Delay in completion

SPAP

Hi,
I have recently purchased a house. Completion time was set to 1:30PM but was delay to 4:45PM on the same day due to mortgage lender did not release fund in time or banking system issue (this was the reason give to me by my solicitor). Because of this delay, my seller's seller could not complete their purchase because of the banks were closed by 5:00PM. Their completion was completed next day (not sure what time)/ Now my seller's seller is asking to pay over £2000 that removal company charge them to keep their house belongings overnight and delivery for next day. Seller's seller is asking to reimburse this money to my seller and my seller is asking to reimburse money to me as I was at the bottom of the chain and completion was delayed due to money not being released by my mortgage lender.

I don't believe that I am at fault as I singed the contract 13 days before completion and also paid my solicitor's fees including all charges, stamp duty and outstanding balance on that day.

I am not 100% what exactly happened in this chain but I believe this is not my fault so I should not pay this amount. So who is at fault and who should reimburse money? Not sure if everyone involved decide to go to court what will be outcome?

Any advice?

davidmcn

SPAP wrote: »

I don't believe that I am at fault as I singed the contract 13 days before completion and also paid my solicitor's fees including all charges, stamp duty and outstanding balance on that day.

None of that's relevant if you failed to hand over the price on time. What does your solicitor have to say about it?

shinytop

We completed 3 weeks ago and the same thing happened to us, except we were the equivalent to your seller's seller. We got our funds at 4:47pm. Because we were moving into rented we didn't need the funds before we could move in so there was no loss for us. Our buyer came really close to having their removals people pack up and leave but just managed to persuade them to hold on until 5:00pm.

Because you failed to complete on time I think you are liable. Normally such a delay is just an inconvenience but in your case someone is out of pocket. By 'you' I mean collectively you, your solicitor, mortgage lender, etc. Whether you (personally) can claim from one of your team is another matter.

We heard the problem (on Jan 17th) was caused by an IT/system failure at (I think) TSB - I wonder if it's the same issue?

Chandler85

Ignoring the fact that £2k to store property in a lorry overnight? Let's face it they never unloaded and reloaded it.


But if the property you bought completed on time, then your seller hasn't completed on time. Surely that's there problem and they have to pay the fees, then can then try to pursue you for them, blaming you for the house not completing.


You could then either pursue your buyer (if it was their fault) or your bank (if it was their fault).


CHAPS payment system also has different cut off times for different banks which doesn't help. But that's irrelevant now as it is after the case.

LandyAndy

Chandler85 wrote: »

Ignoring the fact that £2k to store property in a lorry overnight? Let's face it they never unloaded and reloaded it.


.

Although it did mean that lorry was not available the following day for a new job.

NewShadow

Did the contracts exchanged specify a time or simply a date? i.e. was the time agreed subject to the contract or was it a time for all parties to aim for?

I'm wondering if it could be argued that anytime during business hours - which run until 5 - would be acceptable under the contract, therefore you would have no onward liability for your seller's failure to complete their contractual obligations.

Richard_Webster

No, it’s not close of business. Most contracts used to specify 2pm when I was in practice and often an earlier time was agreed to give solicitors in the middle of a chain time to move money up. In this case the latest time was 1.30pm.

Although these times were stipulated in the contracts, as long as the money got through by the close of banking and nobody lost out, generally solicitors didn’t get legalistic about things. Hopefully that is still the case.

I would lodge a complaint with the lender direct. They will look into it and either hold their hands up or blame someone else.

This could be:
1. The solicitor’s bank for some system failure; or
2. The solicitor for not asking for the money in the timescale required by the lender.

You then pursue the appropriate party for compensation.

When I was in practice I would explain to clients that I would tell the lender that we were completing the day before we were actually completing and that would mean they would have to pay an extra day’s interest. I would explain that it was too easy for something to go wrong with the lender and my clients would end up in a situation like OP’s. Wouldn’t they rather pay an extra day’s interest than end up being in breach?

SPAP

Thank you Richard Webster for you very clear explanation. I did complain with mortgage lender and asked them what time fund was released but they have only sent letter with the date fund was released and said they could not give me the exact time which is utter rubbish. I am going to make a written complaint and will ask them to provide the timing. Meanwhile I have also asked my solicitor to provide proof of all timing.

Madmel

We had this, except we were next to the top of the chain. Our buyer was meant to complete by 2pm but didn't so our solicitor couldn't send the money to our vendors before the close of play. Luckily we had built up a good relationship and they allowed us in after the solicitors spoke on the phone.

A bill then came through (fair enough) and our solicitor asked us to pay something like £300. I emailed back and pointed out that we weren't liable. Had our buyers completed correctly, we would not need to pay anything and we were only billed because they didn't fulfil their part. The solicitor sent a further bill which I ignored and that was the last I heard. This was September 2006!