Top of chain is taking the biscuit!

SMR710

We were given the go ahead to book these things as the date was confirmed and contracts unofficially have been exchanged. I’ve also emailed to whether it’s better to now exchange now and complete when we do.

Oh deary me!!! Theres no such thing as unofficially exchanged!! 🤦‍♀️ You should not book removals, furniture etc until you have a definate date for completion upon exchange of contracts. If you exchange & complete on the same day, you naturally run the risk of the completion date changing (for any reason under the sun). You dont have a leg to stand on I'm afraid.

fackers_2

SMR710 said:

We were given the go ahead to book these things as the date was confirmed and contracts unofficially have been exchanged. I’ve also emailed to whether it’s better to now exchange now and complete when we do.

Oh deary me!!! Theres no such thing as unofficially exchanged!! 🤦‍♀️ You should not book removals, furniture etc until you have a definate date for completion upon exchange of contracts. If you exchange & complete on the same day, you naturally run the risk of the completion date changing (for any reason under the sun). You dont have a leg to stand on I'm afraid.

what im asking more is, how can we negotiate this? Feels unfair they’ve had 6 weeks to clear this house and now decide as completion is around the corner they will start now and take a month?

Grumpy_chap

You have now power beyond asking for a date and swift exchange

GDB2222

fackers_2 said:

SMR710 said:

We were given the go ahead to book these things as the date was confirmed and contracts unofficially have been exchanged. I’ve also emailed to whether it’s better to now exchange now and complete when we do.

Oh deary me!!! Theres no such thing as unofficially exchanged!! 🤦‍♀️ You should not book removals, furniture etc until you have a definate date for completion upon exchange of contracts. If you exchange & complete on the same day, you naturally run the risk of the completion date changing (for any reason under the sun). You dont have a leg to stand on I'm afraid.

what im asking more is, how can we negotiate this? Feels unfair they’ve had 6 weeks to clear this house and now decide as completion is around the corner they will start now and take a month?

All you can do is threaten to pull out. 

If the top of the chain is the estate of a deceased person, are you 100% sure the executors have probate? There are long delays at the district registries, and the probate process that should be taking a couple of months is taking 6+ months. Without probate, the estate cannot sell. This may just be a delaying tactic, giving them an extra month to try to get probate. Followed by another month, and so on.  You need to find out what's really going on and why.

Windofchange

Game of who blinks first I guess. You can say what you want, they can push back, you can threaten that you can't complete, they can threaten to pull the deal. Who is calling whose bluff? I would imagine this is a situation where you will fold first as if the top of the chain is a probate, none of them are being put out any. I would imagine they want the month to clear the house, get rid of grannies possessions, and don't want to waste a few weeks of their annual leave doing so. If you have no intention of pulling out, I wouldn't go down that route. I would suggest you put your counter in with your solicitor, but after that you can only really wait. As others have said, if you have booked holidays, removals etc etc before you have a completion date set in stone through exchanging contracts, then that was really a rather silly thing to do. 

fackers_2

Windofchange said:

Game of who blinks first I guess. You can say what you want, they can push back, you can threaten that you can't complete, they can threaten to pull the deal. Who is calling whose bluff? I would imagine this is a situation where you will fold first as if the top of the chain is a probate, none of them are being put out any. I would imagine they want the month to clear the house, get rid of grannies possessions, and don't want to waste a few weeks of their annual leave doing so. If you have no intention of pulling out, I wouldn't go down that route. I would suggest you put your counter in with your solicitor, but after that you can only really wait. As others have said, if you have booked holidays, removals etc etc before you have a completion date set in stone through exchanging contracts, then that was really a rather silly thing to do. 

Have put forward the following Friday very annoying. The holiday was booked months ago, before the house was on the market. But we also have a lot of stuff going on in the 2nd half of the month so it’s tricky to navigate. 

Thanks everyone for the advice. The van can also be postponed too, not paid a deposit. I’m sure the furniture can be held at the warehouse too no doubt. It’s just blooming frustrating... I Remember it only took 2 days to clear out our grandparents house. But it could well be a little painful for them i’m sure. 

warby68

Whatever is agreed, I'd push for exchange now with deferred completion just to make sure your vendors are committed and not stalling for other reasons.
You could offer a financial incentive for an earlier date I suppose but not sure its worth the complexity. 
The problem with probate sales is that every small decision can take ages as there might be several relatives having to consult and agree with each other. Although strictly it should be the executor's call it doesn't work like that in reality, just like with accepting offers. Its the various beneficiaries and interested parties that all have a say not just the one in control of the paperwork.

Flugelhorn

Easy to say that you cleared a house out in two days but maybe the executors also have a holiday booked? maybe they live a long way away? maybe they are at work? 
I had to clear a probate house and had to ask for extra time between exchange and completion owing to distance and not able to get leave from work. Only took a day but getting there for that day was tricky
Simultaneous exchange and completion is grim when there is a chain, no-one can be sure until that morning and it all happens. See if they will go for gap between exchange and completion then at least everyone can be sure what is happening 

Caramac

When we cleared my dad’s house I was surprised how long it took to get a date with the house clearance company. 

fackers_2

Caramac said:

When we cleared my dad’s house I was surprised how long it took to get a date with the house clearance company. 

We totally appreciate there maybe delays etc But they’ve had 6 weeks since the offer was accepted by my seller to make arrangements, they’ve said they’ve just been busy.

Apparently they are going to their solicitors in person on Monday morning to resolve it etc. I suspect as someone also mentions above that it needs multiple signatures due to probate.