pulling out after exchange

Jcross1

Hi all,

Long story short, I have exchanged on a new build with a developer.
Purchase price £210,000
using help to buy, had 5% deposit of £10,500 + other fees such as mortgage product fee, legal fees, valuation totalling around £1,500

I exchanged last month and am due to complete in July.

However, circumstances I could never have expected to happen mean I need to move to the US as early as August. This is family related and is completely unavoidable.

What options if any do I have?
Is it completely impossible to pull out at this stage and will i have anyway of getting my £10,500 back?
If I explain my circumstances to the developer, could they agree to refund me my 5%

Any advice appreciated

[Deleted User]

They could, but they almost certainly won't.

Hopefully they won't pursue you any additional costs beyond the deposit, but you'll need to talk to them about that.

Jcross1

so I have to come to terms with fact I have lost £10,500?

foxy-stoat

If its unavoidable then its unavoidable - you have lost your deposit, move on with your life in the USA.

foxy-stoat

Jcross1 wrote: »

so I have to come to terms with fact I have lost £10,500?

You will already have known that this would not be refundable when you signed the contract documents if you did not complete.

davidmcn

Jcross1 wrote: »

so I have to come to terms with fact I have lost £10,500?

You may have to come to terms with losing more than £10,500 if the developer can't achieve the same price after remarketing. Then again, you'll be in the US, so it'll be more tricky to pursue you.

It might be best to give formal notice now that you won't be able to complete, in order that they can mitigate their losses.

[Deleted User]

Jcross1 wrote: »

so I have to come to terms with fact I have lost £10,500?

If you're lucky, yes.

AnotherJoe

Ask them. Best case, newer releases are going for more money now and they might be happy to let you withdraw losing you less money since they can sell for more. Worst case if newer houses are going for lower, they may want much more than the £10k

Jcross1

A friend advised that an option would be to go ahead with the completion, pay the mortgage for a year from abroad and then sell it and hopefully make a profit?

Is this a viable option?

[Deleted User]

That sounds like a way of increasing your losses.

Mortgage payments, unoccupied home insurance, higher risks of it getting trashed, early redemption fees and then probably selling if for thousands less than you paid, as it's a new build.

£10k would look like a bargain compared to that.

silvercar

Is the contract assignable? If it is (ask your solicitor) then you could approach an estate agent about selling it on before completion.