Seller stalling exchange - what do we do?

__melissam

I'm in the process of purchasing a Flat, its my first home so very new to all of this. We agreed sale and received memorandum of sale back in May. Everything went seemingly fine up until we tried proceed with Exchange and put in place a date for completion back in August. Contracts have been signed and deposit has been sitting with my solicitor since then because the seller hasn't agreed to exchange, they've been less than responsive to our solicitors and the estate agents by providing no updates.

First they said they couldn't exchange until they received permission to extend the lease on the property they are purchasing. Then 3 weeks later they said they could not exchange until they received a reduction in price for extending the lease. Now a further month later and they've stopped responding to our Solicitors emails.

We've been pushing to exchange and complete as our mortgage offer is due to expire in a couple weeks. The sellers estate agent has been very placid and unhelpful also.

Is there anything at all we can do to move things a long? We've begun looking at other properties but of course given the time and money already spent on this property we're keen not to quit.

G_M

There's nothing you can do except start looking at properties again, or be patient.



If they are not ready to Exchange, they won't Exchange.

pinkteapot

Is the rest of the chain above your vendor complete? The people they're buying from - are they buying something too and is all the paperwork on that one sorted? And so on till you reach a chain-free property at the top.

You can threaten to pull out - but don't do that unless you really will pull out when your deadline is reached.

I would say to the agent "We're concerned that the seller isn't serious about selling. We're going to start viewing other houses and if we find an alternative property that's immediately proceedable then we'll be pulling out."

Then do just that - if something better comes along that's in a better position (e.g. chain free) then buy that instead. In the meantime, a decent agent would start chasing your seller.

Be prepared to re-apply for your mortgage if the lender won't extend the offer. You have to complete before the expiry date (not just exchange) and if it's only a couple of weeks then the odds are you're going to hit expiry at this point.

__melissam

Thank you!
The chain above the seller is completely free, it's just us and them in the chain.

That's some great help though, thank you - we will probably go to the seller and say that!

Thank you again!

ethank

__melissam wrote: »

First they said they couldn't exchange until they received permission to extend the lease on the property they are purchasing. Then 3 weeks later they said they could not exchange until they received a reduction in price for extending the lease. Now a further month later and they've stopped responding to our Solicitors emails.

This does not sound right. They cannot extend the lease as they are not a party to it. The owner can, but they'd pay for it, not the purchaser.... Sounds a bit fishy to me.

GDB2222

ethank wrote: »

This does not sound right. They cannot extend the lease as they are not a party to it. The owner can, but they'd pay for it, not the purchaser.... Sounds a bit fishy to me.

The usual is that the current owner lines up the lease extension and it gets paid for on completion.