given time limit to exchange? / pressure

dares_uk

Hi

we are currently buying a house,
and we got all our paperwork, contract / searches etc.. on the Friday 24th march,
we raised some queries and sent them back to the solicitor straight away (received Monday 27th) We were also still awaiting results of the local search still ( solicitor got them back on the 7th April) and needed to raise a queries with the local authority about a payment / personal covenant. (ongoing).
7th April we received an email from our solicitor stating the vendors solicitor has asked that we exchange by close of business on wednesday 12th April. and complete 14 days later.

Is this normal tactics they use?
obviously we still have issues to resolve before we can exchange,
but it put the wind up and stressed my wife.
After a few phone calls, there is still one remaining issue with the vendor, so the ball is in their court and they are fully aware we were still waiting until yesterday for the local search.
Why put this pressure on ?
my solicitor said this is normal tactics. :eek:

ognum

dares_uk wrote: »

Hi

we are currently buying a house,
and we got all our paperwork, contract / searches etc.. on the Friday 24th march,
we raised some queries and sent them back to the solicitor straight away (received Monday 27th) We were also still awaiting results of the local search still ( solicitor got them back on the 7th April) and needed to raise a queries with the local authority about a payment / personal covenant. (ongoing).
7th April we received an email from our solicitor stating the vendors solicitor has asked that we exchange by close of business on wednesday 12th April. and complete 14 days later.

Is this normal tactics they use?
obviously we still have issues to resolve before we can exchange,
but it put the wind up and stressed my wife.
After a few phone calls, there is still one remaining issue with the vendor, so the ball is in their court and they are fully aware we were still waiting until yesterday for the local search.
Why put this pressure on ?
my solicitor said this is normal tactics. :eek:

Maybe the vendor has a time scale to work to or he loses his onward purchase or some other reason.

In the end it's your choice, it's a gamble. It is foolish to issue ultimatums that you won't stand by but some people do.

So, don't exchange and you may lose the property or exchange and possibly find a problem.

Why put pressure on? Because sometimes if you don't the process just goes on and on and on!

dares_uk

Penitent wrote: »

They can demand anything they like, but that doesn't mean you should feel pressured into exchanging before you/your solicitor has made sure you're not buying a turkey. The fact that they're trying to push you to exchange before you've had a chance to check everything would make me concerned that they're trying to hide something, so I'd want to check even more thouroughly, which will take even longer, so it's a bit of a daft tactic.

Did they make you aware when you offered that they had a timescale in mind? Are they under pressure to complete quickly for some reason? How long has it been since your offer was accepted?

Offer was accepted beginning of Feb, so its been a while now,
Solicitor is also acting for the mortgage broker too, so they have due diligence for them too,
no time scale was given when they accepted the offer,
there is no onwards chain, property is empty, and was rented out by a company previously.

prob due to having to pay council tax again ? or wanting to get things moving even though it the vendors solicitor being slow with everything.
also, there was a person covenant / s016 agreement in place,
so my solicitor needs to confirm this has been met/paid.

so were not worried now, just a strange tactic and caused stress yesterday.

G_M

buying /selling is always stressfull.

It may well be that the vendor has been stressed out by believing you/your solicitor are moving too slowly and might change your mind, so they are putting on pressure.

Relax.

Exchange when your solicitor says you're ready, and when you feel ready, and to your timescale.

BrassicWoman

end of my chain had a tight 8 week deadline for a new build, which they then slowed to snail's pace when the build ran over. I myself put a last possible date to complete in place as I was so hacked off waiting, I'd rather have stayed put than lived with the stress another month; and I really, truly meant it after I'd been messed about so much!

Could be any reason really though. I found visiting my solicitor in person helped iron out a few bumps and remove trivial enquiries.

Riggyman

G_M wrote: »

buying /selling is always stressfull.

It may well be that the vendor has been stressed out by believing you/your solicitor are moving too slowly and might change your mind, so they are putting on pressure.

Relax.

Exchange when your solicitor says you're ready, and when you feel ready, and to your timescale.

Exactly, listen to your solicitors advice. And remember that if you don't buy the house on your timescales, they could have a fair wait to sell it to someone else. You are in the driving seat.

eddddy

In your position, I would just say something positive like...

"I'm very happy to go with the dates you suggest, assuming my solicitor has completed all the legal stuff.

Incidentally, my solicitor is just waiting on a reply from you..."