Move from hell, purchasers failed to complete HELP!

sinizterguy

dktreesea wrote: »

What I don't get is why aren't penalties for non completion, be it by the buyer or the vendor, stipulated in the contract? Nor why there isn't a substantial deposit in the solicitors trust fund, for the buyer, that the vendor can then draw down on if the buyer fails to complete.

Generally because you can claim for what damages you have suffered rather than a fixed amount.

It also would not leave any room for the chain to pass the damages down as this person would only receive a fixed amount.

If the entire chain agreed on a fixed amount, or one of them accepts the risks that they may be left holding a very large can, it might work.

Jhoney_2

dktreesea wrote: »

The vendor is only entitled to recompense from the person buying his property, i.e. if his buyer delays. I don't see the necessity for his buyer to delay at all.

In the UK it's called a chain

He should have a contingency plan in place, in case the sale of his own property is delayed.

Our model disagrees - although it would be useful and some may be able to do that.


What I don't get is why aren't penalties for non completion, be it by the buyer or the vendor, stipulated in the contract?

There are. This is discussed in the thread

Nor why there isn't a substantial deposit in the solicitors trust fund, for the buyer, that the vendor can then draw down on if the buyer fails to complete.

There is usually 10% for purchase transactions. It didn't prevent the failure on this occasion.


In the scenario you describe, where the vendor is delaying completion, the buyer wouldn't need to draw down on their bridging loan. The contract should stipulate what penalties would then come into play, i.e. how much less the vendor would eventually receive - or what penalties he would have to pay, for not going ahead. And the method this would take in the event he didn't cough up, i.e. a charge over his property.

It does,but it is claimed back thereafter and the recompense/ charging order is a subsequent action

The issue isn't what should happen, but that it is happening at all!

ruggedtoast

cwcw wrote: »

If there isn't already, there should be completion insurance available when buying. One would think with something quite rare but devastating it was a situation ripe for an insurance product. I'd buy it. The problem with suing someone is if they don't have the money, they don't have the money. You can't bleed a stone. Someone failing to complete may often be down to lack of money.

Hope it all goes well OP, I've been following with interest.

I would buy it just for the peace of mind. If you are in the middle of the chain at least you know that your buyer has a property you can sue for of half a dozen people sue you.

But if the person below you has no assets apart from a few grand for a deposit and a mortgage offer it could be dicey!

People with paid off houses who have been domiciled in the UK for a minumum of 30 years and who don't have passports only. Imagine explaining those criteria to your estate agent!

rosie383

Hope the OP is fast asleep absolutely shattered but relieved in their new house. No news is good news hopefully.

Megamonty

We completed on out Sale at about 10.30am. We were already to leave anyway as we had so few bits there and was packed up yet again, but it was almost a daily event so I never really knew what would happen. This time felt even more risky as we had no home to go back to. The cats were in the car screaming and panting and really stressing, I asked our vendor that if we did not complete by 1pm would he just meet us at the property and let them go in a room without us unpacking. I even offered to pay him to do it as he is literally up the road, he flat refused. At 1pm I was in the estate agent and we had still not completed. He said "it will definitely go today, but now it is lunch don't worry". I called my wife and she was really agitated and upset, the cats were almost at the point of needing sedation, one is 21, one 17, so we decided to try the vets as another hour for them was to long. As I literally got in the car and drove off at 1pm to go to the vets with my wife the phone rang, and we had completed. Honestly I was convinced by 1pm that for some profound reason we would be homeless by the end of the day. I know that reading this you would think "don't be so stupid" but honestly if it could go wrong with this move it went wrong. I was an emotional wreck sticking the keys in the door as we took the cats in.

This is what we had to pay extra today to complete.

1. Mortgage interest on our loan, as redemption was delayed, also I think new telegraphic charges this amounted to about £350.
2. We also had to make a card payment for our vendors breech of contract costs as he wanted them before completion, not exactly sure the total amount off hand, but it was interest at bank base rate + 4% as well as buildings insurance reinstatement costs and Legal fees. I just said to the Solicitor "you have authority on my card for whatever you need to complete just take it".

