First Time Buying with Lease Restrictions

JoRo19614

Advice needed!

We are first time buyers, self employed, so have had to jump through lots of hoops to get our mortgage. However we did!

Mid December we had an offer accepted on a flat, the vendor was deceased and the sale is going to a nominated charity. There have been multiple points that have arisen and taken a long time to resolve, including things like the ground rent (finding out what it is and getting confirmation of when it is paid up to etc.) Our latest problem, is the vending solicitors have said we are now waiting on restrictions on the property. It has transpired that there was someone else on the lease (also now deceased) who needs to be removed from the lease but we are being held up by their family/ executors signing off on the restriction being lifted.

We keep being told our exchange is imminent, but we've been told this since march and agreed to a sale price on the deal that we would exchange in March. Our naivety in the house buying process, meant that we believed the exchange would happen in March so moved out of our rented flat. Needless to say the exchange didn't happen so we found a sublet for a month (again having been told end of the month) and once again no exchange. We have been moving continuously being ever hopeful the exchange and completion will happen but we are soon approaching 6 months since the offer was accepted, our mortgage application expires on the 8th July and the bank will only extend the application for 2 extra weeks.

Any advice would be useful. We have chased and chased, trying not to be annoying but equally persistent and determined. We feel that the offer shouldn't have been accepted if there was someone else on the lease - dead or alive. Should the sale have been made if there was someone else listed, and are we entitled to any cover bearing this in mind. Getting information from anyone is like getting blood from a stone and we just don't have the knowledge on the intricacies of buying in this quite complicated situation. We had thought it would be a simple process at the start but the complications have slowly unravelled and the solicitors don't appear to be moving with any haste, knowing the mortgage expires in 6 weeks.

Literally...any advice on the matter now would be a refreshing insight onto the matter!
Thanks in advance

marksoton

I'd start looking at other properties TBH.

Hoploz

This is the reason advice is always given that if it's an executor's sale, make sure probate has come through before starting negotiations.

The seller didn't know about the other deceased person still being on the lease by the sounds of it but clearly needs to be sorted out in order for them to sell. They won't want to lose you, but at the same time they can't personally do anything about it, it's all going to be down to the freeholder providing lease details, and presumably the land registry doing their thing too. So these things do take time.

You could ask whether they would consider paying towards your temporary accommodation, but equally, advice on here is always not to give notice to your rental property before exchange happens. They might take pity on you ... Or they might just take the property off the market until its all sorted out. In your favour there seems to be a bit of a cooling in the market just now, so it's worth asking. I guess how sympathetic they are to your predicament will depend on whether you decided to give up your rental, or whether they encouraged you to do so!

Whether they are willing to give financial allowance or not, this is going to take a while, and it's one of those 'how long is a piece of string' things unfortunately.