Are we being unreasonable?

bobwilson

steampowered wrote: »

Untrue. Simultaneous exchange and completion is a perfectly acceptable and not uncommon way to do transactions in the UK.

"Simultaneous" means at the same time. It isn't possible. Exchange always happens before completion, whether it's 1 week before, 1 minute before or 1 second before.

In fact if you contact most conveyancers or firms that the layman will call when trying to buy a house (which if you're a solicitor, you probably won't have), some but not all will offer same day exchange and completion for an extra fee, but none offer simultaneous, so I'd argue it is indeed uncommon.

steampowered wrote: »

I was involved with a case where the seller defaulted on a transaction after exchange, in relation to a flat in London, during a time of rising property prices. The buyer sought specific performance (or alternatively damages). It took some time for the case to work its way through the system - the price of the contract was £300k but by then the value of the flat had increased to £450k, yet the buyer only had to pay the lower price.

Your post is quite vague- are you saying the seller decided to sell the apartment for £150k less rather than pay damages, or he was forced to sell? I don't believe the system can force anyone to sell, unless they don't have enough money to pay damages.

steampowered

bobwilson wrote: »

"Simultaneous" means at the same time. It isn't possible. Exchange always happens before completion, whether it's 1 week before, 1 minute before or 1 second before.

I'm not sure whether this is true - why would there need to be a gap? I would have thought the contract and the property transfer documents could be released at exactly the same moment.

Your post is quite vague- are you saying the seller decided to sell the apartment for £150k less rather than pay damages, or he was forced to sell? I don't believe the system can force anyone to sell, unless they don't have enough money to pay damages.

I am saying that the seller was forced to sell - after having exchanged contracts but failing to complete the transaction.

The way it works is that the buyer obtains a court order for specific performance of the contract. This is an order that the seller performs the contract, and is available where you are purchasing property.

If the seller still refuses to comply with the judge's orders, it is possible for the judge to sign the property transfer forms in place of the seller, and such forms will be accepted by the land registry. This is what happened in the case I referred to.

It would have also been possible for the buyer to seek £150k in damages (being the difference between the price of the contract and the value of the asset they should have had), but in that particular case the buyer elected to seek specific performance rather than damages.

bobwilson

dunroving wrote: »

Another p-word came to my mind. Professor. (or wannabe*, anyway).

* No, not "want to be".

Not subtle enough.. Have you been acquainted with the forum etiquette?

Tiglet2

1993 - to get back to your original post, much as it is stressful, you are being unreasonable. You don't know what the issue is at the top of the chain. The solicitor acting will not agree to exchange without the issue being resolved. He won't care about your deadlines or annual leave. If he is not ready to exchange, the rest of the chain cannot exchange. It is out of your hands and you will have to try to be patient. Be thankful you are only buying and not also selling. You are the first link in the chain and therefore your transaction is more advanced than the end of the chain.

My honest opinion: have around two weeks between exchange and completion - much more civilised and gives you time to deal with the redirection of mail, changing adrdess details and organising utility companies, broadband, sky tv etc.

A simultaneous exchange and completion date is not recommended if there is a mortgage, as the solicitor will have to draw down the funds and they can't do this until they have exchanged. A simultaneous exchange/completion merely means you'll get up on completion day, wondering whether you'll get the property that day. You'll have to wait until confirmation that you've exchanged is given, then another tense couple of hours waiting for the signal that you have completed and can go and get the keys.

AnotherJoe

For the avoidance i dont think OP is being unreasonable to push back exchange/comp by a month; exchange now or never, yes that would be unreasonable.

1993

Tiglet2 wrote: »

1993 - to get back to your original post, much as it is stressful, you are being unreasonable. You don't know what the issue is at the top of the chain. The solicitor acting will not agree to exchange without the issue being resolved. He won't care about your deadlines or annual leave. If he is not ready to exchange, the rest of the chain cannot exchange. It is out of your hands and you will have to try to be patient. Be thankful you are only buying and not also selling. You are the first link in the chain and therefore your transaction is more advanced than the end of the chain.

My honest opinion: have around two weeks between exchange and completion - much more civilised and gives you time to deal with the redirection of mail, changing adrdess details and organising utility companies, broadband, sky tv etc.

A simultaneous exchange and completion date is not recommended if there is a mortgage, as the solicitor will have to draw down the funds and they can't do this until they have exchanged. A simultaneous exchange/completion merely means you'll get up on completion day, wondering whether you'll get the property that day. You'll have to wait until confirmation that you've exchanged is given, then another tense couple of hours waiting for the signal that you have completed and can go and get the keys.

Thank you for your reply, just to confirm we didn't have a simultaneous exchange/completion, it was in the same week rather than the same day and this was only because the vendor wanted to complete on a set day, which we agreed to suit their plans.

Now that it's gone up in the air, we will be pushing for a delay between exchange/completion to allow us time to get everything sorted as you've recommended.

The bulk of our frustration has come from dancing to their tune to get everything done for a deadline they set and not being informed of any potential problems until the day we were supposed to exchange. Every step of the way we've been conscientious and met their requirements only for them to push it back at the final hurdle.

1993

AnotherJoe wrote: »

For the avoidance i dont think OP is being unreasonable to push back exchange/comp by a month; exchange now or never, yes that would be unreasonable.

Definitely, we didn't want to back them into a corner and throw our toys out of the pram, we have offered them a choice and left it up to them to decide what they would like to do. Neither option is ideal as they'll either have to move in with family temporarily (very unlikely to happen) or wait another month for everything to work itself out at the top of the chain and agree a completion date to suit us all. Third option is they pull out altogether which we really don't want to happen!

Thrugelmir

1993 wrote: »

On the day of exchange, we were informed there is an issue with our vendors' onward purchase and they won't be able to exchange with us for at least another week as a result.

The entire chain needs to be in a position to exchange. Little point in having closet conversations. The EA should be facilitating communications between all the parties involved, so that everyone is informed. .

1993

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The entire chain needs to be in a position to exchange. Little point in having closet conversations. The EA should be facilitating communications between all the parties involved, so that everyone is informed. .

Definitely, we are getting information piecemeal and they don't seem particularly proactive in getting the issue resolved. There's definitely been a breakdown of communication because we were led to believe the whole chain was ready for exchange on that date and that's why our vendors set that date in particular (wishful thinking on their part it's now transpired!)

dunroving

I know that estate agents often get a bad rap but in my recent experience it's the estate agent who has been chasing things like a dog with a bone.