Will lockdown affect house move?

bigmortgage

Ultimately, the other question this throws up for those that have exchanged contracts or signed new tenancy agreements is who bares the financial responsibility of the buyer/renter not moving in?

Seller/landlord or renter/buyer?

Contractually, if you believe you legally can't move into your new property, you still have to pay the rent / complete on the agreed date. I can't see the government making any change to the law to split the cost or attribute all costs to seller/landlord. You can try and reach an agreement between seller/landlord and buyer/renter though.

lees80

Gundric said:

My partner works for the NHS and we are due to exchange on our first home this week, we need to move as the landlord has been given notice. So should an essential worker who needs to move home be an exception?

Not an exception, no. Your move should still be going ahead if it can. There cannot possibly be exceptions for essential workers, that is not how the housing market operates. Please don't consider my comment dismissive - quite the opposite. By keeping the process as normal as possible, the system will keep moving as it it should. 

Thank you to your partner for the work they are doing for our fantastic NHS. 

Crashy_Time

bob_the_dinosaur said:

I have to be honest, if online shopping is open, then house moves should be.  I don't see how someone down the street can get clothes delivered from an online retailer but I wouldn't be allowed to fulfill a legal contract

It will probably be food shopping only from midnight tonight? but your point is valid, except that it opens the door to people saying all sorts of things "should be allowed", that is the slippery slope that the government put an end to tonight, although the idea that they will backstop all the wages/contracts/deposits/etc. is as much fantasy as the idea that the police can enforce this without most of the public being scared enough to go along with BJ`s orders.

Crashy_Time

Thrugelmir said:

bob_the_dinosaur said:

I have to be honest, if online shopping is open, then house moves should be.  I don't see how someone down the street can get clothes delivered from an online retailer but I wouldn't be allowed to fulfill a legal contract

I guess some people will never understand the message however many times it's repeated. 

That is why they are going to enforce the message, they hope anyway. I heard the army are ready to deploy as well so maybe that will be happening if people still think their particular circumstance needs special exemption, all in all though scary times, never thought we would actually be living "Fahrenheit 451" to get the much needed property crash. Bottom line is though that removal companies are not going to be turning up in most cases, so unless people are moving themselves they won`t be moving.

bigmortgage

For the exchanged contracts that don't complete (if any don't) that 10% deposit the buyers stand to lose could be a life changing sum for many of them.

Imagine being in the middle of a chain and staying put after exchange. Not only will you be liable for your buyer's costs, you'll also lose your deposit and be liable for the seller's costs.

Thrugelmir

bigmortgage said:

For the exchanged contracts that don't complete (if any don't) that 10% deposit the buyers stand to lose could be a life changing sum for many of them.

Imagine being in the middle of a chain and staying put after exchange. Not only will you be liable for your buyer's costs, you'll also lose your deposit and be liable for the seller's costs.

That's why exchange and completion has increasingly been done/proposed on the same day. As solicitors and lenders monitored the situation with the aim of avoiding such a situation as far as possible. This evenings announcement wouldn't come as a surprise to the mortgage industry. For those that have exchanged already it's question of working through the issue. 
If somebody in the chain were to die. Then the chain might well collapse in any event. 

Gundric

bigmortgage said:

For the exchanged contracts that don't complete (if any don't) that 10% deposit the buyers stand to lose could be a life changing sum for many of them.

Imagine being in the middle of a chain and staying put after exchange. Not only will you be liable for your buyer's costs, you'll also lose your deposit and be liable for the seller's costs.

Exactly our dilemma, it's taken forever to save and a payout from an awful car crash to be able to afford this move, so it's now or never really. Not planning on going within 2 metres of anyone, but will have to move ourselves even with my bad back (from the crash). I applaud that they have finally locked the mass gathering idiots in, I'm all for it, I hate to use exceptions but many people will have to move or risk never buying for the foreseeable. 

rachel230

Solicitor on radio just said if you have exchanged and have a completion date then phone/email your solicitor to discuss amendment of said date.

bigmortgage

rachel230 said:

Solicitor on radio just said if you have exchanged and have a completion date then phone/email your solicitor to discuss amendment of said date.

Pretty big assumption the date can be moved. Many of those that are between exchange and completion won't have enough time left on their mortgage offers (which are conditional on completion within a certain period from the date of the offer), and losing your mortgage offer between exchange and completion could be catastrophic.

Given the circumstances banks may be retisent to renew offers for some time after the dust settles.

mrsmortgage

I'm supposed to complete today. Removal stopped answering after announcement. Can't afford rent and mortgage. Our tenancy contract expires in 7 weeks, new tenant is supposed to move in 5. (We signed an early release). By EAs bizarre rules we have to vacate in 3. We shall see what happens.