Exchange on sale before exchange on purchase

MumofRhys

Hi!


I'd like to know your thoughts on exchanging on the sale prior to exchanging contracts for the purchase,
Iv read all previous threads on this subject and it seems to be a big 'no' due to it being risky however, we are purchasing in a private sale from a family member who is as committed to the sale as we are - our family member has no onward chain and our buyers are first time buyers currently in a rented property.
Our solicitors appear to be dragging heels (we accepted our buyers offer in Jan and instructed straight away.)
Anyway, any thoughts or advice is hugely appreciated, I'm a first timer at all this house stuff.

thanks
Bex

Surrey_EA

It is a big no as it could potentially leave you in a situation where you've legally committed to the sale of your current home, but something unexpected comes up on your purchase causing delays, or for the whole thing to fall through altogether.

In my view it should be avoided.

Are your buyers beginning to become impatient? Do you have a clear understanding of what is left outstanding on both your sale and purchase?

Better to try and get the matter progressed to a point where a simultaneous exchange of contracts can take place, rather than put yourself in a slightly risky situation.

MumofRhys

I dont know if our buyers are becoming impatient - we have no contact with them other than through solicitors/EA's.
We are awaiting confirmation that the buyers solicitors are happy with answers given to enquiries they raised, our solicitors took ages to respond to.
For our onward purchase we are waiting for our solicitors technical team to review the contracts and then raise enquiries.
I just thought as we are purchasing from family its much less likely to fall through than if buying from a 3rd party but it seems like its a bad idea.

Surrey_EA

Sounds like your purchase might be at quite an early stage, how long has it been progressing?

martinsurrey

MumofRhys wrote: »

I dont know if our buyers are becoming impatient - we have no contact with them other than through solicitors/EA's.
We are awaiting confirmation that the buyers solicitors are happy with answers given to enquiries they raised, our solicitors took ages to respond to.
For our onward purchase we are waiting for our solicitors technical team to review the contracts and then raise enquiries.
I just thought as we are purchasing from family its much less likely to fall through than if buying from a 3rd party but it seems like its a bad idea.

I am completing on my purchase tomorrow, I exchanged on it 4 weeks after exchanging on my sale. It was a risk, and my solicitor made me sign that they had fully briefed me on the risks, and that I accepted them, but we didn't want to lose the sale, and worst case was the purchase falling through, but we'd move into rented and be in an ideal place for our next offer if that happened.

In the end we completed on our sale 10 days ago and have spent a week living with family and our stuff in storage. Not ideal, but it kept the chain together and let us fully deal with all the niggles on our purchase.

MumofRhys

My sil instructed her sol's on the sale on 1st april, so 6 weeks ish.

Surrey_EA

MumofRhys wrote: »

My sil instructed her sol's on the sale on 1st april, so 6 weeks ish.

I would have hoped that your solicitor would have been able to review the contract and raise some enquiries by now! Probably worth giving them a bit of a rocket.

davidmcn

If it's a family member with no onward chain, why the pressure from them to exchange? Don't they trust you?

MumofRhys

There is no pressure from my family member to exchange.
The fact is i'm worried our buyers will walk away as we have still not exchanged contracts and we accepted their offer the last week of January. Its a very simple sale and purchase with only 2 houses involved and yet it seems to be taking an absolute age to get anywhere with solicitors.

penguingirl

I would focus on chasing solicitors and asking what specifically is outstanding.

My parents have done what you've suggested and actually completed on their sale. They have spent the last nearly 2 weeks house/pet sitting for friends who were on holiday and have now gone on holiday themselves, and are hoping they can exchange/complete when they're back next week (purchase is a probate property that is empty, bit there was some missing info about the lease). Personally I wouldn't have done it, but they seem quite laid back about it (I suspect through naivety)

G_M

The risk is that you end up homeless.

If you have somewhere you could move to either short or longterm in the event of you sale proceeding but your purchase being delayed or falling through, then that risk may be worth taking.

Or if you trust your family enough to be 100% confident they will sell to you.

But I too don't understand:

* you want to Exchange with your buyers asap so you do't lose them
* your family (your seller) has no onward chain

So why can your family not exchange on the same date as your buyer (whenever they are ready)?

Its a very simple sale and purchase with only 2 houses involved and yet it seems to be taking an absolute age to get anywhere with solicitors.

When you last went in to see your solicitor, what did he tell you the delay was? What bit of the process has been reached, and what bit are they waiting on?