12 December completion date looking dodgy!

PompeyPete

I'll try and keep it short!

Found a buyer towards the end of August.
We made a verbal commitment to them that we would complete well in time for Xmas.
Young professional couple, mortgage agreed in principle.
Absolutely no problems with them, nor have they tried to push to quicken the process up.

We had a long since booked foreign holiday booked between 8-23 November, and before we went we wanted a commitment from our buyers, ie we wanted to exchange contracts.
No problem. We exchanged on 7 November with completion of 12 December.
12 December left plenty of time for the rest in the short chain [see below] to catch up and be in place to complete on that date.

So far so good. Now for our purchase....

We found somewhere at the beginning of September.
The sellers [outright owners] also wanted to move before Xmas, and had already earmarked a property out of the area close to their daughter, and the owners of that property [outright owners] were moving into a vacant property. End of chain.

What could be easier? We want to complete of 12 December, as do the other two parties. This date has been known by all concerned since before we exchanged with our buyers on 7 November.

But if it goes tits up for any reason, then we are effectively homeless and will have to move to Lock & Store. We've got removals booked leaving the destination address to be confirmed.

Everything has been progressing, until suddenly towards the end of last week our sellers solicitor discovered that there was an NHBC Certificate missing from the documentation for their purchase.

Excluding today, there are only 4 working days until 12 December.

Things can still move in the right direction and we can all complete on 12 December. But if the solicitors can't sort out this NHBC Certificate and completion doesn't happen we have no choice with our sale and have to move out, whereas the other two parties can remain in their current properties.

I've told our solicitor that if we have to move into storage, then there is no way we are going to move again until after the Xmas/New Year break, ie week commencing 6 January.

I'm also less than impressed that we might have to do a double move and pay for storage due to a solitors oversight over the NHBC Certificate. Surely that bit of paper should be part of the tick-off list for solicitors?!

What if the solicitors say we can't complete on 12 December, but we'll definitely complete the following week? That'll force us to do a double move in the space of a week, which we are extremely reluctant to do.

Should I say if you want us to do a double move in the space of a few days then we want to reduce our agreed price on our purchase by £750 to cover our unforeseen and unnecessary [imo] out of pocket expenses?

Any comments please?

Cheers PP

angrypirate

You said you have already exchanged with your vendor. If the date on the contract for completion is the 12th Dec and they fail to complete with you on the 12th then they are liable for all your costs associated with them failing to pass on the keys. As of the 12th, that property it yours. The issue they have with their purchase is not of your concern as you have already exchanged with a date.

PS - if they miss it by a week, you could probably get them by a lot more than £750.

loubel

As you have not exchanged contracts on your purchase you cannot claim your additional expenses from anyone else. It is not your seller's fault that you will incur costs. Did your solicitor not explain the risk you were taking by exchanging on your sale before your purchase was ready?

If you reduce the purchase price at the last minute (assuming your sellers would even agree to this) it is likely to cause further delays as you would need to notify your lender and might need a new offer and they might reduce the amount they are willing to lend you as a result.

Until you exchange on your purchase you should assume you won't hit your target date and make plans to move into temporary accommodation so that there's less risk of you being unable to complete your sale on time and being in breach of contract.

Fingers crossed everything will come together for you.

Voiren

*Have* you exchanged with your vendor? You mention your buyers only.

pawpurrs

Why on earth did you exchange on your sale without exchanging on your purchase? This let you with the very distinct possibility that this could happen for a million reasons, i am afraid you have ni recourse here, and the risks should have been explained clearly to you, if you took that risk, anything could have happened ypur vendor could change their minds, death, or any number of simpler problems, i am afraid you will have to take the loss on the chin.

PompeyPete

angrypirate wrote: »

You said you have already exchanged with your vendor. If the date on the contract for completion is the 12th Dec and they fail to complete with you on the 12th then they are liable for all your costs associated with them failing to pass on the keys. As of the 12th, that property it yours. The issue they have with their purchase is not of your concern as you have already exchanged with a date.

