Think my buyer is dragging her feet

perrierjouet

Hi everyone

Slightly unusual position - we live abroad and have house in the UK. Our buyer owns the property next to ours which she rents out and when we put ours on the market she made a offer under asking price and we accepted on the basis it would all go through quickly. The house was a new build 15 years ago and she has owned the property next door for approximately 7 years. She said she did not want any searches etc done as she was confident the property was fine. All good. We need the funds to purchase this side of the ocean.

The date of the original offer was 7 October. She told us she had the offer approved from her bank at the end of the week and instructed her solicitors to get things moving.

Last week she told us that the contracts had been signed and sent to our solicitors but our solicitors tell us that they have been told to expect them this week.

She also said that her solicitors have told her it will take two weeks between exchange and completion and that if we want it to be quicker it will cost her an extra £250 which she doesn't want to pay - what will be happening in this time. In the meantime she has asked for a key to go into the property to start moving things in and put up curtains etc (we said no to any structural alterations). As soon as we exchange she wants to start advertising the property and show tenants around.

This is my worry:

Her solicitors are dragging their feet - what is taking them so long?
She is dragging her feet - as we are approaching the Christmas period she will be less willing to complete because she will be paying a mortgage on an empty house which will probably be difficult to rent out over this period.

Can anyone give me some advice? I don't want to annoy the buyer in case she pulls out but we need to get this through urgently.

Thank you so much...I feel physically sick this is worrying me so much.

kingstreet

On the mortgage issue I can see, the lender will not allow her to decide what searches are obtained. It will instruct the solicitor to obtain those it deems necessary.

On the legal issue, if the solicitor wants to charge more for an expedited completion, she has the right to accept, or deny that.

You're about five weeks in and this is moving reasonably quickly. It sounds like you need to calm down a bit and let things progress. This is what will happen and you need to tick off the stages as they are passed;-

Offer agreed
Solicitors instructed
Sales memorandum issued by agent
Purchaser applies for mortgage
Vendor's solicitor prepares and issues draft contract
Vendor completes seller's enquiry forms and returns to solicitor
Valuation/survey carried out
Purchaser pays solicitor for searches
Searches requested
Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued
Purchaser's solicitor receives seller's enquiry forms and raises any enquiries
Searches returned
Responses to enquiries
Purchaser visits solicitor to go through paperwork, hand over ID and deposit
Completion date agreed between all parties
Contracts exchanged
Completion takes place.

KTF

I wouldn't give her any access to the property until its 'hers'. If it falls through then that will be a nightmare to sort out given that you are out of the country.

Just let the solicitors do their job.

perrierjouet

Thanks Kingstreet

The buyer is not taking out a mortgage on the property she is using her own property which she states is worth in excess of £1m so there was no valuation or survey done as she didn't want to do this.

Everything on your list above had been done except:

Awaiting for signed paperwork
We did not agree for a deposit to be paid as we thought this was going to be a quick process
Completion date agreed.

So what is happening between the exchange hopefully this week and the completion except her bank releasing the funds?

Thanks

AndyGuil

It is possibe to have everything done just before Christmas, but that would be very quick and I wouldn't assume it will happen. The purchase can take from 2 months to 3 months. Considering the solicitor will shut down for at least a couple of weeks over Christmas then it will only take a little delay and you won't be finished until January. Best to just plan for this and if it is earlier, this is a bonus.

monty-doggy

Don't allow her access, if it falls through and she has found tenants this could be a total nightmare!

egoode

Sounds to me like she's trying to find the tenets before she exchanges so she can avoid having a void period at the start.

Seanymph

I have exchanged and completed on the same day before. There is no need for a delay.

KTF

Seanymph wrote: »

I have exchanged and completed on the same day before. There is no need for a delay.

Different in this situation I guess but it has been known that the buyer suddenly comes up 'short' and says they will now only pay you X instead as they know you are potentially over a barrel if you choose to do it all on the one day.

perrierjouet

Thanks for all the replies - feeling rather down about the whole thing.

Her solicitors have not sent back the contract after all but have instead asked loads of questions regarding the shared areas which we have already provided the answers to in the property enquiry. As she owns the property next door she knows the answers to all these and I cannot imagine anyone would ask their solicitors to write and ask questions they already know the answers to as that will cost her money.

Our solicitors have suggested we set a completion date to move things forward - DH has also sent an email to purchaser asking her to agree to the completion date to chivvy up her solicitors.

Our solicitors also said some solicitors do charge a fee to do their job quicker but not all - ours isn't and there is no need for a gap between exchange and completion.

Yorkie1

It has already been explained that there is no NEED for a gap between exchange and completion.

However, the T&Cs of some solicitors provide for an additional charge to the client if there is less than a certain period between the two. Commonly mentioned on here in connection with online- or factory-type conveyancers who have a cheap headline rate and lots of added extra fees.

This is set out at the time of quote and it's up to the client to decide whether to accept them or not.

Your buyer has chosen to go with the solicitor and not to pay these extra fees. It's not the solicitor's fault if the client has agreed the T&Cs.

I agree with others: 5 weeks is not long in the process and you seem to be worrying yourself unnecessarily at this stage.