Vendor not co-operating or willing to complete on empty house after 10 months

James_Liddement

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone can offer any advice what reasons a vendor would have not to agree to complete a sale on an empty house?

I had an offer accepted in Feb 2018. The house was being rented out by the vendor, but was empty when I viewed and has remained so ever since. The mortgage was approved in May and the searches and surveys completed shortly after. I signed the deeds and contracts in June and the solicitor took my deposit and paid their fees.

The vendor has been very un-cooperative since this time. She refuses to provide a timescale for completion - despite the fact that the property is empty. She has made numerous delays and we have provided an ultimatum and her response to our solicitor was quite dismissive and basically said she wont complete until she is ready. But she wont provide me with a reason why she's not ready to complete. She is still paying a mortgage, insurance and council tax on an empty house.

We are in Dec now, had to get an extension on my mortgage offer which expires mid Jan 19 with no option to extend again. Our solicitor says he still hasn't heard anything from the vendor.

I'm just wondering is there any reason why a vendor would be motivated to keep a house they don't live in and have to continue to pay the mortgage etc

I find the whole situation really bizarre and of course looking elsewhere as not confident this will ever complete.

Cakeguts

She has got some reason why she doesn't really want to sell this house. The sale isn't going to happen because she actually has no intention of selling this house.

da_rule

If she has no desire to sell then there’s not a lot you can do.

Personally I’d Find somewhere else and then walk away. Either this will wake her up and she’ll quickly move or she won’t.

Thrugelmir

The property is in negative equity perhaps.

ACG

I would personally just say exchange needs to happen by the 11th with completion taking place by the 18th otherwise your Mortgage expires with no room to extend and at that point you would need to apply for a new mortgage, searches and valuation which you are not prepared to do because you risk throwing more good money after bad.

I would be prepared for the fact your probably not going to complete on this property.

Slinky

Is it a probate property? Has it been a family home she is struggling to come to terms with selling?

G_M

Long passed the time to give up.

Do/say nothing, instruct your conveyancer (and others) not to incur further costs without your further instructions, and strat house-hunting.

If the seller suddenly starts acting seriously, fine, Exchange.

if not, as soon as you find another property, walk.

or run.

eddddy

Is an estate agent involved? If so, what do they say about the situation?

The estate agent should be progressing the sale, in order to get their fee (unless it's the kind who get paid upfront, and so perhaps don't care whether the sale happens or not).

James_Liddement

Hi, yeah estate agent just said they have never actually met or spoken with the vendor and have only ever dealt with a property management company who came on her behalf. They just keep telling me they have no idea whats going on.

James_Liddement

If she didn't want to sell, surely she would have pulled our by now ... idk.. Its infuriating that she won't just tell me what's going on. The agent eluded to something about her avoiding capital gains tax by porting the mortgage to another property so maybe she's holding out for that to happen.

martin1959

It could be she is being forced to sell as part of a divorce or due to defaulting on a loan, and she is trying to hang on as long as possible.

We had something similar a few years back. The woman had painted the whole house in fluorescent green pink orange in order to put purchasers off as ex husband was forcing sale.