Seller can only move out in Jan 2021 - pre-sale agreement?

Leth

Hi,
Me and my partner are first time buyers and put a £130k offer for a 2-bed semi-detached which initially got rejected by the seller due to having received a higher offer.
Because it's a house that we are really interested in, we decided to increase our offer to £135k.

The seller gave us a call today explaining his situation that he'd only be able to move out of the property by Jan 2021 because the new-build he's going to move into will only be complete in April 2021 (he intended to move out in Jan 2021, and rent another proprety until his new-build was complete).
He asked us if we were still interested..
We said yes and that we were more than happy to give him as much time as he needs because we are not in a rush to move out of our current place, but obviously we'd need some sort of guarantee that if he accepts our offer of £135k he would sell the house to us in January, February or even March.

I think the problem he's having is that from all the offers he has received, no-one is willing to wait that long to move-in.
So we tried to persuade him to accept our offer and in exchange we'd be flexible in the time he needs to move to the new-build.
He said he would talk to the other bidders first out of respect, and then would come back to us with an answer.

What I am afraid of is that he accepts our offer, then January comes around and he decides to sell to someone else who offered him slighlty more.

Is there such thing as some sort of "legally binding pre-sale agreement" to ensure that he must sell the house to us in January?
What are my options here?

Being a first time buyer doesn't really help as all this situation is so confusing

I would really appreciate some help.
Thanks in advance.

MovingForwards

Getting a mortgage offer is taking weeks, not days at the moment. That takes you to mid November.
Conveyancing can take 12 weeks from when it's started. That takes you to Jan / Feb 2021, depending if you start it when your mortgage application goes in or when you receive the offer.

trex227

I would be concerned in January he tells you that he’s not moving into rented and you will have to wait until his new house is ready!

macman

As above. I'd be amazed if you were ready to exchange or complete now before Jan '21.  Survey alone can now take 5 weeks to book.

NameUnavailable

trex227 said:

I would be concerned in January he tells you that he’s not moving into rented and you will have to wait until his new house is ready!

This is very likely, why won't he just move into rented when you could be ready to complete (which won't be much sooner than that anyway).

He would be better off making 100% certain he had sold his house because the new build developers won't wait for him and he could lose his deposit and house.

Falafels

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

Leth

Falafels said:

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

This is also what I am afraid of.. I don't want to involve and pay solicitor's fees so that by January he accepts a higher offer.

Falafels

Leth said:

Falafels said:

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

This is also what I am afraid of.. I don't want to involve and pay solicitor's fees so that by January he accepts a higher offer.

I suspect that when he was getting back to the other bidders "out of respect", he was actually playing you off against each other. You could wait to see what he says, but it sounds as though you're getting a bad vibe already. Are you going through an estate agent?

Leth

Falafels said:

Leth said:

Falafels said:

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

This is also what I am afraid of.. I don't want to involve and pay solicitor's fees so that by January he accepts a higher offer.

I suspect that when he was getting back to the other bidders "out of respect", he was actually playing you off against each other. You could wait to see what he says, but it sounds as though you're getting a bad vibe already. Are you going through an estate agent?

Yes, the property is being listed by Purplebricks.
They essentially have an app which you use to make your offers and communicate with the seller directly. 

davidmcn

Leth said:

Falafels said:

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

This is also what I am afraid of.. I don't want to involve and pay solicitor's fees so that by January he accepts a higher offer.

You'd be paying significant legal fees if you want them to draft and negotiate some sort of bespoke pre-contract contract.

Falafels

Leth said:

Falafels said:

Leth said:

Falafels said:

Neither seller nor buyer is legally bound to anything before exchange of contracts. 

However, if you proceed with your purchase now, it's not unlikely that it would take until January to complete in any case (see the new 'Waiting to Exchange' thread on here!), and you can mutually agree your completion date on exchange. That date would then be legally binding on both sides.

If you think your seller would still be looking for higher offers once you've started the legal process/mortgage application etc, then cut your losses and keep looking. Reading between the lines of your post, he sounds a bit of a chancer - but then you've actually talked to him, and we haven't!

This is also what I am afraid of.. I don't want to involve and pay solicitor's fees so that by January he accepts a higher offer.

I suspect that when he was getting back to the other bidders "out of respect", he was actually playing you off against each other. You could wait to see what he says, but it sounds as though you're getting a bad vibe already. Are you going through an estate agent?

Yes, the property is being listed by Purplebricks.
They essentially have an app which you use to make your offers and communicate with the seller directly. 

You can do a search on Purplebricks on this forum, or you may like to take a look at this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77430818#Comment_77430818