Should i exchange with risk of non completion.help

cjmillsnun

Hi OP. As far as I can see... If you go ahead and exchange, you are legally bound to buy that property on the agreed completion date. As long as you are able to fulfil your side of the bargain, then you can proceed.

However before doing that make it clear to the vendor that if they are unable to complete on their property up the chain, you still want to complete. Because of this, they should consider alternative accommodation should there be any problem up the chain between exchange and completion. Offer once again to exchange and complete on the same day but for 3 weeks in the future.

It is then his call whether he wants to proceed with the exchange and take the risk, walk, or agree to exchange and complete on the same day.

rosyw

OP, if you really don't want to lose the house, and your vendor is is still wanting to exchange on Thursday, I'd go ahead. You can of course double check with your solicitor what the position would be if your vendor failed to complete, to set your mind at rest.
I know how stressful this house barking lark is, but you do, to a certain extent, need to try to treat it as a business transaction and put personal feelings to one side. It's perfectly natural to worry what position your vendor will in if he can't complete on his purchase, but if he's happy to proceed I'm fairly sure his solicitor will have advised him of the consequences if he fails to complete his SALE once exchange has taken place, and should, if he's sensible, have contingency plans in place "just in case".
Good luck with it all, I hope all goes to plan.

steampowered

I do not feel that this is a big risk. Personally, I would be perfectly happy to proceed with a 3 week gap.

3 weeks is a very short period of time in the grand scheme of things. The risk of the owner dying within a 3 week window must be very low. People who are terminally ill can continue living for years. If the owner was expected to die within such a short period of time the vendor would know.

If the vendor does die, what is the worst that could happen?

You could either wait a few months for probate to be granted.

Or you could simply terminate the contract and look for another property (which you are explicitly allowed to do under the Standard Terms of Sale which apply to residential sales).

At the end of the day, every time there is a gap between exchange and completion, there is always a risk that the seller might die or fail to complete on time. Everyone faces that risk. Your risk might be marginally higher than the typical case but I don't think it should be giving you sleepness nights.

silvercar

If the worst should happen, think what your vendor's solicitor would advise your vendor. They would tell them that failing to complete on their sale (to you) would incur costs that they would be liable for. They would probably also advise your vendor that they could themselves move into temporary accommodation/ hotel and the estate of the deceased would be liable for all their costs for failing to honour the contract. Even if the vendor's purchase was cancelled, the vendor would be an unencumbered buyer on another property.

GrumpyDil

If you really like the house then I would exchange as the risk is on the vendor. If they fail to complete with you then you can go after them for your costs and to force completion it might involve going legal but ...

On the other hand if I was acting for your vendor I would be making it very clear that once exchanged they would be under a legal obligation to complete and if there is any real doubt about the onward purchase they should make the gap between exchange and completion as small as possible to minimise any risk.

Ftbftbftb

So I have an update today.

After umming and aarghing about what decision to take, I thought why not just exchange on Thursday and complete like my vendor suggested after 3 weeks. They have been informed of the risks.

But now I have just found out that the owner of house A has sadly passed away today. The EA called me to let me know.

Im not sure what the options are now or how this changes everything once again!

davidmcn

Ftbftbftb wrote: »

Im not sure what the options are now or how this changes everything once again!

It's up to the executors what they want to do - it's possible they might not want to sell to your vendor, though the attorney could also be the executor and beneficiary, in which case they would probably just carry on wearing a different hat.

But in any event they'll need to get probate before they can complete a sale, and that doesn't happen instantly.

GrumpyDil

That's really unfortunate but as davidmcn says it's entirely out of your control. Until probate/letters of administration are obtained there is nothing that can be done as the executors/personal reps will not be able to deal with the sale, assuming a sale is what they want.

silvercar

Ftbftbftb wrote: »

So I have an update today.

After umming and aarghing about what decision to take, I thought why not just exchange on Thursday and complete like my vendor suggested after 3 weeks. They have been informed of the risks.

But now I have just found out that the owner of house A has sadly passed away today. The EA called me to let me know.

Im not sure what the options are now or how this changes everything once again!

See what your vendor says. Still say you are interested in exchanging. Offer a completion date in 4-6 weeks time so your vendor has time to either sort their purchase or find a rented.