Chain breaking up at last minute. Any suggestions how to repair.

ddonq1412

Chain of 3 
FTB buying my house sale agreed in mid feb 2020
me buying my soon to be new house sale agreed on late feb 2020
My Seller moving to a rented accommodation.
Long story short COVID has been used to start the reasons for tail backs. from feburary to June as far as i could see not much was done. I got my valuation done on the new property done on 9th of june.( lockdown was stopping) it took till 8th of july for the FTB to get his valuation done. on the 24th of July it was found out my seller had to get a new solictor due to some legal matters with firm. This took about 3 weeks to get a new solictor appointed. Then the tier approach to local lockdowns delayed searches getting done. FTB had a date for end of august listed on the contract. That was changed to end of September due to delay in searches getting done.  On monday i get a phone call to say we are at a point to exchange all contracts.  make arrangements to travel 70 miles to sign for all Emailed my estate agent to pass the word around complete date is penciled for 9th of November if all parties suited she got on to FTB solictor he advised would relay the information.. Tuesday around 12.30 getting email for estate agent to say call me ASAP. The dreaded words came out the FTB has pulled out and has sale agreed on another property. 

This has me started thinking. 
1. Is the FTB fed up looked at another property and told no one.  Does not make sense. As the solicitor would need the new instruction details to start work on that. Or has he went to another solicitor to start work on the new property. Seems a bit too much. as you would have a solicitor bills to deal with for my property he has pulled out of. 
2. Is this  ploy to get a new something else out of it.

I still went ahead and signed all the contracts if we can get the FTB back on board i have advised my EA we can complete in a week if all parties can agree asap to get the monies drawn and other parties contracts signed.


Has anyone got any ideas how to repair this. I feel my seller is putting blame on me for something he has held this up most of the time. as he mentioned i should be paying his legal fees as it was my chain fell apart. To i reminded him it fell over him not actioning items quick enough.

so over the past few months i have been making larger over payments on mortgage to lower my ERC. made a payment of 1500 yesterday just before i got that news. and sort left my self if this all breaks down having to pay solictor and estate agents fees with money i dont have right now. 

Flugelhorn

If he pulled out (for whatever reason) then he pays his own legal bills, you have no obligation to do so. You shouldn't have to pay EA until the sale does actually go through and the money will come out of the sale proceeds.

Doozergirl

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you.  

It is quite possible that the FTB went looking elsewhere a while ago and has hedged their bets.   There is nothing to stop them proceeding with two properties.  It's also quite possible that it has happened recently because they were tired of waiting. 

You can try, but people don't say they have pulled out for no reason. If they wanted something from you, they'd be asking for that and be threatening to pull out, not actually do it.  It might be that you offer money off as a sweetener, but the irony is that it will delay things while they have a mortgage offer reissued. 

Your solicitors and estate agent will
wait for payment until you sell again.  The agent only gets one fee, so that won't
double.  Your solicitor will charge you for time spent until now. 

The same happened to us earlier in the year in that our chain collapsed on lockdown day as we were trying to exchange!  Our solicitor will charge us £550 for that when we complete with a new buyer.  

pinkteapot

I would get your house back on the market today, while simultaneously having the EA speak to the FTB to see if there’s any chance of them still buying.

Be prepared for the fact the answer is likely to be no. If the EA has said they’ve pulled out, the buyer was likely pretty certain in what they said. You probably need to find a new buyer.  

Ignore your vendor - you have zero obligation to pick up their fees! If you’re in direct contact with them, stop and only communicate via EA or solicitor. 

Don’t give up hope of getting the house you wanted - you may find a new buyer who can move fast. We were involved in a similar situation from the other side two years ago. We were selling with no onward chain (we were going into rented). We had a family view who were in a desperate state - their vendor had pulled out the day before exchange. They already had a nursery place sorted nearby for their kid, and their buyer’s mortgage offer was expiring soon. They had a mad day of viewing everything with no onward chain and offered on ours on the basis we exchange within 4-5 weeks. It took slightly longer but I think it was only 6 or 7 in the end. 

Your vendor may re-market their property but if you find a new buyer before they do then you should still get this house. 

ddonq1412

My feeling at present he could have said im getting fed up and starting to look else where. instead of viewing another property and making offers. he i had said a few weeks ago i could have tried to get another buyer. house selling seems to come to a slow down now till about march time. as not many people dont to deal with this during winter months. I have agreed to move the completion date closer if that helps. or they can set a date. I guess at this point the purchase of mine would be quicker than the other house as he would have to get another valuation done and get another mortgage offer and complete all searches again. and We dont know what their new chain would be like. 

ddonq1412

pinkteapot will say to my EA to get the property back on the market again while they have a quick chat to the FTB. My vendor has given me a deadline of end of week to see where it goes on my part of chain as he will list his again. Vendor house has been up for sale since April 2018 he is very quick to throw demands on me but he should think why this has happened. I dont like dealing with the person but really want the house. 

Flugelhorn

ddonq1412 said:

pinkteapot will say to my EA to get the property back on the market again while they have a quick chat to the FTB. My vendor has given me a deadline of end of week to see where it goes on my part of chain as he will list his again. Vendor house has been up for sale since April 2018 he is very quick to throw demands on me but he should think why this has happened. I dont like dealing with the person but really want the house. 

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the FTB and just chill over the vendor. State that you still want the property - if it didn't sell quickly before then it may not now and you may get a speedy buyer soon. 

ddonq1412

If i was to throw a small payment towards maybe the other valuation fee they may have paid and pay the rest of management fees. . How would that work i would not want to lower the offer on place as that has to go through the banks again to readjust.

Thrugelmir

The summer, post lockdown, provided a far bigger selection of properties to choose from. The FTB simply found something more to their liking. Remarket your property and move on. 

ddonq1412

My FTB has came back willing to come back to chain if i drop the price by 6k. Cant afford to drop that much. I have given to different offers for them. Trying to avoid dropping price as that means mortgage offers need correct and with rates going up it would have little affect on mortgage payments.

option 1. I would cover the legal fees and this years manangement fees would be around 1k saving for them. 
option 2 if they dont like option, I could do a 2k cash back on completion. 
option 3 if to leave the chain and remarket the property. As i dont think my Seller would help offset to get the deal over the line. and still pushing for completion date of 9th of november or sooner.

pinkteapot

If your buyer says no to your suggestions, is it worth asking your seller to drop £3k? So you and your seller lose £3k each (rather than you losing £6k)? They might be prepared to do it to get the sale across the line. Will depend on what percentage of the price £3k is, and whether they say 'no' on principle (some people will dig their heels in over gazunderers - understandably, but sometimes you have to act pragmatically and get on with your life). 

The EAs in the chain should be handling these negotiations and getting everyone to come to an agreement that works.

If your sale goes through, don't make too much effort to clean the house when you leave and take all the lightbulbs. A bit of petty revenge might make you feel better.