Breaking the House Chain

MrsMoosie

Hi everyone

I'd appreciate some guidance please. It's a bit of a long story, so I'll try to summarise as best I can:

• Our house went on sale in June 2014
• We lost one set of buyers, but have now sold to a first-time buyer couple, who offered on our place at the beginning of October 2014
• We found a house and offered at the end of October 2014
• Our sellers have found a house, but those sellers have not yet found a house to purchase
• Our buyers are pushing to complete ASAP. We've agreed to break the chain and move into rented mid to end February 2015

My husband and I have decided to break the chain in order to save our sale, so we are moving into rented for a month, while we hope the chain above us closes. I'm tired of waiting around for the chain to close, but our estate agent keeps reminding us that we've only had an offer in on the house we're purchasing for 3 months.

Is there any way we can speed up the closing of the top of the chain, or somehow request that the sellers at the top, who are holding everything up, break the chain and move out? I feel like we have at least secured our sale, as our buyers were getting twitchy, but our sellers and their sellers have not offered the same commitment (they are friends with each other and so they are in no rush to move or to put pressure on each other). I have said to my husband that I am prepared to start looking at other houses in order to put pressure on. We have put life plans on hold while we wait to move, and on a personal reason we have been looking to adopt for the past year, but unfortunately we have been told by several agencies that we cannnot be put forward to be adopters if we are in the process of moving house, and we at least have to be settled in our new house for a while before restarting the adoption process

What are our options? Honest, straightforward guidance and advice gratefully received!

Thank you!

Carmen.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Go into renting a house for 6 months, this will get your sale completed.

Make it clear to the Estate Agent that you are considering other properties with other Agents, that might give them a reason to push the vendors as they may lose out on their commission.

Nothing you can do really to push the sale further up the chain.

MrsMoosie

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

Go into renting a house for 6 months, this will get your sale completed.

Make it clear to the Estate Agent that you are considering other properties with other Agents, that might give them a reason to push the vendors as they may lose out on their commission.

Nothing you can do really to push the sale further up the chain.

Thanks Foxy-Stoat. We had planned on going into rented/serviced apartments for 2 months at the most (as we're storing our goods). We don't particularly want to move again in 6 months. However, I like the idea of speaking to the Estate Agents and looking at other houses. I do feel really terrible and underhanded about doing that, as I feel like we have been committed to this purchase from the beginning, but I feel that there needs to be commitment higher up in the chain as well. If they are in no rush to move or buy another house, then why put your house on the market?

I read somewhere that they also suggest putting in an offer on another house and then saying whoever exchanges contracts first gets the sale, but that feels like dirty play to me and I wouldn't want to go through that as a seller.

I know these are basic questions, so apologies for that! We come from South Africa originally, where house buying is very different. Once you put in a verbal offer on a property, it's legally binding, and deposits are put down at that stage. This whole gazumping/gazundering/pulling out at the last minute process in the UK is so stressful!

Thanks again,
Carmen.

Dan-Dan

MrsMoosie wrote: »

Thanks Foxy-Stoat. We had planned on going into rented/serviced apartments for 2 months at the most (as we're storing our goods). We don't particularly want to move again in 6 months. However, I like the idea of speaking to the Estate Agents and looking at other houses. I do feel really terrible and underhanded about doing that, as I feel like we have been committed to this purchase from the beginning, but I feel that there needs to be commitment higher up in the chain as well. If they are in no rush to move or buy another house, then why put your house on the market?

I read somewhere that they also suggest putting in an offer on another house and then saying whoever exchanges contracts first gets the sale, but that feels like dirty play to me and I wouldn't want to go through that as a seller.

I know these are basic questions, so apologies for that! We come from South Africa originally, where house buying is very different. Once you put in a verbal offer on a property, it's legally binding, and deposits are put down at that stage. This whole gazumping/gazundering/pulling out at the last minute process in the UK is so stressful!

Thanks again,
Carmen.

The problem is , most tenancies have a minimum term of 6 months , of course you could move out before , but you would be liable for the remaining term

Tixy

MrsMoosie wrote: »

I read somewhere that they also suggest putting in an offer on another house and then saying whoever exchanges contracts first gets the sale, but that feels like dirty play to me and I wouldn't want to go through that as a seller.

You could do that. But obviously it will cost you more, in terms of surverys/searches/fees etc on both properties.

It is more common for it to be done the other way round (for a seller to accept 2 offers and see who can complete first).

Nothing you can do if you cannot agree with the sellers a date, you either have to accept that you will wait, or move on to a different property.

However plenty of other properties you look at will also be in chains and dependant on other properties, I think you'd be lucky to find a new property now, offer on it and exchange and complete within 2 months unless you restrict your search to houses that are chain free (and even then it could take longer than 2months).

MrsMoosie

Dan-Dan wrote: »

The problem is , most tenancies have a minimum term of 6 months , of course you could move out before , but you would be liable for the remaining term

We'd be using serviced apartments, which are rented on a daily/weekly basis. Fully stocked, and all utilities and broadband included. It's an expensive option but allows us more flexibility than being tied up in a lease agreement for minimum 6 months.

MrsMoosie

Tixy wrote: »

You could do that. But obviously it will cost you more, in terms of surverys/searches/fees etc on both properties.

It is more common for it to be done the other way round (for a seller to accept 2 offers and see who can complete first).

Nothing you can do if you cannot agree with the sellers a date, you either have to accept that you will wait, or move on to a different property.

However plenty of other properties you look at will also be in chains and dependant on other properties, I think you'd be lucky to find a new property now, offer on it and exchange and complete within 2 months unless you restrict your search to houses that are chain free (and even then it could take longer than 2months).

So basically just hang around and wait for the sellers two up from us to find a place and close the chain? I think I will call the estate agents and see if we can agree a date with our sellers. They then need to put pressure on the people they're buying from to find somewhere. The entire chain is through the same estate agents, so hopefully they should be able to pull some strings somewhere.

Thanks everyone!

Carmen.