PS - if they miss it by a week, you could probably get them by a lot more than £750.

We exchanged contracts with our buyers on 7 November, agreeing 12 December as the completion date. We know we've got to move out by date date, and have no intention of trying to upset our buyers. I thought I'd explained that properly!

PompeyPete

loubel wrote: »

As you have not exchanged contracts on your purchase you cannot claim your additional expenses from anyone else. It is not your seller's fault that you will incur costs. Did your solicitor not explain the risk you were taking by exchanging on your sale before your purchase was ready?

Yep, I knew the risk.
But with there being 5 weeks between 7 November and 12 December, and as there no mortgages involved or any anticipated problems it seemed like a good date particulary as everyone wants to be settled before Xmas.
All concerned were put in the picture and everyone wants to move on 12 December.
This was all going well until our vendors solicitor suddenly [so I'm told] discovered that there was a NHBC Certificate missing from the documentation of the property they are buying. That's the only problem, a bit of paper that should have been produced a lot earlier in the process.

loubel wrote: »

If you reduce the purchase price at the last minute (assuming your sellers would even agree to this) it is likely to cause further delays as you would need to notify your lender and might need a new offer and they might reduce the amount they are willing to lend you as a result.

There are no mortgages or lenders involved anywhere in our purchase or our vendors purchase. The only mortgage is with our buyer, and not part of the dilemma.

loubel wrote: »

Until you exchange on your purchase you should assume you won't hit your target date and make plans to move into temporary accommodation so that there's less risk of you being unable to complete your sale on time and being in breach of contract.

Yep, I know. But like I said in my opening posting it wouldn't surprise me if the solicitors said that 12 December is out of the question, but that the end of the following week is looking good.
We don't want to have to do a double move and pay for storage in the space of a few days at our expense just because a solicitor hasn't made sure that the NHBC Certificate hadn't been produced, and then discovered the omission at the last minute. At the very least the cost of the error should be a shared one, or is that being unreasonable?

PompeyPete

Voiren wrote: »

*Have* you exchanged with your vendor? You mention your buyers only.

No, I thought my opening posting was as clear as I could make it!
If this missing NHBC Certificate had been discovered after we'd exchanged contracts with our vendors and we'd agreed a completion date, then the problem [for us] of a missing NHBC Certificate further up the chain wouldn't exist!

Cissi

As others have said, anything could happen until exchange, including the vendor changing their mind about selling in the first place. This is why everyone is surprised that you exchanged on the sale before the chain above you was ready to exchange. I'm surprised that your solicitor didn't advise you against this! The general advice is also to not give notice on a rented property before exchange has taken place - unless you're prepared to live with the risk of being homeless for a while.

Deals do fall apart just before exchange all the time - I hope for your sake that your purchase doesn't, or paying for two removals and storage could be the least of your problems...

PompeyPete

pawpurrs wrote: »

Why on earth did you exchange on your sale without exchanging on your purchase? This let you with the very distinct possibility that this could happen for a million reasons, i am afraid you have ni recourse here, and the risks should have been explained clearly to you, if you took that risk, anything could have happened ypur vendor could change their minds, death, or any number of simpler problems, i am afraid you will have to take the loss on the chin.

I agree entirely with you.
But there has been a basic error made a solicitor [not our solicitor] very late in the day by not ensuring that an NHBC Certificate has been produced much earlier in process. Surely noticing the omission when all were ready to exchange contracts is negligent on the solicitors part?
It seems like that the hand of god is with the legal people, and if they make a basic error, then their attitude is "so what!"

cayennepepper

People make mistakes. People can also change their minds up until exchange. I understand your frustration and not wanting to move twice but I think it would be unreasonable to reduce your offer when you were aware of the risk. Fingers crossed you will still complete on time. Just keep pushing for this to be resolved asap.
PS I am also completing on 12th