Seller hasnt found a house to purchase - they accepted our offer in November!

ChicaBonita

We ended up waiting 9 months for our chain to complete and be ready for exchange, we gave our offer on 7th Jan and moved in first week of September, unfortunately it can take as long as it takes (we were not happy bunnies though!)

AnotherJoe

Start looking elsewhere.
Instruct your solicitor to halt all work until further notice.
Then either you play hardball, and tell vendors (via EA) "exchange by X, complete by y or we are gone", or softball, tell the EA you are now actively looking elsewhere and so its the vendors choice whether to jeopardize their sale or not but there's a lot of stuff for you to choose from so they dont have much time.

Its currently a very slow market, they are doing well to have a buyer, you should have the upper hand here.

lisyloo

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Its currently a very slow market, they are doing well to have a buyer, you should have the upper hand here.

Unless of course one of them doesn't want to move and isn't in a rush and perhaps doesn't care if it falls through.
This is the proble with breaks-ups. You have 2 people with different priorities and often clashing.



What I have found worrying throughout the process is not really knowing whether something is a minor logistical issue or whether there is something more serious amis. I'm in a chain of 3 properties (4 parties) so it's not possible to know the details of everything going on further down the chain.

AdrianC

Quite simply - it's time for them to make their mind up whether they want to sell you their house or not.

If not, then that's fine. At least tell you.
If they DO, then they need to figure out how to move forward and rapidly...

AnotherJoe

lisyloo wrote: »

Unless of course one of them doesn't want to move and isn't in a rush and perhaps doesn't care if it falls through.
This is the problem with breaks-ups. You have 2 people with different priorities and often clashing.

Fair comment, hence the need for OP to let them know (via EA to keep emotions out of it) that they are getting ready to ditch this and so they need to make a decision soon.

Ozzuk

I'd be looking elsewhere. Your mortgage offer will likely expire, even your searches may expire. They may find somewhere quickly but end up in longer chain.

Follow AnotherJoe's advice, I've threatened pulling out a few times after being told 'of course we'll move into rented'.

cloud_dog

OP, you are a first time buyer, it doesn't get much better than that for a seller, other than a cash first time buyer.

Perhaps indicate that if you cannot exchange by X date you will have to re-assess your offer.

veemo

Thanks everyone for your input. We were never advised at any point to hold off on any searches or anything until the chain was complete. In hindsight this would have been the sensible thing to do but being first time buyers we didn’t have a clue! We have somewhat naively just been following the solicitors requests to get things signed etc. Good news is we have been in touch with the seller and have arranged a time to pop round and have a chat about the situation so hopefully once we have explained what’s happening our end (mortgage offer set to expire by April but we really did want to be in by March which isn’t too much of a unreasonable expectation since this process started in November) and then see what comes of it. We don’t want to play hard ball but it depends how the conversation goes! The estate agent has suggested to the seller that they break the chain and allow us to exchange and complete and they would move in rented/elsewhere but when we speak to the seller we will see how they feel about doing that.

Thrugelmir

More property comes onto the market as spring arrives. Always been the case.

Even if they find somewhere. There could be a chain above. As bottom of the chain it's a fact of life. That you'll be dependent on everybody above.

MysteryMe

I think OP as annoying as it is, you need to take some ownership of your mistake in ploughing on before the chain was established. A lot of what has taken place appears to be based on assuming things which is not ideal. Always get as full a picture as possible and seek advice from those you are paying to look after your interests eg your solicitor or family/friends who have bought and sold. I agree with the advice already given about asking your solicitor to halt all further work for the time being.

If you are capable of having a civil discussion with the vendors then speak to them direct as it is always better to get things first hand. Emphasise the importance of the vendors making progress with their onward plans as there will be issues with your mortgage offer and searches becoming out of date otherwise. See if you can achieve a work through, which could be them moving into rented. If the signals you are getting are not promising then you will have to consider what the best option for you will be. It may be to withdraw and look elsewhere or simply to wait. Only you can make that decision because only you know what your local housing situation is like and how soon you would find a similar property that suits you as much as this one does. Whatever you do, don't cut off your nose to spite your face.