Buyer pulling out!

davidmcn

Dally78 wrote: »

As far as I’m aware the exchange has taken place (as she put it “the paper work I needed to sign with a witness”)

As said above, merely signing the paperwork doesn't mean exchange of contracts has taken place. Had her solicitor said later "we have now exchanged contracts" or words to that effect? If not, then there is no contract.

I’m now contacting the solicitor and asking About exchange and possible legal action.

The solicitor isn't going to talk to you without your MiL's agreement. And if exchange hasn't taken place, there is no prospect of legal action. She should probably look at remarketing.

Mutton_Geoff

Dally78 wrote: »

She is an older person and as I’m the son-law she does not really want me interfering but my wife is going to approach her and I’ll give advice to her.

How old is an "older person"? I'm in my 60's and I'd have no problem calling my solicitor and getting to the bottom of any queries I have.


She may need some support to do this but to ignore it and hope for the best for fear of "rocking the apple cart"* is probably going to cause her more grief in the long run. Particularly when she discovers that signing a contract is not the same as exchanging and the buyer has disappeared into thin air due to lack of borrowing ability. The buyer probably took advantage of her by laying down some unreasonable demands early on (out in x weeks etc).


To be honest, if contracts are not exchanged then the best thing might be to call the agents and instruct them to market the property again.


* "rocking the apple cart" = older persons term

G_M

The contract gets signed well in advance of it being Exchanged with the other side.


Her solicitor will put it safely in a drawer in his office for safe-keeping so that when both sides are ready then, and only then, the contract can be exchanged with the other side.


Often the buyer and seller sign their respective copies of the contract weeks, or maybe months, in advance of 'Exchange'.


You (and she) need to establish if it is just signing that happened or whether Exchange has happened. Like others, I suspect not.


If not, there is nothing she can do but find a new buyer.
If yes, then she can keep the deposit (several thousand pounds?) and also claimher costs.


She must speak to her solicitor, orbetter still, go in and visit him, perhaps with yourself or someone else she trusts.

PasturesNew

I signed my paperwork ASAP, as soon as I was informed by the estate agent that "the chain is complete". That just meant all the money was available to everybody .... so exchange could happen once completion dates were agreed.

I signed... and sat and waited. It was 27 August.
From then until the actual exchange it still wasn't assured, even though everybody had their mortgages agreed.... they still had to not get cold feet, they still had to actually say "do it" to their solicitor.

I eventually exchanged 3 weeks later.

artyclarty

We signed our paperwork in November. The seller wanted a quick sale before the Christmas and we sat ready and waiting to move. After chasing up several times they signed the paperwork in February...
This was a chain free cash transaction so easy peasy, they just "forgot" that they hadn't signed the contract!

AnotherJoe

Dally78 wrote: »

Hi All,

First post here so be gentle��

I’m posting for advice,

my mother in law has exchanged contracts on her house.

Almost certainly not, pound to a million pennies she signed contracts, which is not exchanging.

The buyer asked her to be out of the house over 5 weeks ago saying they wanted to finish the sale (this did come from a solicitor),

This is bizarre, she only needs to move out on completion, let alone exchange let alone after signing. Ive never even heard of anyone wanting the seller to move out at exchange let alone before exchange. Who on earth was advising her?
but a week later the solicitor contacted her saying they are having problems with their ISA, week later they said it’s all sorted and shall be proceeding (in this time my mother in law has moved in with us while her new house sale goes through),

Did you mean new house purchase?
but yesterday she has received a email stating that the buyer is now having problems with their mortgage and could possibly pull out.

My question is....what right has she got to claim deposit fees, storage fees, solicitors fees, etc etc and how long is she legally obliged to wait for before she claims they are breaking the contract?

None whatsoever she should give a VERY short time period for exchange, and if that fails remarket and perhaps move back in. Are you sure this wasn't all a ruse to get her to move into your house There's quite a few non-sequiturs in your post.

Dally78

Hi all,

Thanks for all the comments and advice,

Found out contracts had been exchanged, but buyer had announced to bank/mortgage provider that they had a new job and they wanted to do a full affordability check again on top of that the bank also lost paper work for their help to buy ISA.

All been sorted now and will be complete in 2 weeks.

Flugelhorn

Must have been a bit of nervous time for the purchaser

pinkteapot

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Must have been a bit of nervous time for the purchaser

True but... Why on earth would you change job between exchange and completion? Jeez!