Urgent advice needed on completion nightmare

stephanieh888

Hi all,
My husband and I took an offer on our bungalow back in January and had an offer accepted on a house to buy a few weeks later. The chain was complete fairly quickly (chain of 4) and all paperwork and legal matters are now sorted. 

Roughly two weeks ago, all parties agreed to complete on 12th June (this coming Friday) and contracts were signed and ready to be exchanged. 

Exchange was set to happen last Friday and money was requested from the lenders, leaving everyone a week to book removals, pack their houses, arrange postal diversion, Internet and what not. On the day we received an email saying our buyer was refusing to exchange unless it is done on the same day as completion. She is a first time buyer living with parents, so minimal risk for her, but both we and the upper chain have all refused due to the risks involved.

Our buyer now will not budge, and neither will any of us. We all have 12th booked off work and the estate agent and solicitor on our buyer's sale seem to be refusing to discuss this with the other solicitors and estate agents, so we are in an incredibly stressful limbo, to the point that we are considering walking away from the chain.

We are both working every day this week, have limited time for packing and no removals company arranged and are not willing to book this until exchange. We also have no Internet set up for the new house and I rely on the Internet to work from home. On top of this, our money is being released from the lender on 10th June, this Wednesday.

We feel we have been backed into a corner and that our buyers and her solicitors are stalling in the hope that everyone changes their mind for Friday, however this is almost impossible now as none of us will have time to arrange for removals.

We have no idea what to do and feel we are going to lose money now no matter what. Does anyone have any advice? Is our buyer doing this with the plan to gazunder us? 

anselld

Same day exchange and completion has become popular since lockdown to mitigate the risk that a lender may withdraw funds at the last minute or perhaps that a party in the chain may fall ill and be unable to move.  It is not necessarily a gazzundering strategy as that can happen at any time anyway.

The buyer is obviously not bluffing as Friday is already passed so you and the rest of the chain need to decide to accept or walk away.  

eddddy

Have you asked your EA to contact the buyer to find out what the problem is? (Assuming you have an EA that's paid on completion.)

Some solicitors are strongly advising clients only to exchange and complete on the same day, because they're worried about mortgage lenders withdrawing mortgage offers, or people becoming very ill and/or having to isolate between exchange and completion.

It sounds like you understand the choices:

• You stand firm and your buyer stands firm - and you wait to see who (if anyone) blinks first and gives in
• You try to negotiate a different arrangement - ideally through the EAs (not through solicitors - that's too slow)
• You give in to the buyer's demands
• You walk away

Slithery

Most solicitors are only doing same-day exchange and completion at the moment. If I were you I'd book removals etc but be prepared to pay them for pulling out if completion doesn't happen.

davidmcn

As above, simultaneous exchange and completion is the common refrain at the moment, so it shouldn't come as a surprise for somebody in the chain to be insisting on it. You'll just need to cross your fingers.

As for internet access, surely there's a mobile dongle solution or similar which can tide you over?

stephanieh888

Thank you for your replies, it is good to get some outside perspective on the situation. It sounds like our options are take the risk or walk away then. 

If we took the risk, what is the worst thing that can happen to us if it fell through on the day? Is there any way this could leave us homeless or is the worst possibility us losing money?

hazyjo

Why don't you try a compromise of do both on the same day but make it mid-week? I would want both on the same day. It's generally what's currently advised with all the madness that's going on. But I would absolutely not want a Friday. 

davidmcn

stephanieh888 said:
If we took the risk, what is the worst thing that can happen to us if it fell through on the day?

The worst thing that can happen is that you might have wasted some money on whatever specific arrangements you made in advance (or spent annual leave from work). The whole chain still exchanges simultaneously, so no, you're not at risk of being made homeless.

trix-a-belle

If you exchange with your seller now (as they want) and your buyer on the day (as they want) and take the risk then you wouldn't have a deposit to put forward for your purchase which is required on exchange of contracts (usually this is the person at the bottom of the chains deposit just being passed upward) so you would need a bridging loan or similar to cover that amount (high interest if they are even still available), and you are at risk of being left holding your current property and unable to complete your new property (so the upward chain falls apart) if your buyer fails to complete, which I presume is not possible financially & that your onward purchase is dependant on your sale. (though if you have exchanged with the buyer and they then fail to complete they will be liable for costs). given everyone has agreed the 12th i'd just get moves booked and do it all on the day with the current climate

Otherwise it needs a very human conversation to explain to your buyer your concerns and understand theirs & as has been suggested get your estate agent on this, they want their fee so get them to earn it!! My EA last time I moved was fab and held the whole chain together, including writing emails for my buyers to send to their conveyancer who needed a rocket sticking somewhere.

Its unlikely that your internet would be set up from move day even with a weeks notice (i've generally found its taken 2 weeks) so look at a hot spot for you to work from anyway.

AdrianC

stephanieh888 said:

Exchange was set to happen last Friday and money was requested from the lenders, leaving everyone a week to book removals, pack their houses, arrange postal diversion, Internet and what not. On the day we received an email saying our buyer was refusing to exchange unless it is done on the same day as completion. She is a first time buyer living with parents, so minimal risk for her, but both we and the upper chain have all refused due to the risks involved.

Our buyer now will not budge

The buyer? Or their lender...?

AdrianC

stephanieh888 said:

Exchange was set to happen last Friday and money was requested from the lenders, leaving everyone a week to book removals, pack their houses, arrange postal diversion, Internet and what not. On the day we received an email saying our buyer was refusing to exchange unless it is done on the same day as completion. She is a first time buyer living with parents, so minimal risk for her, but both we and the upper chain have all refused due to the risks involved.

Our buyer now will not budge

The buyer? Or their lender...?