Penalty for not completing on agreed date?

laneycakes

Hi

We are buying a house-currently renting so no chain on our side. We are buying from people who are in turn purchasing an empty property from the local authority.

When our offer was accepted we were told the transaction must be completed by 31st March (local authority driven I believe to do with financial year books balancing)

Sadly our vendors solicitor has been appalling - so much so they emailed them refusing to pay unless they got their act together. A new solicitor at the same firm has taken over but we're still waiting on a couple of answers to enquiries...but it seems the vendors purchase is behind too.

As we are in a rental we are now having to fork out more rent (rather than paying toward our own mortgage/home and building equity). So after discussing with our solicitor we are going to say that if exchange and completion is not done by X date then we will be delaying for completion for another month as we are on holiday for two weeks (and can't afford to pay for rent and mortgage for any longer than we've budgeted for for the actual move and related works at the new house)

My question is can we add a penalty-ie if they agree to X date and it doesn't happen can we ask them to pay part of our rent? Or threaten to reduce the price we are paying? We are sick of being messed around and want to do everything we can to make sure that any dates that are agreed now are stuck to-and in my experience an agreement with no consequence if you don't follow through is just lip service!

I suspect the answer is no but gotta ask! Also quite tempted once we finally have our new house to send the vendors solicitor a complaint just so I can get off my chest how truly rubbish they've been! Tempted to add a bill for the additional rent and calls ive had to make chasing up their incompetence! It'll get me nowhere but I might feel better!

SmlSave

Until the date of exchange nothing is set in stone.

You can threaten to pull out or reduce your offer, see what they say/do

kinger101

Presumably, you don't want to have wasted money on solicitors, valuations, surveys, only for the sale not to complete. So why cut off your nose to spite your face? They might tell you to f-off if your start being bolshy.

You should have budgeted for a partial overlap on rent. It's almost impossible to time things right for your rent day as you're finding out. Sod's law says both parties are ready to exchange the day after your notice date.

laneycakes

The original completion date was at their request. We have had to work really hard to make sure we adhered to that but it's the vendors solicitor who's screwed us both over. I took time off work to go to mortgage appointments as we couldn't wait for weekend appointments for fear of breaching their deadline and losing the house.

We've budgeted for one month crossover (so paying rent and mortgage for one month) to allow us to do the required works, including treating woodworm which we are paying for-not the vendors, and move. Their solicitor is now saying 3/4 weeks-but we can't trust them on previous experience. If we can't complete by the date we have in mind and just do it whenever they choose we'll end up having to pay two months rent as we won't be able to get everything done, clean our rental and check it out with agent before our holiday (which is 10 weeks after the original deadline so shouldn't have been a factor)

They set the deadline, we're now a month after it, and as things stand unlikely to even exchange for 3-4 weeks. I just don't want to be screwed over again! I feel like we've done all we can to make this happen, and actually now we need to be more assertive so that we do what's best for us. No we don't want to lose money on surveys etc but equally I don't want to still be waiting in 6 months time, or end up financially poorer due to their slack solicitor.

ill discuss with my solicitor see what they suggest.

kinger101

The best thing you can do is get their EA involved. They're interested in the sale completing too for their commission. I've been in a similar situation and they were very useful.

jbainbridge

Trying to set a completion date before even starting the legal work is impossible. Is only a very vague target. You've no grounds for any recompense.

Marvel1

laneycakes wrote: »

can't afford to pay for rent and mortgage for any longer than we've budgeted for for the actual move and related works at the new house)

How are you paying for both mortgage and rent now? It's usually one or the other, I less you mean last day of renting so don't pay for the nest month you move out?

LittleMax

It is frustrating that you have put effort in to being ready for end of March and had timed your holiday that you would have been moved in with all your preliminary work on the new house done. But things rarely go perfectly to plan when buying property.

It is frustrating that you will be paying rent longer than you planned rather than paying your mortgage, and you say this is costing you because you are not paying off your capital loan. But really in the grand scheme of your 25 (?) year loan whats a few extra weeks?

I think you are making a bigger issue out of the holiday dates than there needs to be. Exchange and completion dates will be discussed and negotiated in the usual way. No point laying down ultimatums around that at this stage, when it may not even be an issue. Just highlight to your solicitor that you have the holiday booked and what dates this excludes for completion.

eddddy

laneycakes wrote: »

My question is can we add a penalty-ie if they agree to X date and it doesn't happen can we ask them to pay part of our rent? Or threaten to reduce the price we are paying?

You can try to negotiate those terms, if you like.

My guess is that you wouldn't be successful, but who knows?

Similarly, completion dates are agreed by negotiation (subject to the legal stuff being done), so you can negotiate for whatever date you chose. But you may 'lose' the negotiation.

Be cautious about blaming everything on the seller's solicitor - often people say "it's our solicitor's fault", when it isn't really.

dc197

Complaining to their solicitor will achieve little other than making you feel better . You were not their client so have no more grounds for complaint than I do and they will tell you this.
Good luck.

Thrugelmir

laneycakes wrote: »

...but it seems the vendors purchase is behind too.

Perfectly normal. You are in a chain. They'll be behind you in the process. That's why it may seem to you that there's a lack of urgency. As in essence there isn't any. The whole chain needs to get it's ducks into order to complete.