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House sale not part of chain

My wife and I are buying a family home together. To finance this we're both selling our houses which we owned before we met.

I went first, as we're living in my wife's house, and put mine on the market last year and on the 17th January accepted an offer. So with that done, my wife put her house on the market too. Once we'd accepted an offer on that we started looking for a family home to buy.

So now we're due to complete the purchase of our family home on the 28th May (a week today!) and when we arranged our mortgage we said that the sale of my wife's house would form part of the chain but as mine was weeks from completion we said that should be sorted months before the purchase went through.

Problem is that my house still hasn't sold. It's stuck waiting for a deed of rectification to be ratified by the land registry. Does anyone know how long that should take? They've had it for 2 weeks now. Obviously the buyer doesn't want to complete without it. My solicitor says there's nothing further she can do except wait for it to come back but with the clock ticking down I'm worried that on the 28th May, my house won't have sold and I won't have enough money to complete the purchase.

My estate agent and solicitor don't want me to notify the estate agents and solicitors of our house purchase of this strand of the chain, probably because that will only result in hassle for them, but surely I have to or else I risk being the reason it all goes wrong in a weeks time.

Does anyone have any advise?
Thank you in advance!
Doogie

Comments

  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,474 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I had to wait for a deed of rectification (initially they'd told us it was a deed of variation) when buying my house before last, and the solicitors, etc spent far longer faffing over it all and trying all sorts of other routes (indemnity policy, etc) before the vendors' solicitors finally got the deed underway.

    In the end, it was only a couple of weeks. I had been led to believe it would take AGES and nobody would really give me a direct answer, but it really wasn't too bad in the end.

    You might be due to complete on 28 May, but I presume you've not actually exchanged? That's the crucial bit here! Please confirm as it makes a huge difference! Can't see any solicitor letting you exchange on a purchase before exchanging on your sale, so hopefully not!

    I'd be tempted to sit tight and wait it out, then try and delay a bit. When is exchange set for?

    Jx
    2024 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • _doogie_
    _doogie_ Posts: 6 Forumite
    We're signing contracts now for exchange on the purchase ready for the 28th and that seems to all be moving along nicely but with no progress on my unlinked sale, it's stressing me out! :mad:

    That sale isn't part of the chain so the estate agents and solicitors for the purchase aren't even aware of that difficulty. They've assumed it's sold and taken my accepted offer and mortgage balance as proof of funds.

    So we could delay sending this contract off until we've a definite completion date on my property but at a risk of upsetting the vendors of the house we're buying and the buyers of my wife's house. Or be honest and make them aware of the problem.
  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,474 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    It's a tricky one. If I were buying and had been told there was no chain to worry about - and was then told the sale hadn't gone through yet and there was a delay, I'd probably be spitting feathers because it's a stressful time.

    From an outsider's POV today, it's easy to see it calmly and reasonably, and I would like to think it's not going to be a pain.

    What are the vendors like? Do you have a phone number? Direct contact would be better so you can explain it. I'd arrange a viewing and tell them face to face (not immediately!. If they hear through the EA or solicitor, it's likely to be done without much tact. Make sure they know you started the process in January!

    Took five months for us to complete, but if they'd done the DoR straight away without all the faffing beforehand, it would have been much quicker.

    What is your solicitor telling people - if everyone's ready to exchange, surely they must be giving some reason as to the hold up?

    Try and give yourself a bit of breathing space and say something's come up at work and the 28th is going to be hugely problematic - or that you can't get the removals you want that day. ANYTHING to give yourself a bit of time. See if they can delay a week or two.

    Jx
    2024 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • _doogie_
    _doogie_ Posts: 6 Forumite
    Thank you for your responses.

    The buyer of my property has been a nightmare from the beginning. After agreeing the price he initially said he wanted to complete within 6 weeks but then didn't instruct his solicitor until 6 weeks later. His solicitor then has been very thorough but raising each issue only after the previous one is resolved. The deed of rectification was required because a "flying freehold" crosses the right of way to the parking and so the right of way was not clear on the plans - fair enough, you might say, but the parking is shared with 4 other properties and all have sold multiple times without this ever having been raised as an issue.

    My solicitor has said it's just a matter of waiting and can't say how long it will be.

    The vendors are very resonable and as they're only moving into their parents house I don't think a delay would affect them too badly. It's the buyers of my wife's house, who are first time buyers moving from rented accomodation having given notice on their current residence, that I feel for.

    I just want my solicitor to hurry the land registry along and get it sold! But she insists that there's nothing more she can do and any more nagging of her contact there just gets it put to the bottom of the pile!
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