Vendor won't exchange, advice

TheCyclingProgrammer

I'm looking to get some advice about our current house purchase.

We had our offer accepted early October. We were always clear from the first viewing that it was vital we exchanged by early Feb to make the last cutoff for changes of address on primary school admissions as our daughter starts school next September. At the time the vendor said this shouldn't be a problem and they could possibly make other arrangements if necessary, like moving in with family.

Our vendors has a purchase lined up a few weeks later with a short chain. Unfortunately this fell through but we didn't find out until mid November.

At this point we already had our mortgage offer, survey complete, draft contracts etc. We have one small enquiry outstanding but have been practically ready to exchange since the end of November. We are FTBers with nothing to sell.

Our vendor has viewed several properties but has still not been able to agree an offer. Our vendor has also stated that they want to tie in their purchase and sale and will not agree to exchange and we are running out of time. I can't see any way they could find a property and be ready to exchange on it by end of Jan.

We are at a loss about what to do. We still want to buy, but if we miss the admissions deadline, we have pretty much no chance of getting our daughter into any of our school choices, let alone our first choice (round the corner from the new house). We would be at the mercy of waiting lists and even though we would probably be near if not at the top of the list for our first choice school we would still have to hope a place comes up.

The way I see it, our choices are:

1. Sit tight, see what happens and if we don't exchange in time, hope we get lucky with school waiting lists

2. Give our vendors an ultimatum - we exchange by end of Jan or we pull out.

Pulling out obviously puts us back to square one as far as buying a house goes and we would have lost money on surveys etc. We would then still have to go on waiting lists in the new area for schools if we found somewhere else so it still leaves us in a bad position, unless we forget about buying for now, stay put and apply for a local good school. But we really didn't want our daughter to go to school where we currently live - this was one of the main reasons we were moving!

OTOH, if our sellers are serious about selling, it might make them reconsider. They already lost one buyer before us and I know they really want to sell. If they find somewhere to buy and don't want to lose it, then they won't want to lose another buyer.

We are more than willing to agree to as long a delay on completion as possible - our mortgage offer is valid until April. We could give them two months to complete which should be plenty of time. It's later than we would have liked to move but as long as we are exchanged we can apply for schools based on our new address.

I'm really not sure what the best course of action is. Whichever we choose there are risks. What would you do?

Lord_Baltimore

Stupid question probably but do you need to be actually in the new property for your daughter to qualify for a school place, or will evidence that you are in the throes of moving suffice for the education authority?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Stupid question probably but do you need to be actually in the new property for your daughter to qualify for a school place, or will evidence that you are in the throes of moving suffice for the education authority?

We need to have exchanged contracts. The LA will accept this as proof of new address, hence we have some flexibility on completion.

We have to apply through our current LA by 15 Jan. The LA we are moving to will accept changes of address up to the 6 Feb.

Lord_Baltimore

Another stupid question - could you rent somewhere temporarily in the new catchment area to qualify?

happylucky

I'd ask solicitor to a write a letter ASAP requesting confirmation of exchange date which was agreed as a fundamental condition of your offer.


Make it clear that delays to that date which they agreed as an offer condition would have consequences for you (e.g. if you break chain to rent in catchment) and that in the unfortunate event this happened, you would need for those penalties to be reflected in a revised deal.


Restate how committed you are to a deal as per your original agreement. Set your deadline when you need a response by in writing (before Christmas = more than enough time).


Chains can be horrible. I don't see how anyone in a chain can commit to an exchange deadline as a condition of offer acceptance unless they are prepared to break the chain if necessary in order to achieve that.


But if (as you say) they did, then if they want to keep the sale and if you're prepared to walk away.... they need to keep their word or pay up to compensate you for breaking it.


Just my opinion. Good luck!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Another stupid question - could you rent somewhere temporarily in the new catchment area to qualify?

Very unlikely. LAs might be suspicious if we moved again so soon plus it's unlikely we would get a short term let. I considered it but it would be too much upheaval. We currently rent from my parents so have flexibility.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Any other thoughts? We have told the EA we are weighing up our options but haven't made a decision and as yet aren't making any formal ultimatums. I know he has mentioned to the vendor before that he thinks we might pull out if they don't exchange, I've asked him to see if he can gauge the vendors reaction. The EA has been pretty cooperative and helpful - I know the vendor is his client but at this stage I think his priority is keeping the sale together.

We have also said we would be prepared to offer a bit more (another grand perhaps) to sweeten the deal if they exchange by our deadline. He's going to approach this in a roundabout way, rather than saying we have offered this outright to see how the vendor reacts. We are still waiting to hear back on this.

Tixy

Don't make the mistake of thinking the estate agent is doing anything other than acting only in the interest of the vendor. The vendor is their client and it is very unlikely that they are not passing along everything you say in detail.

He was most likely straight on the phone to the vendor to say 'I've already got the buyers to up the offer by £1k, I think you could probably push them up another £2k or so as they are desperate'.

Personally I'd start looking at alternative houses to buy. If you want to look at another house with the same estate agent as the current vendor then just say to them that whilst you are still interested in the first property you feel you have no choice but to consider alternatives due to the vendor's change in stance.

Voyager2002

Tixy wrote: »

Don't make the mistake of thinking the estate agent is doing anything other than acting only in the interest of the vendor. The vendor is their client and it is very unlikely that they are not passing along everything you say in detail.

He was most likely straight on the phone to the vendor to say 'I've already got the buyers to up the offer by £1k, I think you could probably push them up another £2k or so as they are desperate'.

Personally I'd start looking at alternative houses to buy. If you want to look at another house with the same estate agent as the current vendor then just say to them that whilst you are still interested in the first property you feel you have no choice but to consider alternatives due to the vendor's change in stance.

Well, maybe... No-one should trust Estate Agents, who work for themselves rather than their clients. An extra grand on the price makes minimal difference to the EA's commission, while if the sale fails then the EA has to do a lot more work before they get anything.

Thrugelmir

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

What would you do?

Putting the school aside. Depends on how much I liked the property. The likelihood of finding anything comparable. As to whether I would stick it out or not.

From the vendors perspective. I wouldn't be blackmailed. You have to make your own decision. Moving house isn't easy. So getting worked up over what is a long term decision. Doesn't help anyone.

Voyager2002

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Very unlikely. LAs might be suspicious if we moved again so soon plus it's unlikely we would get a short term let. I considered it but it would be too much upheaval. We currently rent from my parents so have flexibility.

Disagree.

You have not moved yet: you would need genuinely to move to a rented home and be there for the application date.

Most tenancies are for at least six months, but you could then move once you have got a school place and are in a position to purchase: LAs would not see anything suspicious about that.