HELP Vendor Pulling Out After Exchange of Contract and Our Own solicitor Quit

Dave_Ham

As many have stated, you will be protected in the long run by the legal system although appreciate you need some more practical help now.

Concentrate on finding somewhere short term (albeit not mention) and then attack the legal, compensation side of the issue.

5000-1 shot, but are you in Hornchurch/Rainham/Elm Park way in Essex??

I_have_spoken

What about Molly the llama?

LADYXXMACBETH

You could go to your local councils homelessness councillor however in my experience they often move you into a hostel which can be 50 miles away. You also have to think that you dont get emergency housing for free either and will have to pay rent unless you recieve housing benefit.
I think in terms of finding somewhere to live you have quite a few options. You say you don't want to rent somewhere for 6 months but it will give you time to find a solicitor to take on your case, and give you breathing space to find a new house to buy. You have a deposit and potentially a bit more if you get compensation form the seller and solicitors. You don't have to rent somewhere that is going to be perfect as you aren't going to be staying there for a long time. You could try holiday places they may give you a good deal since it's low season. You still have your sister and I know she says that she is having a baby and the in laws are coming over but if I was your sister I couldnt and wouldn't chuck you out with nowhere to go even if I was having triplets. Im fact I would like the help with a new baby.
I think the best thing to do is find somewhere to rent for 6 months, use that time to decide and possibly act on what you want to do. You can extend the tenency if you need to and when you come to buy you will be in a good position to sellers.
The worst thing you can do is stress about it as this can make you make bad decisions. Find somewhere to live and then think about sueing the asses off the sellers and the solicitors.
As someone else said I am a bit concerned that you may have misread that the solicitors are closing down and they are closing down for the holiday season.
The ultimate thing is not to worry. Peace, Love and Harmony ... and something like that !

Angi3_88

Sorry for the late update, it's been stressful week. Me and my husband have manage do the sensible thing and have found somewhere to rent for 6 months in the local area. My husband and I decided to visit the estate agent and explained our situation. The agent managed to speak to the landlord directly and he agreed to allow a short let on his property. Hopefully once all the references have gone through and cleared we should move into rented accommodation by early next week. Massive relief after us with our kids sleep in a mattress on the floor for three weeks with one suitcase of clothing and a box of toys. Can't wait to reunite with our stuff. Imagine my guilt to my kids I own this to my family.

Anyways....progress:

2 days after the failed completion day:

We have been told by our solicitors that they cannot continue the completion due to their grim closing down and that are unable to refer us to another firm or hand their file over to another firm. As a result we are now in physical possession of our conveying case file/paperwork. Does anyone know if this is right for solicitors to leave their client in the dark?

My husband and I met with the vendor:
1st negotiation. Vendor stated that the house we want to buy cannot be sold for legal reasons due to a legal family dispute. They wanted to know how much we have spent on the process so far and they will refund any costs ( solicitors,surveys,mortgage,removal) but refused to pay for any future costs for example renting.

Angi3_88

They even told us if we are settle at court they will play the card that the vendor is a pensioner so he will not be able to pay all the settlement and will opt to small monthly instalment.

We are surrounded by his family and more extended family rather than his own sons ( that might cost this matter), they look intellectual and some of them saying they work for social service so they knew that we would never win if we decide to force sale. They definitely knew how to play with the system.

We tried to get as much of advice specially from this forum since our own solicitor did not give us any advice and even refuse to meet us.

Angi3_88

Progress day 3 after the failed completion:

After some notice from work that me and my husband had, since we are too stress, losing focus at work. The panicking, sleepless nights and the struggle to find rent in 2 days and a new house.
We felt this is too much to bear so we decide to tell the vendor that we have decide to go to court and settle there in a hope that the law will be in our back.

We told the vendor family representative of our decision and they absolutely desperate to get us to the second talk. Which many suggest not to do but we don't have a choice as no one could be the mediator since our own solicitor is un reliable and no EA involve.

2nd negotiation visit:
It was transpired that the wife of the vendor was not informed of the house sale and when she found out after contracts had been signed she disagreed with the selling. Which we found so weird because she is there all the time when we negotiate the purchase from the beginning and when my husband bring builder and surveyor to the house, she the one who open the door. they said she doesn't speak or understand English and illiterate.
We were also informed by the vendor that one of his son(not living in the property) had helped pay the mortgage for property in the past and wasn't informed of the house sale. This doesn't come in our searches because the house is mortgage free at the time we bought it.
The sale has caused the family dispute and vendor stated that the house cannot be sold for legal reasons. If the sale continue it will make the family separated( husband and wife), stress for the wife that has heart problem and dispute with one of the brothers, sounds like soap opera but it is what they told us.
Can anyone please advise if the house is now unsaleable? I have been told that the wife and son will make a legal case against the husband however I have not seen any proof of this.
But the other family member said they will paid all the cost as long it has receipt on it just to add the insult on injury they told us what's acceptable or not to be charge upon them. As they said it's not fair to repaid us the full 6 months of my rent in future.

