Vendor Delaying Exchange & Completion

alipops1986

Hello All,

So, we are in a position to exchange. Our house is sold to a FTB who wants to move in on the 9th, we agreed to this but now the vendor we are buying off says they are refusing to exchange or even agree a completion date until they've found a house they like enough to rent!

We didn't really see this coming as when we viewed the house twice they said they wouldn't hold us up, as we had a FTB and we are getting married in 2 weeks! Fast forward to now and they're basically holding things up.

We've decided to sell our property and complete on the 9th, perhaps moving in with family during our wedding and honeymoon. But we have said to the vendor they need to either agree to the 9th or come up with another completion date by end of play tomorrow otherwise we will reconsider. They've already discounted 4 houses!

This isn't a decision we've come to lightly as we love the house but feel we're going to be in a never ending cycle otherwise.

Does anyone have any experience of this or give any advice?

Thanks,
Alipops x

tim123456789

I think expecting someone who has told you at the start that they will be moving into rental, to complete in a week, is unreasonable.

Realistically, they aren't going to sign up for a property before they have exchanged and the paperwork for the rental will take two weeks, and then they still have to arrange the actual move.

I think that you should have always agreed that you were going for a 4 week completion.

Beyond that, they should be taking the risk of getting the "right" place. Getting an exact match for rental is a lottery, if one isn't prepared to make some pretty big compromises it could take them years. They need to be pushed into the first half-suitable place for the first six months and to look for something better on their own time

tim

alipops1986

tim123456789 wrote: »

I think expecting someone who has told you at the start that they will be moving into rental, to complete in a week, is unreasonable.

Realistically, they aren't going to sign up for a property before they have exchanged and the paperwork for the rental will take two weeks, and then they still have to arrange the actual move.

I think that you should have always agreed that you were going for a 4 week completion.

Beyond that, they should be taking the risk of getting the "right" place. Getting an exact match for rental is a lottery, if one isn't prepared to make some pretty big compromises it could take them years. They need to be pushed into the first half-suitable place for the first six months and to look for something better on their own time

tim

Thanks Tim.

They were told at least 3 weeks ago we were nearly ready to exchange, they didn't view anything. Then, said, they would view but not put a deposit down until we'd exchanged, they then didn't like 4 houses they saw. So, we've raced to try to get exchanged and now they're refusing because they can't find a nice enough place!

This could potentially cause us to lose our buyer, particularly as our vendors are unwilling to provide or stick to any completion date at the moment.

We would happily move to family if they agreed a date in say, 3 weeks, but they expect us to hang around and wait until they find just the right rental!

Alipops x

Guest101

So how is your buyer completing on the 9th if you having exchanged contracts?

This is very muddled. Clearly the vendors want to sell, so stop letting them dictate. Knock £1000 of your offer, and again for every week they delay.

alipops1986

Guest101 wrote: »

So how is your buyer completing on the 9th if you having exchanged contracts?

This is very muddled. Clearly the vendors want to sell, so stop letting them dictate. Knock £1000 of your offer, and again for every week they delay.

Thanks Guest.

If our the vendors won't/can't agree to the 9th then we're going to break the chain and sell our house to our buyer so we don't lose them. This is inconvenient as we'll have to move in with family but we don't want to lose out on our sale.

We've given our vendor a deadline of end of today to decide whether they're doing the 9th or to suggest a completion date otherwise we'll reconsider the purchase. Then, either way, tomorrow we'll exchange on the sale of our house.

Hope that makes things clearer?!

Alipops x

Ivana_Tinkle

Threatening to "reconsider your purchase" is a very big risk. If the vendors are going into rented accommodation, so there's no onward chain, they don't have much to lose by pulling out of the sale. I do understand how fraught house-buying gets, but I don't think they're being at all unreasonable wanting to know they've got somewhere to move to before they exchange. Not everyone can move in with family.

Also, telling them you'll pull out if they don't "suggest a completion date" is meaningless. If they've got any sense, they'll just pick a random date. There's no reason why they need to stick to it if they don't actually exchange.

tim123456789

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Threatening to "reconsider your purchase" is a very big risk. If the vendors are going into rented accommodation, so there's no onward chain, they don't have much to lose by pulling out of the sale. I do understand how fraught house-buying gets, but I don't think they're being at all unreasonable wanting to know they've got somewhere to move to before they exchange. Not everyone can move in with family.

Also, telling them you'll pull out if they don't "suggest a completion date" is meaningless. If they've got any sense, they'll just pick a random date. There's no reason why they need to stick to it if they don't actually exchange.

I think she means agree an immediate exchange for the suggested completion date