House sale possibly fallen through?

G_M

You keep saying "I have paid money". But this is not clear. Yes, you've given the money to your solicitor (who is acting foryou and holds the money for you).

But has he given it to the seller? Or the seller's solicitor? If not, it is still your money and you have not Completed and do not own the property.

You really must contact your solicitor. Ring now, and ask:

* "Have I Completed?"
* If the answer is 'No'., ask
i) "Have I Exchanged Contracts?"
ii) "When will I Exchange and Complete?"
iii) "Why has the seller given me the keys?"
iv) "What is the delay and what still needs to be done?"

Do not hang up the phone till you have received an answer which you fully understand.

To help you, here is a (short) listof the order things happen:

* you agree a price
* your solicitor does some legalwork
* you sign the contract and give it to your solicitor to hold for you
* you pay your solicitor and he holds your money
* more legal work is done
* when everything is ready, your solicitor Exchanges Contracts with the seller's solicitor, and pays him 10%
* there is now a legal commitment to buy, but the property is still not yours
* your solicitor Completes (on a date written in the contract) and pays 90%
* the sellers solicitor gives your solicitor a Transfer Document
* you nowown theproperty

darlopaul

Scrootum wrote: »

Sounds like solicitor has screwed up by releasing the funds without completing. I would be on the phone to him right way.

That's why we have given him a deadline on a new completion date

G_M

My suspicion isoneof these. Either

1) Completion took place but the seller's solicitor messed up and the seller now can't pay off his mortgage

or

2) Completion did not take place and the OP messed up by gutting the house before owning it

darlopaul

elsien wrote: »

And given that you've gutted the house, giving them ultimatums probably isn't a great idea as if the house isn't yet yours that probably leaves you liable for the damage you've done to someone else's house.

I've gutted the house because there was a lot of damp and it was causing further damage to the property so needed doing asap

System

Guest101 wrote: »

Not necessarily, the money for deposit is needed before exchange not signing the contract

I was referring more to the point that the OP had not completed, yet taken the keys and altered the house.

bigjoe

darlopaul wrote: »

I've gutted the house because there was a lot of damp and it was causing further damage to the property so needed doing asap

I can understand your worry and frustration, but the only person who can give you answers is your solicitor. You need to stop posting here until you have spoken to him and are satisfied with the answers.

Thrugelmir

darlopaul wrote: »

The vendor has said he is struggling to get a redemption figure from his lender due to him having a chain of properties that he owns and the bank are being difficult.

My take would be that the vendor is in financial difficulty with regards to their property portfolio as a whole.

Thrugelmir

darlopaul wrote: »

The estate agent has confirmed they have received the payment

Who is they?

AFK_Matrix

I would say 'they' are the estate agents reading that coment, which is a bit worrying, as would it not be the vendor's solicitor getting the money?

All very confusing and if the OP doesn't ask his solicitor the questions he as already been told to ask you can't really help him anymore. Be interesting to see what happens though!

maas

I've tried reading through this thread, but all the information is in 'bits and pieces'

I've completed, I havent completed, Its my house, Its his house etc. - I've not idea whats going on.

It sounds to me like you and the vendor had agreed verbally to complete and he agreed to give you the keys but nothing legally has happened. You've then collected the keys and started messing around with the house (as its vacant) which is not owned by you yet.

Can you give a chronology of what happened since you viewed the house the first time e.g. (GM has given the list).

e.g.

1/10/13 Viewed House made off
3/10/13 Offer accepted
5/10/13 Instructed solicitor
10/10/13 Signed contract with solicitor

and so on and we mght be able to figure out where you are in the process