Death of vendor between Exchange and Completion

davidmcn · 19 November 2015 at 10:51AM

eddddy wrote: »

At this stage, I think the OP might be more interested in knowing:

- What can I do to make completion happen on time?

rather than:

- What compensation can I claim if completion doesn't happen on time?

And perhaps, if probate is likely to take a long time to sort out, at what point are they entitled to get out of the contract and buy something else.

macman · 19 November 2015 at 11:06AM

Both the buyer and the vendor's estate are equally bound to complete. Only if both agreed to void the contract without penalty could either withdraw, and the buyer's deposit would have to be returned.

hbomb · 19 November 2015 at 12:20PM

we very nearly had this situation back in Feb: Vendor was very old and sadly died soon after completion. Whilst we did complete before she passed away, we had the full briefing about what would happen if she died before.

As I understood it, since we had exchanged, the contract would have remained in force, so we would have got the house "eventually" (ie. the estate can't decide that actually they don't want to sell). When it came to timescales, we were told that if she died, it would be "about" 4 weeks as a minimum (though I am sure that this could vary massively due to several factors) to get to completion.

As you know, probates have a reputation for taking ages and being very complicated, but I was told that if you've exchanged, it does make it quicker and easier to sort out (relatively speaking).