Angi3_88

From our side the house was not a dream house, it's a head choice because we put an offer in July and now we could not find the same property within the same price, all gone up to 20k more. It's such a shame losing it, the house needs total repair( hence the sale price) and we want it as an investment, plus it's very close to our children school, we want to add value to it and get to the property ladder before next year.
We are considering to force the sell but if in the end result the house could not be sale, where that will lead us to?
these people really playing sympathy card with their condition, and they they will try this in court, Health reasons, age and jobless, family problem etc.
The longer the case the longer for us to move on to other property.
Now we just want our money back and costing that we have to make in result of this matter.
Settlement figure they offered is far behind 10k, the house price is 300k, in London.

I wish it was easy to just choose the court option, but the thought of the cost scared us to be honest, specially because non of legal professional consulting us now.
They just want to see the money first, even if money was not the case this end of the year holiday period, the time they closing their cases, they do not want to take on new cases. Time is not in our side.

Our solicitor update;
after we pushed that if they not refer us we will investigate whether this is professional neglect case, now they said they are trying to refer us but they could not guarantee it.

Angi3_88

We are not fed up with house hunting in fact we still shopping around as a way of relieving our stress, just this time we need to be more careful who we deal with and prefer to deal through an EA.

The deadline of this case will be next week, this week my agenda is to find litigation solicitor and find some legal advice. I don't want to go to court but I don't see there will be settlement out of court that both party agreed. We would not meet them anymore, I'm tired of the drama so might just told our solicitor the figure that we are willing to accept although we know they won't/ can't pay. The vendor obviously could not so it his family that gather the money for him.
Incase they could not pay it It will be great if the court decide that the house could be ours in the end but hopes are thin.

I will post an update again, hopefully good news and not more bad news. Thanks for the sympathy and much appreciate for any advice from all of you

DaftyDuck

Take the paperwork you do have to another firm of solicitors straight away. It certainly does not sound like your current solicitor has acted professionally, or in your best interest. I do not believe you should communicate with any of the vendors directly.

Most of the so-called reasons given to you by the vendor are irrelevant and just muddy the water. Given you state this is not your dream home, I'm not sure what the best outcome for you is, but you certainly need to do this through a firm of solicitors, not directly yourselves.

I believe that you would be able to force this sale through, if you so wished. If they can't pay, this is even more likely.

Go and find a medium-sized Firm of solicitors' and do it tomorrow morning.



Good luck.

Angi3_88

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'm a tad confused, but is this right:

- Your dad sold his house, and gave you some money for a deposit. He has now moved abroad.

- You are therefore staying with your sister who has only a 2 bed hours, with the idea that you would be moving now. All 4 of you sharing one room. Your sister has her in-laws staying for Christmas, and is expecting a baby, so the room you are currently staying in is no longer available after this weekend.

- you exchanged contracts on the house you are buying, but the vendor has now failed to complete. The vendor is not keen to pay compensation.

- your solicitor dealing with the sale has sent a notice of completion but is now closing down (for good?) so can no longer deal with the sale.

Your options so far are:

1. Rent a house. You do not have to sign a 12 month contract. Ask for a 6 month one and say you'll sign another one after that. If all else fails, find a holiday let or a hotel. Keep ALL your receipts for expenses incurred.

2. Why is the vendor refusing to sell? Why have they changed their mind? They either need to complete the sale, or forfeit their (10%?) deposit and pay you all expenses. Negotiate VERY hard.

Thanks for the advice,
For your question:

- yes my dad move abroad after the sale of his house and gift us a gift to be used for buying a house.
- when we knew we are exchange we move out of my father house because the buyer has wait too long, we thought we are safe as we have exchange and my sister happy to let us stay for 2 weeks. But for Christmas she has in law from Europe coming over.
- vendor does not want to sell the house anymore as his family divided into 2 and not approved the sale. Apparently he told the house sold to the family near the completion day. We don't know it's all truth behind this story. They will return cost incurred but refuse to pay compensation such as my rent or any other cost I might have in future.
- our solicitor is un reliable, this is their first time handling this type of case, they avoiding to give us some direction or advise. Their firm closing this Friday for good. No more license to operate and no referral just yet.