Breaking the chain

Legacy_user

Hello,
We are FTBs and have everything in place ready to exchange however, our seller’s solicitors have only just received their contract from their seller’s solicitors this week and have lots of enquiries that need to be raised.
Last week, my solicitor and I agreed that 17th May would be a good completion date so my manager at work kindly granted ‘emergency’ annual leave to accommodate this (she needed to know ASAP so that she could sort out staffing - I am a nurse btw working on a busy ward so very difficult to take time off at last minute).
The problem is... now our seller’s solicitors are saying (after not responding for over a week) that they probably won’t be able to make the 17th as completion date and could do either 24th or 31st. However, these dates are definitely not doable for us for a number of reasons.

So my question is, can we ask our sellers to exchange and complete by 17th even though they are not ready to exchange with their sellers? I understand that they would need to find somewhere to live for a week or two until they are ready but, depending on their circumstances, this may be doable. They have everything else in place except for the contract. They have also already had the sale of their house fall through before us and know that they wouldn’t want to go through it all again. Our earliest date after the 17th would be the 15th July and our mortgage expires on 21st June. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance

aries_163

You say you and your solicitor agreed that the 17th May would be a good time to complete, but did your solicitor actually put it to your vendor and they agreed before you went and asked for time off?
So you can ask them, but they don’t have to agree. I personally wouldn’t say yes to that as I wouldn’t have anywhere to store my belongings etc. But see what they say.
Out of interest why can’t you complete on 24th or 31st but just not move in until you are free in July? You don’t have to actually move in on the day you complete. I know this will mean an extra 2 months rent if currently renting but hopefully you have budgeted for a contingency fund.

AdrianC

I refuse to believe that you cannot complete between 17th May and 15th July. It might be inconvenient, but absolutely impossible? No.

System

Hi aries_163,
My solicitor had put it forward to the vendor’s solicitor and didn’t feel there would be a major issue. So due to circumstances at work I needed to tell my manager as at the time this was only 3 weeks away and wasn’t guaranteed to get the time off.

We can’t complete on those dates and then not move in until July because we will be paying double and don’t really want to do that if we can avoid it. We could afford it but who would want to do that? We have waited quite a long time now for them to catch up with us and my solicitor said for them to only just be getting the contract now is very slow conveyancing on their sellers behalf.

letitbe90

It isn’t just a case of finding accommodation for a week or two, the real headache is managing all the contents of a house, finding temporary storage at inconvenience and expense - effectively moving twice within a space of a couple of weeks.

I would never agree to do that and I’m pretty sure they won’t.

System

Actually AdrianC, I work Fridays and the only day they can exchange is a Friday. If you don’t have anything useful to contribute then please don’t comment

System

Sorry, the only day they can complete* is a Friday

aries_163

I agree, no-one would WANT to pay double, but if your sellers say no to breaking the chain, are you really going to pull out of the sale now / risk the chain collapsing for the sake of 2 months rent (assuming less than £2k? No idea of your location so using local to me prices).
If you pull out then you are just losing money on the conveyancing fees you have accrued so far. That won’t be too much less than the extra couple of months rent I’d guess!
Realistically what is your other option if they won’t break the chain (as I said unlikely to be agreed to for such a short amount of time)?
You either complete later in May and suck it up with regards to paying double, or you risk losing your purchase by asking to delay until July.

Also, won’t you be paying double (rent and mortgage) for a short time anyway? Im really hoping you haven’t already given notice to your landlord without having exchanged contracts with a firm completion date?!

Clutterfree

I don’t understand why you can’t complete on the dates put forward and then move in on your days off rather than a Friday as they want.
Your solicitor was wrong to say the 17th was acceptable until ALL parties had agreed to it.

Cakeguts

If you are a first time buyer why do you have to complete on the same day as you move in? Why can't you complete on a Friday and move in on a Saturday?



Your vendors may not be able to choose a day to suit you because the people in the chain above them can't.

System

aries_163 wrote: »

I agree, no-one would WANT to pay double, but if your sellers say no to breaking the chain, are you really going to pull out of the sale now / risk the chain collapsing for the sake of 2 months rent (assuming less than £2k? No idea of your location so using local to me prices).
If you pull out then you are just losing money on the conveyancing fees you have accrued so far. That won’t be too much less than the extra couple of months rent I’d guess!
Realistically what is your other option if they won’t break the chain (as I said unlikely to be agreed to for such a short amount of time)?
You either complete later in May and suck it up with regards to paying double, or you risk losing your purchase by asking to delay until July.

Also, won’t you be paying double (rent and mortgage) for a short time anyway? Im really hoping you haven’t already given notice to your landlord without having exchanged contracts with a firm completion date?!

I don’t even know. My head is all over the place. I work 12 hour shifts 7-7.30 and my partner works until 6pm so would be difficult to clean and do the work we intended prior to moving in. From the sounds of it, looks like we will just have to suck it up and deal with it. None of this would have been an issue if the solicitor at the top of chain would have got the contract to our sellers solicitors when they should have.
I’m not threatening to pull out at all it’s just a huge inconvenience just like this whole process has been throughout (even the EA said the vendor is getting pee’d off). We haven’t had to give notice to landlord as we are renting from family but they have another family moving in after us so don’t exactly have forever.
I don’t know, I’m just sick to death with this whole thing. Safe to say, once we’re in there we won’t be moving again.