HELP! Close to exchange but seller has just found a property

Surrey_EA

Like cloo, I think it's unlikely the vendors will go for that. I'm afraid that this is just one example of the vagaries of buying a home in England and Wales.

There's a certain amount of keeping your fingers crossed an hoping for the best, whilst not actually being able to do much to affect the outcome.

LA_FTB21

cloo wrote: »

LA, I don't think anyone would accept that.

OP, bear in mind, though, that you can't hold them to anything, so if you say 'Do X by Y weeks time or move into rented', they can still at the end of that time not be sorted and just say 'No, we're not moving into rented, we'll probably be through in another few weeks so why don't you just hold on instead?'. And they'd be within their rights to say that, as you can just stay where you are presumably (remember not to give notice until you have exchanged, even if it means a month or so of rent and mortgage!) and you'd be asking them to go to all the trouble and expense of relocating when their purchase might be sorted in within a relatively short time.

If it came to the the end of June and the seller only had a couple of weeks to go then we would just wait but I just think if we don't put any pressure on at all, the seller won't push their solicitor to get things moving as quick as possible.

We'd end up in a precarious position that we'd like to try and avoid if we can.

LA_FTB21

So.. here we are 22 weeks down the line and still no closer to exchange - we gave an extra 3 months for the vendor to complete their sale but nothing has moved along. We are currently at our wits end and have found the whole house buying system within the UK a mess.

We've been left hanging on to any hope of exchanging but nothing has ever come of it. What do we do?? We gave the 21st as a final completion date that we would wait until but as we are just over 2 weeks from that date then I feel that the 21st is going to come and no completion take place.

We gave those extra 12 weeks on the provision we would be completed by the 21st of July so we feel that if nothing has moved on by now then perhaps this date isn't being taken seriously and we should just pull out?

There is another house we have seen which we would put an offer on but we're so close to the end that we just don't know what to do.

We're worried that we could be sat in this position for another 3 months but our mortgage offer runs out in August so we're running out of time.

Can anyone give us some advice please?

DumbMuscle

LA_FTB21 wrote: »

So.. here we are 22 weeks down the line and still no closer to exchange - we gave an extra 3 months for the vendor to complete their sale but nothing has moved along. We are currently at our wits end and have found the whole house buying system within the UK a mess.

We've been left hanging on to any hope of exchanging but nothing has ever come of it. What do we do?? We gave the 21st as a final completion date that we would wait until but as we are just over 2 weeks from that date then I feel that the 21st is going to come and no completion take place.

We gave those extra 12 weeks on the provision we would be completed by the 21st of July so we feel that if nothing has moved on by now then perhaps this date isn't being taken seriously and we should just pull out?

There is another house we have seen which we would put an offer on but we're so close to the end that we just don't know what to do.

We're worried that we could be sat in this position for another 3 months but our mortgage offer runs out in August so we're running out of time.

Can anyone give us some advice please?

Remind them of the deadline. Say that if you haven't exchanged by the end of next week (with completion date before the 21st) then you will pull out of this sale and put an offer on the other house. Then when the end of next week rolls around, do exactly what you said you would do. Could even make it the end of this week for exchange if you're feeling pushy.

Do you know what stage they are at with their onward purchase? What exactly are they waiting for?

It might be worth getting in touch with the other house and explaining that you're considering making an offer, but some of your own circumstance mean that you can't make a final decision for a couple of weeks (don't explain that this is because you're pulling out of a different sale, since that might scare them off!). This might help to get them to hold off on accepting another offer in the mean time - or it might just make them think that you're not serious and mean they ignore you. No way of telling really... How many viewings have you had on that other house?

Bonniepurple

I'd run. Go and see the other property. If you like it, put an offer in - you can always withdraw. Our sale and purchase took 18 weeks - and that included finding a new buyer as the first was rejected by the housing association (shared ownership).

Average is approx 10-12 weeks. You've spent nearly 6 months.

LA_FTB21

DumbMuscle wrote: »

Remind them of the deadline. Say that if you haven't exchanged by the end of next week (with completion date before the 21st) then you will pull out of this sale and put an offer on the other house. Then when the end of next week rolls around, do exactly what you said you would do. Could even make it the end of this week for exchange if you're feeling pushy.

Do you know what stage they are at with their onward purchase? What exactly are they waiting for?

It might be worth getting in touch with the other house and explaining that you're considering making an offer, but some of your own circumstance mean that you can't make a final decision for a couple of weeks (don't explain that this is because you're pulling out of a different sale, since that might scare them off!). This might help to get them to hold off on accepting another offer in the mean time - or it might just make them think that you're not serious and mean they ignore you. No way of telling really... How many viewings have you had on that other house?

We've been told that the vendors solicitor is waiting for final enquiries so they are quite far along although we've been told this for the past couple of weeks.

It's very frustrating as the vendor said they wouldn't be tying in the purchases but now changed their mind and want to tie them in (also only telling us this after we'd taken out home insurance for the property as we'd set an exchange date which fell through) :mad:

Not sure how many viewings the other house has had.

ReadingTim

Your "deadlines" are meaningless as they've been missed without consequence before, and will be again. If you're going to be issuing deadlines, ultimatums, threats etc you need to back them up, but it's probably too late for that now - they think you're a pushover.

I'd give up on this place. Tell your solicitor to stop work and therefore incurring fees. Tell the EA you're looking at other places, and then do so, making a point of saying they're properties marketed by rival firms. And book at least one viewing with the same firm as the current place, just so they know you're serious. Finally, if you like the other property, make an offer on it, and get on with it - you're flogging a dead horse with the current chain TBH

DumbMuscle

LA_FTB21 wrote: »

We've been told that the vendors solicitor is waiting for final enquiries so they are quite far along although we've been told this for the past couple of weeks.

It's very frustrating as the vendor said they wouldn't be tying in the purchases but now changed their mind and want to tie them in (also only telling us this after we'd taken out home insurance for the property as we'd set an exchange date which fell through) :mad:

Not sure how many viewings the other house has had.

Final enquiries tend to go a lot quicker with a final deadline... In that case I'd be tempted to say the end of this week for exchange, since there's not a whole lot that comes under "final enquiries" that can't be sorted in that time if they really want to! I would give instructions to your solicitor along the lines of "Please tell the sellers that we require exchange by the end of this week, with completion on or before the 21st, otherwise we will be pulling out of the sale. If exchange has not happened by close of business on Friday, you are authorised to tell them that we are pulling out without any further input from me - and please let the sellers know this."

This takes the final decision out of your hands, which reduces the temptation to wait "just another couple of weeks" if exchange doesn't happen.

Then on Saturday put in an offer on the other property unless exchange has happened.

I meant how many times have *you* viewed the other house? If it's only once or twice, then booking a viewing for next week as a stalling tactic isn't a bad plan (it lets them know you're interested, without making it obvious that you're delaying!)