Completion date been and gone

Harkwar

Good morning,

So yesterday I was supposed to exchange and complete. Have been told the sellers are waiting on a final redemption figure so it never happened.

I have now been waiting longer than 7 months. I had my offer accepted in the middle of May, since then a few things have happened

I was lied to about when the tenant was leaving.
Told they had a private buyer and I needed to hurry up or they would pull out, when we where waiting something from them.
Informed ground rent is doubling around a month ago.
Given a list of improvements I will have to pay for when I move in.

All of this I took on the chin as I like the place. Now after this latest thing with not exchanging and completed I feel totally deflated as I've done everything I can to move things forward. Now the estate agent is saying I should extend my mortgage offer as that runs out 16th Jan, which I feel misses the point.

Anyway to my question, if I was to pull out now would I be held accountable for anything legally? I'm so stressed with all this.

Thanks in advance

Mark

bigisi

Harkwar wrote: »

Good morning,

So yesterday I was supposed to exchange and complete. Have been told the sellers are waiting on a final redemption figure so it never happened.

I have now been waiting longer than 7 months. I had my offer accepted in the middle of May, since then a few things have happened

I was lied to about when the tenant was leaving.
Told they had a private buyer and I needed to hurry up or they would pull out, when we where[sic] waiting something from them.
Informed ground rent is doubling around a month ago.
Given a list of improvements I will have to pay for when I move in.

All of this I took on the chin as I like the place. Now after this latest thing with not exchanging and completed I feel totally deflated as I've done everything I can to move things forward. Now the estate agent is saying I should extend my mortgage offer as that runs out 16th Jan, which I feel misses the point.

Anyway to my question, if I was to pull out now would I be held accountable for anything legally? I'm so stressed with all this.

Thanks in advance

Mark

No as you haven't exchanged. It seems you really don't want to pull out though as you'd have done it sooner. Are you actually willing to or just willing to threaten it?

whatdoyouthink...

If you haven't exchanged contracts then, no. The pitfalls of exchanging and completing on the same day

babyblade41

Sometimes things are worth waiting for.. if you pull out then mean it as threats don't help anyone.

I had similar when buyer last week said the same so the "under offer" was taken off and had an enquiry again within hours. Buyer didn't pull out and are prepared to wait for a couple more weeks , but it was not helpful

We had an unfortunate problem thankfully picked up pretty much straight away and sometimes a process has to be gone through

If you want to pull out then fine if it is what you want but to threaten to try and hurry things up won't help..least of all you.

Nothing can be done this side of the New Year so try and relax and have a break from the constant worry of house buying and you might feel better about things with a clear head

Harkwar

I have no intention of threatening and not doing it. Having had that done to me I know it achieves not a great deal! Thanks for taking the time to answer people

eddddy

Harkwar wrote: »

Anyway to my question, if I was to pull out now would I be held accountable for anything legally? I'm so stressed with all this.

You will probably have to pay your solicitors fees, and you won't get a refund on your mortgage application fees, survey fees etc.

Do you have a feel for why things are being delayed?

Do you think it's simply because things are taking longer than expected, or do you think it's something more sinister - like the seller is planning to sell to somebody else, or change their mind about selling, etc?

Comms69

Harkwar wrote: »

Good morning,

So yesterday I was supposed to exchange and complete. Have been told the sellers are waiting on a final redemption figure so it never happened. - You haven't exchanged, therefore it's irrelevant.

I have now been waiting longer than 7 months. I had my offer accepted in the middle of May, since then a few things have happened - Stick with it or walk away

I was lied to about when the tenant was leaving. - and?
Told they had a private buyer and I needed to hurry up or they would pull out, when we where waiting something from them.- and?
Informed ground rent is doubling around a month ago.- and?
Given a list of improvements I will have to pay for when I move in. - and?

All of this I took on the chin as I like the place. Now after this latest thing with not exchanging and completed I feel totally deflated as I've done everything I can to move things forward. Now the estate agent is saying I should extend my mortgage offer as that runs out 16th Jan, which I feel misses the point. - so walk away

Anyway to my question, if I was to pull out now would I be held accountable for anything legally? I'm so stressed with all this.

Thanks in advance

Mark

Nope. you haven't exchanged you aren't obliged to complete

Slithery

You never had a completion date.

vw100

If you want the place it worth holding out if you can. I just completed on a house which i first viewed back in November 2017 and the vendor just took a age to progress with paperwork and then back in november 2018 during the legal process wanted quite a bit more to progress the sale. All this i agreed to because i wanted that house.

AdrianC

Harkwar wrote: »

I was lied to about when the tenant was leaving.

Or were you told what the vendor believed to be the accurate situation, and the tenant is messing them about?

This is the hazard buying a tenanted property. Remember, the landlord - the vendor - can only give notice to end the tenancy. If the tenants don't move out, there's a long legal process ahead to regain possession. Plus, of course, you don't know what condition it will be in when they do leave.

Informed ground rent is doubling around a month ago.

Your solicitor must be fairly useless if they didn't explain that to you when they went over the lease.

Given a list of improvements I will have to pay for when I move in.

You will own the property. You can pay for as many or as few as you like, when you like.

Now the estate agent is saying I should extend my mortgage offer as that runs out 16th Jan, which I feel misses the point.

Umm, no, it's you missing the point. Extending your mortgage offer sounds like a very good plan, because you are very unlikely to be completing by 16th Jan, unless those tenants suddenly get a wiggle on and move out.

Anyway to my question, if I was to pull out now would I be held accountable for anything legally?

Nope. Nor will the vendor. You just walk away, and pay all the bills for everything done so far - survey, legals, etc.


Or you wait until the tenants move out and you can exchange and complete. Your call.

AnotherJoe

Mark, you can walk away now with no financial liabilities other than those you've expended already and with your solicitor for work done so far.
If I might be so bold, your mistake was not to insist upon an earlier exchange date, a date at which tenants had left.
Given how long it could take to get unwilling tenants to move I suggest the following
Start looking again this is a buyers market.
Don't pull out you may not find something better
Extend your mortgage offer just in case.
Be happy you won't be moving into a place over Xmas with all sorts of potential issues and difficulty in getting hold of trades people