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Completion Date Difficulties - Sale falling apart
MercilessKiller
Posts: 7,143 Forumite
Hi There
We are having an absolute nightmare at the moment in relation to selling our flat to buy a house. We are all about ready to exchange (it should have been today but there's been some extra enquiries on both sides so looking to be next week or the week after at the latest). We'd all agreed to aim for a 2nd September completion, but last night the buyer emailed saying he is now out the country and won't be able to complete before the 16th of September.
Due to having a 2 year old in nursery (and both me and the wifey in full time employment), we're having to manage his nursery. We've extended his notice period to cover the delay. He's booked to start his new nursery in mid September anyway - We're moving to a town where every nursery has a huge waiting list and we were VERY lucky to get him in (and paid an early deposit to secure his place).
I've just however received a scary email from the sellers estate agent saying the seller will only move one week in the next 4 months... October 21st! (due to being half term - so assuming he works in a school as they only have 1 child a few months old).
The problem for us is that means paying 2 months up front in the new nursery. We also may not be able to extend the current nursery place by that time because they fill the spots for the new term (won't be able to find out till next week annoyingly...). This means that not only may we not be able to physically afford it (extra £2k for the new nursery) but no idea how we'll have a month with no childcare.
How unfair is it of the seller to give us this "one week in 4 month" period as the only time to complete. Is this quite normal? Or is it absolutely ridiculous? We want to make things work for everyone but we're stuck in the middle of a stupid buyer (who previously agreed the earlier date, and never told us he'd have to delay it until now), and a stupid seller who negotiated a higher price on his property because he was ready to go apparently...!
I'm now at the point where I'm beyond stressed and tempted to tell them all that if they don't complete on the week of the 16th of September, or worst case, the week after, then we call the whole thing off!
Their estate agent said we should wait till the day we're ready to exchange before making such a threat, but the problem is that we don't know if we'll be ready to exchange next week or the week after, meanwhile the nursery things need confirming now.
Any advice?
We are having an absolute nightmare at the moment in relation to selling our flat to buy a house. We are all about ready to exchange (it should have been today but there's been some extra enquiries on both sides so looking to be next week or the week after at the latest). We'd all agreed to aim for a 2nd September completion, but last night the buyer emailed saying he is now out the country and won't be able to complete before the 16th of September.
Due to having a 2 year old in nursery (and both me and the wifey in full time employment), we're having to manage his nursery. We've extended his notice period to cover the delay. He's booked to start his new nursery in mid September anyway - We're moving to a town where every nursery has a huge waiting list and we were VERY lucky to get him in (and paid an early deposit to secure his place).
I've just however received a scary email from the sellers estate agent saying the seller will only move one week in the next 4 months... October 21st! (due to being half term - so assuming he works in a school as they only have 1 child a few months old).
The problem for us is that means paying 2 months up front in the new nursery. We also may not be able to extend the current nursery place by that time because they fill the spots for the new term (won't be able to find out till next week annoyingly...). This means that not only may we not be able to physically afford it (extra £2k for the new nursery) but no idea how we'll have a month with no childcare.
How unfair is it of the seller to give us this "one week in 4 month" period as the only time to complete. Is this quite normal? Or is it absolutely ridiculous? We want to make things work for everyone but we're stuck in the middle of a stupid buyer (who previously agreed the earlier date, and never told us he'd have to delay it until now), and a stupid seller who negotiated a higher price on his property because he was ready to go apparently...!
I'm now at the point where I'm beyond stressed and tempted to tell them all that if they don't complete on the week of the 16th of September, or worst case, the week after, then we call the whole thing off!
Their estate agent said we should wait till the day we're ready to exchange before making such a threat, but the problem is that we don't know if we'll be ready to exchange next week or the week after, meanwhile the nursery things need confirming now.
Any advice?
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]
0
Comments
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It's a difficult situation to be in, but unfortunately that's what often happens in a chain, adding unexpected costs to the process.
How far apart are your current flat and the town you're moving to? Is there any chance of continuing at the current nursery for a while even if you move?0 -
You can make your threat, provided you're truly happy to walk away if they don't comply; don't make empty threats.
If it falls through, would you be in a worse position than waiting until October 21st? If so, perhaps ask again for the date to be moved forward, and suck it up if not.0 -
It's a difficult situation to be in, but unfortunately that's what often happens in a chain, adding unexpected costs to the process.
How far apart are your current flat and the town you're moving to? Is there any chance of continuing at the current nursery for a while even if you move?
3 hour drive away. So unfortunately that's not an option. We planned for a load of unexpected costs actually, and we had money un-expectedly locked up in the suspended Woodford fund, so this is just the straw that might break the camels back.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
You can make your threat, provided you're truly happy to walk away if they don't comply; don't make empty threats.
If it falls through, would you be in a worse position than waiting until October 21st? If so, perhaps ask again for the date to be moved forward, and suck it up if not.
Having our child not in nursery for a month is something that we couldn't risk - so yes we'd prepared for it all to collapse for that. If the exchange isn't happening for another 2 weeks, and within that time the nursery has filled his spot, then it's game over basically. Thus making the threat now to get the seller to re-consider and figure out how to move in September.
If he works in a school, while I sympathise somewhat, he's absolutely messed us around. He negotiated a higher price due to being ready to move knowing that would squeeze us and leave us less flexible.. and then he wants to delay like this causing us all sorts of problems...[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
If he's a teacher he is entitled to a paid day off to move house in term time.#2 Saving for Christmas 2024 - £1 a day challenge. £325 of £3660
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You see this quite often on the forum, vendors promising that they are effectively "chain-free" or have some place ready to move into when they aren't and they don't.
In your place, if it turns out you can't complete in September, I would seriously sit down, look at the entire picture and decide whether it is worth the hassle or not at this time and more importantly whether you can even afford it.
Good luck!MercilessKiller wrote: »He negotiated a higher price due to being ready to move0 -
If he's a teacher he is entitled to a paid day off to move house in term time.
He's told the estate agent he can't move during term time apparently.
But if he is entitled to this, then I feel more comfortable pushing back hard because he's already been playing us for fools, and it's just taking the micky now. I can't risk problems with my son's childcare and so it might be easier for the whole thing to be off if he won't budge on this one week.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
Well - tomorrow is the day I speak to the lawyers to demand we get an answer in the next 24 hours as to whether the sellers will agree to complete in mid September as originally agreed, or if we're going to be backing out of the sale.
I've spent the whole weekend tense and stressed over this - Next time I'm buying an empty property, eurghhhh!
To make it worse my solicitor has gone on vacation for 2 weeks and failed to provide the replacement solicitor via email (which had been promised) so I have to call just to find out who on earth is dealing with it all now and whether they're even up to date on all of this.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The internet is a great way to get on the net."
- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate[/FONT]0 -
Teachers are no different to anyone else. They only work Monday to Friday.0
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Finding £2k extra for childcare isn't great, but if finances are that tight is this really a good idea at all? What happens if your new boiler dies day 2 or your roof springs a leak?0
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