What would you do? FTB

DeeKi

Hi everyone,
My husband and I have found lots of great information here and being FTBs it's definitely appreciated so thank you lovely people. I hope someone can help us with some advice, please

We had an offer accepted last week on a property and initially were told there was no onward chain. However, after our offer was accepted, we were told the sellers needed to find a property themselves and living with family was no longer an option for them and we entered a chain, waiting for them to find a place

So we said okay. During this time we were getting our ducks in a row and it was during our mortgage application that we realised my Lifetime ISA isn't accessible until the end of July. If we withdraw before then, we lose £2500. Which we can't afford to do and it can only be used on the deposit so the earliest we could exchange contracts would be the end of July. I believe this is when the deposit has to be paid. Since the sellers hadn't found a place, we didn't see this being an issue and thought we'd have loads of time.

Until today, when the EA contacted us to say they had found a vacant house :eek: and we were good to get things in motion.

That's the background. Now, the question. Should we be upfront and tell them the earliest we could exchange is the end of July but we're happy to do a very close exchange to completion date, namely the first week of August (this is true) and risk them putting the property back on the market for a quicker sale or do we say nothing and hope we don't exchange before then? We really love this house and can't wait to move in, it's just the ISA holding things up on our end. What would you guys do? We have a baby due in a few weeks and I am losing sleep as it is!

Thanks for all opinions and advice.
From a very stressed very pregnant FTB :rotfl:

oystercatcher

Three months is pretty standard for a property purchase so I wouldn't worry too much. It would be polite to let your purchasers know what is going on but to be honest I wouldn't rush in with this information, There will be a discussion of dates at some point, maybe you can mention it then and it will hopefully fit with the natural time plan anyway.

Hutch100uk

I find it very unlikely that you would complete before then. For example.... I sold my house last year and it took more than 3 months and that was with no chain and both me and my buyer pushing like mad from both sides.

Even if you did decide to tell them and they didn't like it - firstly you have already been patient waiting for them to find a house and secondly, if they have found somewhere they will not want to risk losing that house by putting theirs back on the market.

This really isn't anything to worry about.

Davesnave

I agree with Oystercatcher.

Strangely, it was on this very date we first saw the property we now live in. After a bit of umm-ing and ahh-ing, including walking away for a few days, we agreed to buy for cash at a knock-down, quick sale price.

It was 31st July when we completed!

DeeKi

Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, it'd be the earliest we could exchange contracts, so 3 months from offer to contracts being exchanged when the deposit would be available. I feel less guilty now and will take the advice of saying nothing until we settle dates down the line. As a FTB I must seem so naive but it would also be our luck everything goes smoothly and everything is done in 6 weeks ��. You've put my mind at ease though, thank you and I'll let you know how it goes!

Hutch100uk

You can easily slow things down but not returning paperwork straight away.