House move nightmare - what to do?!

mamba_2

Yesterday was a day I'd like to forget, but it's a bit hard with the boxes I am now living with.

In December, I accepted an offer from a first time buyer for my flat. In January, I found a new house, which subsequently fell through in April due to delays with my management company for the sale of my flat. Luckily, my buyer seemed to be understanding and was happy to hold on (partly because house prices has shot up, I imagine!).

I then found another house in late-April, which was tenanted so no onward chain. More delays with my flat management company meant that all outstanding queries were not answered until last week.

Last Wednesday, my buyer's solicitor suggested a simultaneous exchange and completion date of yesterday (i.e. at 5 days notice). A bit of a rush I thought, but doable.

It wasn't until Friday that I discovered that the reason for the rush was that my buyer's mortgage offer was expiring yesterday - and they refused to extend it by one day despite having released the funds. We knew this was going to be a risk and I discussed the possible scenarios with my solicitor, but were left little choice but to give it our best shot.

My buyer paid his deposit to his solicitor by cheque (YES CHEQUE!) last Wednesday, which the solicitor duly banked knowing full well that it would not clear until today (Tuesday).

On Friday, my buyer spoke to his bank to cancel the cheque and make a bank transfer, but it was too late as the money had cleared his account (but not yet with the solicitor). Therefore, as far as I can tell, completion was never going to happen yesterday.

Unfortunately, I was not told any of this until lunchtime yesterday (despite endless phone calls), by which point all of our belongings were on the lawn out the front of the flat ready to be loaded on to a van.

When we received the news that it was not going to happen, we had to load it all back into the flat again.

We are now in the position that my buyer needs to apply for a new mortgage, now subject to MMR rules, so no idea whether he will even be accepted.

The vendor of my new house knows that completion didn't happen yesterday, but is currently blissfully unaware that there could be several weeks of delays, or worse still my buyer cannot now get a mortgage.

House prices have shot up, so I could probably get £10k more for my flat now, and if my new house falls through, I don't think I could get as much for my money as I did in April.

Does anyone have any advice?

TBagpuss

How quickly did you sell first time round? Is your seller in a chain?

It seems odd to me that your buyer should not have been able to extend his offer and that it was left to the last minute to find this out. The issue with the cheque is something his solicitor should have known would be an issue - I would have expected them to tell him that he needed to take back the cheque and to set up a BACS payment or bankers draft instead. If he ignored them, he is either messing you about, or is financially precarious and will struggle to get another mortgage.

I would be inclined to go back to your agents, and discuss with them re-marketing the property for a quick sale. If house prices have risen then you can probably afford to market higher than before to accept a similar offer. If you buyer can get his act together before someone else offers then he can make a fresh offer.

mamba_2

TBagpuss wrote: »

How quickly did you sell first time round? Is your seller in a chain?

It seems odd to me that your buyer should not have been able to extend his offer and that it was left to the last minute to find this out. The issue with the cheque is something his solicitor should have known would be an issue - I would have expected them to tell him that he needed to take back the cheque and to set up a BACS payment or bankers draft instead. If he ignored them, he is either messing you about, or is financially precarious and will struggle to get another mortgage.

I would be inclined to go back to your agents, and discuss with them re-marketing the property for a quick sale. If house prices have risen then you can probably afford to market higher than before to accept a similar offer. If you buyer can get his act together before someone else offers then he can make a fresh offer.

Thanks for the reply. We sold within a couple of weeks on the market in December, and the seller is not in a chain. It is a buy-to-let - now vacant.

My issue with remarketing our property, is that I don't think there is such a thing as a quick sale for our flat given the problems we had obtaining all of the management company information.

I'm trying desperately today to find out what my buyer is doing about getting another mortgage. All I get is that he is 'discussing his options with his mortgage broker'.

vw100

Give your buyer a final chance and set a firm date (2 weeks?), to get his mortgage sorted out and instructing solicitors. If you don't hear back the house is back on the open market. Have a think if you will sell the house at the old price or the new price to him. You can use that as some sort of incentive if you want your old buyer to get a move on. You may have to fork out more money for an up to date management information pack after certain amount of days from issue of the existing one.

mamba_2

My buyer is apparently applying through the same lender again, so hopefully that will speed things up a bit, but I'm told they need a new valuation which seems daft considering they didn't even come inside last time.

The vendor of my new property is just being told the news. I have a nasty feeling she is going to pull out.

Does anyone know where I am likely to stand with estate agent fees if I pull out of my sale and remarket the property? I looked at my estate agent contract earlier, and it looks like strictly speaking I could be liable for 50% of the fee, but if I am remarketing it are they likely to enforce that?

vw100

Have a chat with the estate agent to clarify things as it seems to be a bit of a mess with the issue you had. You are not pulling out of the sale, they are the ones who found the buyer with a near expiring mortgage offer/did they even check? Also if you are going to be with the same estate agent then there should be no fees to pay - you did not pull out of the sale, it was the buyers circumstances. As for new valuation - I guess this is the standard procedures - new mortgage offer, new valuation.

Hillbilly1

we have had to re-apply for a mortgage with the same company. for a different flat, but no quick route with the new rules. still waiting on final result...

i would look for a new buyer. new mortgage rules are pathetic

mamba_2

UPDATE

I am finally feeling a little more relaxed about the situation. I got the call earlier from the estate agent that the seller of our new house is happy to wait for us. A huge relief!

We still have to wait for my buyer's new mortgage but figured this is still our quickest route to completion - probably 4-6 weeks I am told.

I contemplated pulling out of the sale and remarketing, but as my existing buyer needed to pay for the new valuation, I felt like I needed to make a committment to stick with him. He has been waiting since December, after all, even if it was him and his solicitor that screwed everything up!

I think I'll drink the beers I was going to leave for him when he moves in though!

mamba_2

FURTHER UPDATE

Got a call yesterday from my solicitor saying that my buyer's mortgage lender has decided they can extend his mortgage offer after all, as long as completion is within 2 weeks of the original expiry date.

So, we are hopefully exchanging today, and completing next Friday.

Why they couldn't have decided that on Monday when everyone was chasing them is beyond me, but it looks like it should be a relatively happy ending!

freeisgood

Yipee! :beer: Hope it all goes smoothly from now on!
Enjoy your new home.