Buying: Exchange delayed, and delayed, and delayed again.

Legacy_user

So I'm right up the point where the only thing left is for the solicitors to get on the phone and do the exchange... but it's been delayed, again.

I need to hand my notice in on my rental agreement by the 20th of this month, otherwise I'll be stuck with it until the 20th February!!!

The 20th is a Saturday this month, so realistically I've got to get it posted to the letting agent week starting 15th December. I really don't want to hand the notice in until the contracts are exchanged. I've already seen a 4 week delay from the last agreed completion date.

What can I do? The only option I can see now is to tell the EA/Vendor that if it doesn't exchange in time, end of the next week at the absolute latest, I'll have no choice but to pull out. The vendor isn't likely to wait until the end of February if I miss the chance to hand my notice in...

Cissi

On the bright side, at least you will probably benefit from the stamp duty reform? Perhaps even enough to pay for the extra month's rent if necessary?...

System

Cissi wrote: »

On the bright side, at least you will probably benefit from the stamp duty reform? Perhaps even enough to pay for the extra month's rent if necessary?...

It will save about £475 for me, only covers about half the rent. Another issue is if I have to complete next year, I'll have to take holiday days out of my allowance for next year, which drives me insane thinking about because I've got days left over this year and I'm using them all up to do the big move in!

I simply don't want to entertain the idea of completing in the new year. I had the offer accepted back in August, this is absolute madness.

Kynthia

If everything is in place then calm down as you've got plenty of time to exchange before you need to give notice.

If everything isn't in place and it gets nearer to the time:
Can you hand deliver the notice to buy you a few extra days to exchange?
Can you exchange but push back the completion date to reduce the amount of overlap between completion and your tenancy end date? For example if you don't exchange by 17th December you won't agree a completion date of before 1st Feb.

By the way if you post your notice 1st class with the free proof of postage at the post office then it is deemed as served two working days later.

System

Kynthia wrote: »

If everything is in place then calm down as you've got plenty of time to exchange before you need to give notice.

[...]

By the way if you post your notice 1st class with the free proof of postage at the post office then it is deemed as served two working days later.

I want to post it using a recorded service for piece of mind. I don't want to hand deliver it for them to say they "lost it" or something silly and force me to do another month. As you've mentioned, it is deemed as being served 2 working days later, so I can't post it any later than the 17th absolute latest. I really don't want to do that, because postal delays etc. could play an part.

As I said, I don't want to entertain the idea of a completion next year. I'll be prepared to walk away if that becomes the case. I'll struggle to get the time off work early next year, and it'll come out of next year's holiday allowance which I don't feel is fair considering I've got lots of days left this year. I've got a lodger lined up to rent the spare room, but if I keep messing them about they are likely to find an alternative.

Kynthia

dieselpower1988 wrote: »

I want to post it using a recorded service for piece of mind. I don't want to hand deliver it for them to say they "lost it" or something silly and force me to do another month. As you've mentioned, it is deemed as being served 2 working days later, so I can't post it any later than the 17th absolute latest. I really don't want to do that, because postal delays etc. could play an part.

As I said, I don't want to entertain the idea of a completion next year. I'll be prepared to walk away if that becomes the case. I'll struggle to get the time off work early next year, and it'll come out of next year's holiday allowance which I don't feel is fair considering I've got lots of days left this year. I've got a lodger lined up to rent the spare room, but if I keep messing them about they are likely to find an alternative.

Posting recorded delivery is a terrible idea. If they don't sign for it then there is evidence that they didn't receive it in time. It doesn't matter when or even if they don't recieve it when you post by 1st class as long as you have proof of postage as it is deemed as served two working days later. However if you want to be really really safe you could post two letters from two different post offices with proof of postage as there's little chance of both being lost. Or hand deliver with a witness or get them to sign something to say the acknowledge receipt.

The 17th is a while away yet, if you are both ready to exchange, so try not to worry so much.

System

Well, all of this wouldn't be a problem if I can serve notice earlier than the 17th. I would have time to resend or whatever if they claim they didn't receive it. If I send it on the 17th, it's do or die. Posting it on the 17th is worst case scenario.

Also, why would they not sign for a recorded delivery? How would they know what it was?

G_M

Don't use recorded delivery. What if no one is there to sign and it is not delivered? What if they refuse to sign (for whatever reason) - it is not delievered.

Use 1st class post from a post office and request "proof of posting". Two postal days later the courts accept it as delieered.

Or hand deliver with a witness.

Do NOT serve notice till you Exchange.

If timing is unfortunate, you may have to accept paying rent and mortgage for a period. This is just part of the expence of buying. Not ideal but if you do not have funds to cover the extra costs then you are stretching your finances too far with this purchase anyway. There will be other unexpected costs (before and after you move) for which you should hae a the contingency funds.

And don't forget you can always delay Exchnge if you want/need to. Seller won't pul out, He'll never find a new buyer in time to Exchange by Feb. Or March.

System

G_M wrote: »

If timing is unfortunate, you may have to accept paying rent and mortgage for a period. This is just part of the expence of buying. Not ideal but if you do not have funds to cover the extra costs then you are stretching your finances too far with this purchase anyway. There will be other unexpected costs (before and after you move) for which you should hae a the contingency funds.

I'm happy to pay the overlap of 1 month for mortgage and rent. Which I am currently going to be doing until the 20th January. There is no way I'm going to pay 2 months, not a chance. That's on principle by the way, finances are not a problem.

They have already had ample time to get this thing exchanged and completed. We should never have got to this point, this whole thing should have been done and dusted back in November.

pinkteapot

If need be, exchange with a longer completion date. You can exchange today and complete on 18th January or 18th February if you want, and if the rest of the chain agrees.

Exchange gives you certainty and enables you to hand your notice in. There's no obligation to have completion a few days later. We exchanged just before Christmas last year and didn't complete until mid-Feb because various people in our chain couldn't do certain dates.

Tell the chain (via EA) that if exchange is delayed beyond X date, you're still happy to exchange ASAP but you will then need completion to be Y date. See what people say.

There's no point throwing your toys out of the pram. If you want the house it's just not worth pulling out over this, as frustrating as it is. Are you really prepared to walk away over this and waste the money you've spent so far?

We were disappointed at having to wait at first but actually, a long exchange to completion was brilliant as we could organise removals at our leisure, buy some stuff for the new house (secure knowing that we'd exchanged), etc.

mrginge

One proviso on the above is to make sure your mortgage offer doesn't expire before any extended completion date.