Our buyer holding off completing

jmtalire

Hi. Not sure if this has been asked before but we need some advice. We put our house on the market in January and accepted an offer  in Feb. Since then we have reserved a plot and had a mortgage application accepted for a new house. Since the social distancing measures brought forward by the government, our buyer has put her purchase of our house on hold due to it being occupied (by us). As a result we cannot move into our new house as we need the money from the sale of our current house. Our buyer is buying our house to rent out - we believe she is holding off completing on our house because she will not be able to find a tenant (during the current social distancing measures) - thus her being left with a house that is generating bills that she will have to pay. 
This is not our fault and it seems unfair as we are left in limbo. Does anyone have any advice on how we can convince her to complete on the purchase. Our reservation period on the new house runs out soon and we dont want to pay another £500 to re-reserve. 
Thanks

AdrianC

I take it you've not exchanged contracts?

All you can do is ask nicely.

jmtalire

Hi AdrianC - Not exchanged contracts yet. We have signed everything we can with our solicitor.

davidmcn

If she's worried about the additional costs while it lies empty, you could offer to drop the price to cover those. Though of course nobody really knows when the lockdown will end or how quickly (or at what rate) properties will be taken up by tenants afterwards.

And given the current state of the market, are your developers really going to charge you an additional £500 to continue with your purchase if it's delayed? I doubt they have a queue of other potential buyers.

isplumm

Have you spoken to the new build company? They might be delayed?

OldMusicGuy

Speak to the developer. All new builds are on hold (ours is), so they are hardly likely to kick you off the reserved list due to the situation. They are not going to be deluged with alternative buyers.

I would be careful - if you haven't exchanged, your buyer can pull out without warning. I would not risk upsetting them. 

[Deleted User]

Just trying to follow. Your buyer is delaying because you occupy the property, and in the context of Covid 19? Isn't this manageable even in the current climate? Provided you moving out on time etc. 

Thrugelmir

Is your new property ready to move into? 

Crashy_Time

brett19852010 said:

Just trying to follow. Your buyer is delaying because you occupy the property, and in the context of Covid 19? Isn't this manageable even in the current climate? Provided you moving out on time etc. 

The buyer is a landlord, she has twigged that an economy in deep trouble probably isn`t in her favour as a landlord and she is doing the sensible thing, unfortunate for the OP but  sensible none the less.

[Deleted User]

True. Don't expect BTL landlord to hurry. 

Mickygg

So the thread should be written as ' our buyer holding off exchanging'. A totally different ball game than holding off completing.

There are many holding off exchanging and for potentially good reason. Don't believe what the buyer says, most people will be delaying because of the obvious.