This is some of the other costs

3 X removals costs
Food, clothes, tooth paste, sundries etc.
Kettle, hair dryer, and other stuff like that.

I have agreed with my buyers that I will put a claim in for all the damages passed to us and including ours to them. BUT we will wait for payment until they get paid. The guy at the bottom clearly is not the most reliable financially, and I don't have the heart to let them move in and hit them for these snow balling costs as they come down the chain. Like us after all they have been victims here of their buyer and also endured the suffering and misery that goes with it.

The house seems great, but being frank as soon as the cats settle it will start to feel like home, until then I am very pleased this moving chapter of our lives is over. It has been the move from hell, truly, definitely, and unquestionably made 50X more stressful because of the !!!! poor planning at the bottom.

I don't understand why the Solicitor never made sure the funds were in place and they had the money to buy the place?, I will be complaining to the law society in due course. Especially as they have some kind of conveyancing award lol.

As for the buyer at the bottom.. still chewing over the name and shame thing. The pain and misery caused have been of epic proportions. Did he know? was it the solicitors fault?.. many questions will be rattling around in my head tonight as I reflect on this ordeal.

One thing for sure is I WILL NEVER MOVE AGAIN.. and don't take it for granted that you will definitely complete as you are happily loading your belongings into a van.

I have no idea how a first time buyer would have coped with all these extra costs being poured on them. I was fortunate that I could pay them all to get completed. Massive thanks to our removal company, our estate agents, and especially to our Solicitor. I will be buying him a very stiff bottle of something .

Megamonty

Sorry for typos, and poor grammar I had no sleep at all last night and after the normal stuff you have to do when you move my brain is literally shutting down.. I might at least get some sleep tonight though.

stator

Congratulations, so happy for you :beer:. But you've put me off moving in a chain, ever

NYM

I'm so pleased you managed to complete today
Enjoy your new home...x

phoebe1989seb

Thank you for taking the time to come back to update the thread Megamonty.......and huge congrats that you (and your cats) are finally in your new home :j

Crashy_Time

dktreesea wrote: »

I find it amazing in Britain that someone who is trying to buy or sell a house has to be concerned about the actions of someone who could potentially be 5 or 6 sales away from themselves. Someone neither they, nor their buyer, much less the person selling to them, has any contractual relationship with.



Say someone was in a similar situation to the OP, but it dragged on. How is it that the failure of someone at the bottom of the chain to complete their purchase has legal ramifications for the rest of the people in the chain? I don't expect the people meant to be buying my house to make excuses and delay going ahead just because the way they thought the money was going to arrive didn't. I expect them to have a contingency plan in place, - for example bridging finance - to enable them to complete the purchase.


Yes, I agree, this could leave someone potentially paying two mortgages, possibly for an extended period of time. But if they had sold their house and secured those funds prior to buying elsewhere, a lot of the headaches associated with chains would evaporate.


We were in this same situation in another country. The buyer didn't complete on the completion date, but we were unconcerned as to the reason because the penalties for non completion were stipulated in the contract. Does that not happen here?


Buyers had to lodge a deposit of at least 10% at the time of exchanging contracts. In our case, the penalty for delaying completion, for whichever side was delaying it, was $400 a day for 10 days (maximum delay allowable), then the whole of the remainder of the deposit, i.e. forfeiture, in our favour, if by then the buyer failed to complete. There were also financial penalties if we withdrew from the sale, but I can't remember offhand what they were. Their deposit was held in a trust fund by their solicitor.


They were 8 days late, so the price we paid dropped by $3,200. By then the house we were selling had been vacant for a few days. The buyers had already vacated their property and wanted to move in prior to settlement. We refused. Yes, for a few days we were financing both the old and new properties, but the $400 a day penalty (based on a percentage of the sale price) more than covered the deficit.


All the uncertainty that happens here seems to be like a bonanza for lawyers, conveyancers and the like. Even the removalists seem to have their noses in the trough. Note to self: never ever use a removalist who can't store our things in the event of delays moving into the next house.

Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me. Back in the distant past when many many buyers would compete for a house you could have gone to a new offer quite easily?