Unable to serve notice to complete?

FirstTime_Buyer

Hi,

I was meant to complete in April but was advised that the seller couldn’t complete as their house wasn’t built yet and corona virus.

We had exchanged and had a fixed long stop date in place but was told that I couldn’t serve notice due to corona virus and should wait till lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

Today I’ve been told I’m not allowed to serve notice as that period has passed and I should of served it immediately after the completion date passed.

1. Has anybody heard of having to serve the notice within a fixed period of time? 

2. Where does this leave me? If I can’t serve notice, can they serve notice on me? Is the contract null and void?

Guess these may be questions for my solicitor however they’ve been very unhelpful so far.

Thanks.

Marvel1

FirstTime_Buyer said:

We had exchanged and had a fixed long stop date in place but was told that I couldn’t serve notice due to corona virus and should wait till lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

Today I’ve been told I’m not allowed to serve notice as that period has passed and I should of served it immediately after the completion date passed.

By who for both?

lisyloo

Who told you that you couldn’t serve notice? On the phone or in writing/email?
who told you that your not allowed now? Same question?
Can you just wait?

FirstTime_Buyer

Marvel1 said:

FirstTime_Buyer said:

We had exchanged and had a fixed long stop date in place but was told that I couldn’t serve notice due to corona virus and should wait till lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

Today I’ve been told I’m not allowed to serve notice as that period has passed and I should of served it immediately after the completion date passed.

By who for both?

My solicitor advised against serving notice due to lockdown restrictions and wait till they’re lifted but today have told me that I’ve missed my opportunity to serve notice. 

The sellers solicitors want me to sign a new corona virus contract which allows for a further 6 month delay. 

FirstTime_Buyer

lisyloo said:

Who told you that you couldn’t serve notice? On the phone or in writing/email?
who told you that your not allowed now? Same question?
Can you just wait?

So both restrictions of not being allowed to serve notice and missing the chance to serve it have been sent via email from my solicitor.

i originally had my offer accepted to buy this house last September so I’m reluctant to wait any longer. 

lisyloo

This is a global pandemic and a lot of people have died (I’ve lost someone).
your options are
1) get independent legal advice and look at suing either your sellers or your solicitors or both. This will cost money, be a lot of hassle and you may not win given that someone’s life may have been at risk (if they were shielding for example).
2) walk away and cut your losses and look elsewhere
3) wait for this house

FirstTime_Buyer

lisyloo said:

This is a global pandemic and a lot of people have died (I’ve lost someone).
your options are
1) get independent legal advice and look at suing either your sellers or your solicitors or both. This will cost money, be a lot of hassle and you may not win given that someone’s life may have been at risk (if they were shielding for example).
2) walk away and cut your losses and look elsewhere
3) wait for this house

Seems unfair that bad legal advice can be blamed on a global pandemic. I will look to contact the legal ombudsman to make a complaint but I just wanted advice to see if anyone had heard of not being able to serve notice or a time limit being in place preventing this happening, 

lisyloo

No (sorry) your solicitor is fully responsible for their legal advice - I think it’s the law society in the case of solicitors but you might have to take it up with the solicitors first.
do you have quantifiable financial losses through not being able to move? I.e. do you have proof of paid storage, removals, hotel bills specifically arranged around the contracted date?
do you have quantifiable provable financial losses through the bad advice? 
My point is that if you have no losses you won’t have a claim.
what are you expecting to happen if you serve notice?
builders to go rush back to work and build a house overnight?
or someone shielding for fear of death to change their mind?
im not being sarcastic (honestly) but there are limits as to what you can make happen.
i think it’s terrible your solicitor has given you bad advice as they should be advising you, I would be keeping those emails and complaining but that doesn’t mean they have cost you anything.
i appreciate the delay is frustrating, but it’s real provable losses in ££s that you can claim for, not frustration however difficult.

FirstTime_Buyer

lisyloo said:

No (sorry) your solicitor is fully responsible for their legal advice - I think it’s the law society in the case of solicitors but you might have to take it up with the solicitors first.
do you have quantifiable financial losses through not being able to move? I.e. do you have proof of paid storage, removals, hotel bills specifically arranged around the contracted date?
do you have quantifiable provable financial losses through the bad advice? 
My point is that if you have no losses you won’t have a claim.
what are you expecting to happen if you serve notice?
builders to go rush back to work and build a house overnight?
or someone shielding for fear of death to change their mind?
im not being sarcastic (honestly) but there are limits as to what you can make happen.
i think it’s terrible your solicitor has given you bad advice as they should be advising you, I would be keeping those emails and complaining but that doesn’t mean they have cost you anything.
i appreciate the delay is frustrating, but it’s real provable losses in ££s that you can claim for, not frustration however difficult.

Thank you for the response. I guess what I’m trying to understand is that if I cannot serve notice to complete then I’m stuck in this indefinitely. My understanding is that when you serve notice you have the option to rescind the contract if notice is not complete within 10 days.

Without the option to serve notice i cannot rescind the contract and means I cannot pull out without hefty penalties as it’s seen as me breaching the contract?

diggingdude

FirstTime_Buyer said:

Marvel1 said:

FirstTime_Buyer said:

We had exchanged and had a fixed long stop date in place but was told that I couldn’t serve notice due to corona virus and should wait till lockdown restrictions have been lifted.

Today I’ve been told I’m not allowed to serve notice as that period has passed and I should of served it immediately after the completion date passed.

By who for both?

My solicitor advised against serving notice due to lockdown restrictions and wait till they’re lifted but today have told me that I’ve missed my opportunity to serve notice. 

The sellers solicitors want me to sign a new corona virus contract which allows for a further 6 month delay. 

I would reply thanking them for the good laugh but you won't be signing that.  Surely you still have a right to issue a notice to complete or be released from the contract as like you say you could be in limbo for ever

steampowered

I don't understand why you might have "lost" your ability to serve a notice to complete.

Your contract will almost certainly be based on the residential standard conditions of sale (https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/documents/standard-conditions-of-sale-5th-edition/) which do not contain anything suggesting that you lose your ability to serve notice after a particular time period.

I suspect you still have the ability to serve a notice to complete. It would be odd if you couldn't for all the reasons you describe.

A sensible path forward might be to try and agree an alternative workable solution e.g. the sellers moving into rented for a period of time?