Advice - exchange contract on purchase before sale?

pinkteapot

Short answer: No!! Just for fun, try asking your solicitor this question and see what their reaction is.

Your seller won't pull out. You can't exchange by 15th July but nor can anyone else at this point - he can't get a new buyer who can exchange that fast. The fact he's committed to an outlay of money before exchanging on his sale is NOT your problem.

Tell your solicitor that you will not entertain exchanging or handing over a deposit before exchanging on your sale. You'll exchange on both at the same time, as normal. Ask your solicitor to tell his solicitor to talk some sense into their client!

Are you in direct contact with your vendor by chance? I cannot believe an EA or solicitor would pass on this "give him 20%" suggestion!

[Deleted User]

pinkteapot wrote: »

Are you in direct contact with your vendor by chance? I cannot believe an EA or solicitor would pass on this "give him 20%" suggestion!

I worked alongside an EA a while ago who, when presented with a request for reduction due to change in circumstances up the chain replied with 'I fail to see how that it is any of mine or my clients problem'. Your EA really shouldnt have let this request get this far.

davidmcn

PrincessSalmon wrote: »

Our seller has now said he needs 20% of the purchase price to make an investment and this needs to be done by 15th July.

We have the funds he is seeking and can do this, but obviously don’t want to put our funds at risk in case anything goes wrong and he doesn’t follow through to completion.

Well, obviously they'll be at risk if he's taken them and put them on a horse or whatever his time-critical "investment" is. Tell him he'll just need to be patient.

Are you actually discussing this transaction with your solicitor? If so, aren't they giving you any advice about this sort of thing?

pinkteapot

Deleted_User wrote: »

I worked alongside an EA a while ago who, when presented with a request for reduction due to change in circumstances up the chain replied with 'I fail to see how that it is any of mine or my clients problem'. Your EA really shouldnt have let this request get this far.

I'm wondering if this is one through an online agent, where buyer and seller are in direct contact with each other and the EA isn't really involved. I can't believe requests like this have been passed through a professional!

warby68

So the mystery cash buyer went away and your vendor let the end of June deadline pass.

Now there is a 'new' reason for the next deadline, wanting a rather random 20% for a new purchase.

Sounds like its just pressure for pressure's sake.

Unfortunately the risks of trying to go off the well worn track for property chains are just too large and would usually be much worse than actually losing the property you want to buy.

Your chain is not going unreasonably slow either, its less than 2m since you offered and you're still progressing with the hope of completing in less than 3. I am sure the solicitors will advise your seller that this is all reasonable.

Sit tight

PrincessSalmon

Thanks everyone