
Thanks for the rapid reply. We did miss the completion date, but, they could have mitigated the delay by quite some margin had they have pulled their fingers out - That's my current belief anyway.

The amount was £415.37 precisely. It's not the end of the world, though I could think of far better things to do than give that kind of sum away.
My solicitor told me to be glad they didn't serve notice and take my £12k deposit but I'm undecided as to whether that's missing the point and many hundreds of pounds could have been saved from needlessly leaving my account.

I've no idea how much hassle it would be...

G_M

quat-fro wrote: »

Hi,
Thanks for the rapid reply. We did miss the completion date, but, they could have mitigated the delay by quite some margin had they have pulled their fingers out - ...

Either you were ready, and they failed to Complete.

Or you were not ready.

quat-fro

Getting to the bottom of the who wasn't ready in time first caper is possibly the most difficult bit, I suspect it was our side first...Santander has been awfully slow, typically 72hr delay with every query or issue not helped by speaking through our solicitor of course and instead of a list, we get one problem, then the other and then the other...

That leg not looking quite so good for an upright stance perhaps...

Thrugelmir

Auction purchases have 28 days to complete.

A tight timescale unless preparatory work is done prior to the auction. So something people avoid doing as incurs costs that are lost if the auction lot isn't won.

You could have been far worse off and not obtained a mortgage. Thereby losing your deposit.

You'll get no where with a complaint. As no one will guarantee a completion date due to the unknowns that will arise during the transaction. Nor will you receive preferential treatment from lenders etc.

Auctions are best suited to cash purchasers for good reason.

quat-fro

Kind of what I thought!

Trouble is, when you've got an incandescent girlfriend these questions need backing up with facts and reason.

whitewing

So work out a way of overpaying the mortgage such that you save the equivalent amount.

Annisele

quat-fro wrote: »

My solicitor told me to be glad they didn't serve notice and take my £12k deposit but I'm undecided as to whether that's missing the point and many hundreds of pounds could have been saved from needlessly leaving my account.

I'm with your solicitor on that.

Regardless of whether the other side weren't ready, *you* weren't ready to complete. Unless your solicitor guaranteed that he could get you ready, I don't think you have a leg to stand on. (By "guaranteed", I don't mean "oh, yeah, that shouldn't be a problem" - I mean a written guarantee).

Richard_Webster

If you go to an auction and you do not have a mortgage offer beforehand with all possible legal issues sorted then you only have yourselves to blame.

If there were things about the property that a lender might not be happy with then those should have been checked in the period between the issue of your mortgage offer and the auction - too late once you have succesfully bid - you are stuck with the property, warts and all. If you had bought in the normal way, not at an auction, then any legal stuff that needed checking would have been done before you exchanged contracts.

Now I know that it is very difficult to get a mortgage offer AND have all the legal issues checked - with back and forth between your solicitors and seller's solicitors and your lender BEFORE an auction - but sorry, if you decide to buy at auction with a mortgage - that's the risk you take and you got off lightly only having to pay around £400.

You took a big risk - what if the lender decided after the auction that it would not proceed at all because of some legal point? Then you would have lost your entire deposit and could have been sued for other losses. So be thankful.

Better_Days

If it is not cut and dried I would pay up. In the scheme of things whilst buying a house it could be much worse.

What makes it so stressful is that there is so much out of your control, and you may well find yourself dealing with organisations who have work to their own time frames. We were supposed to exchange before Christmas but still have not done so due to the Church of England who are buying a property in the chain and have caused delay after delay. We have paid out £350 to retain the rental that we were very lucky to find. Someone else in the chain has had the costs associated with renewing their mortgage offer due to the delays.

At least you have now completed and can get settled in your new home. Hope you enjoy living there.