Breaking the chain???

Running_Horse

Our vendor has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to exchange by not signing or returning documents on time, and has become uncontactable (for 2 weeks now) just at the point of arranging completion dates.

We need to move now for work reasons, cannot risk losing our buyers, and are actively considering moving into rented property to be paid for by the interest on our released equity. The idea would be to then renegotiate the price down, or buy something else at our leisure.

Has anyone ever broken their chain this way? Apart from the cost of renting, are their any possible pitfalls we haven't thought of? The stress of an uncooperative vendor has finally pushed us to breaking point.

sortofok

I can see no pitfalls in your plans my equine friend.

Gazundering is making a comeback, don't you know?

Out of interest, how "long is the chain"?

And are the people you are buying from at the top?

Nenen

We had lots of problems synchronising selling and buying so eventaully decided to sell up and move into rented, which we did 2 months ago. I'm certainly no expert but from my own experience...

IMHO the main advantages are:

1) no chain below you when you are buying so likely to be in a much shorter chain... statistically (although not necessarily guarenteed) less to go wrong!

2) being deemed to be a 'strong' buyer by EAs and vendors as effectively you are like a 1st time buyer with a large deposit and MIP so if there are several people after the same property you have a good chance of being chosen or getting the property a bit cheaper if vendor wants a quick sale;

3) No house buildings insurance to pay or any bills if something (e.g. drains, central heating) goes wrong. If the interest on your released equity covers your rent then you should be able to afford to save what you were previously paying on your mortgage each month too!

Disadvantages:
1) having to pack/unpack and move twice... all the stress and work doing this plus extra costs;

2)having to find somewhere you want to rent... probably having to pay large fee to Letting Agent for admin and credit checks etc (ones in Cambridge were around 200-400 pounds) plus large deposit (6 weeks rent in advance) which you may or may not get returned (although I think/hope the recent introduction of deposit holding schemes should make that a bit safer);

3) usually have to sign a minimum 6 month rental agreement so if your sale proceeds in less than 6 months you'll still have to pay rent for the whole period;

4) feeling of insecurity... after 20+ years of owning a home this has affected me far more than I imagined it would... not knowing where we are going to be next, worrying about what we will do if LL decides to end our contract at the end of 6 months and we still haven't found anywhere to buy etc. Everything feels so temporary and planning anything e.g. holidays is almost impossible. My ds has really been affected by this too... I guess if you are fairly young (20s/30s) with no children this wouldn't be so bad (some might even think it is exciting) but if you are older or have children it can be very unsettling to live like this for a while... feels like stepping into the unknown and being in limbo for months!

5) concern about house prices... if they do continue to rise then, once you have sold yours, you could find your equity becomes a smaller proprtion of the overall cost of your next house (i.e. you'll need a bigger mortgage). Conversely, if the much predicted house price crash does happen any time soon you may be in a much better position. How I wish I had a crystal ball!

These are the main things that come to mind right now. Overall, this was the best option for us and I don't regret doing it so far but it has been extremely stressful!
HTH and good luck

Nenen

Just thought of another disadvantage... storage costs if you can't fit all your stuff in the house you rent. The house we're renting doesn't have a garage and we aren't allowed to put anything in the loft either so we've had to pay for storage of items that would normally go in either loft or garage. We also have several items of furniture that won't fit in the rented house but we are hoping to accomodate in the house we eventually buy.

Running_Horse

Hi. Thanks for the replies.

Just 2 houses and 3 people in the chain with us in the middle. The annoying thing is we were told the vendors were in a hurry when we began, but not about their messy divorce. Our buyers have been great, until now, but are simply no longer willing to find another months rent indefinitely.

Have taken the unusual step of writing directly to the uncontactable one, explaining exactly what we are planning to do, but saying the deal can still be saved. Will communicate our intentions to various lawyers and estate agents over the weekend.

On the plus side it will give us the chance to rent in our chosen area before buying, and after months of wanting to move we finally get to be in control of our lives again.

sortofok

Running_Horse wrote: »

Hi. Thanks for the replies.

messy divorce. QUOTE]


They are hoping that HPI will part-fund this excercise.

But it will not come to their rescue.

Have patience my friend and good luck.

Running_Horse

Blimey. After sending the direct appeal to our vendor, I faxed copies and similar letters to all relevant solicitors and estate agents. Lo and behold, we finally exchanged today, with completion in another month, but that final delay is fine. So we get the dream house and fairy tale ending after all. The past few months have been worth the hell, but never again until the baby is an adult. Thank for your comments and help.

Nenen

Great news Running Horse... :j :j :j I'm so glad you finally got it sorted out. Fingers crossed everything will go really smoothly from here. Thanks for the update:beer: