Ftb buying from a couple getting divorced

Charlie898

Hi. So I rang my solicitor on monday, he said we cant exchange contracts yet as the wife is still living at the property. Only when she moves out of the house we can then exchange. We have asked for the 27th to complete they wanted the end and agreed on that date last week.
Anyone been through similar? My solicitor tell me to stop nagging everyone bla bla. We also paid him the deposit and fees at the beginning of january. I'm getting very fed up now. Been going on 6 months.

hazyjo

Never heard of anyone having to move out at exchange. They'll usually sign something to say they'll move out on completion.

Charlie898

It's so confusing. We cant exchange untill she moves out. Ive never heard of this either. My solicitor is not very helpful hes telling me not to pester people or they might change thier minds etc.

garth549

As above are you sure the solicitor is not just waiting for the wife to sign a form confirming that she will vacate before completion? It's standard for any adult (think anyone over 17 actually) living at the property.

Or perhaps the wife is still looking for somewhere to live and they won't exchange until she's got somewhere confirmed.

Either way I wouldn't worry but if you're fed up then keep putting pressure on them. I find that an ultimatum of threatening to pull out unless they exchange by x date focuses minds. Don't go through your solicitor, go direct to their estate agent as they're far more likely to pressurise them. This is what I did after waiting 3 weeks for the vendors to fill in a couple of forms last year. They hand delivered them to my solicitor the next morning!

Charlie898

garth549 wrote: »

As above are you sure the solicitor is not just waiting for the wife to sign a form confirming that she will vacate before completion? It's standard for any adult (think anyone over 17 actually) living at the property.

Or perhaps the wife is still looking for somewhere to live and they won't exchange until she's got somewhere confirmed.

Either way I wouldn't worry but if you're fed up then keep putting pressure on them. I find that an ultimatum of threatening to pull out unless they exchange by x date focuses minds. This is what I did after waiting 3 weeks for the vendors to fill in a couple of forms last year. They hand delivered them to my solicitor the next morning!

No I asked the solicitor why cant we exchange. He said because untill she moves out we cant because she might gain financial interest in it. She has all ready got a house 3 doors down and is moving in there.

garth549

Not an expert on divorces but I'm guessing the house must be in her husband's name and your solicitor's worried that she might attempt to claim her half after exchanging.

As I said I'd recommend phoning their estate agent and threaten to pull out unless it's sorted within x days. They definitely won't want to be losing a sale that's been dragging on for 6 months! I've found solicitors don't really care and are generally useless in situations like this

Charlie898

Thankyou. I was going to do that. This g is tho I dont mean it. And if they turn around and say ok then. I'm screwed lol. This whole situation is so stressful. I will never do this again.