Persimmons threatening to put house back on market if we don’t complete

SenseandSensibility

Hi all,
A surprisingly simple situation, made an absolute nightmare by incompetent solicitors. My husband and I are FTB using the H2B loan to purchase a new build with persimmon. The house has extras included which we negotiated into the overall price. We reserved in mid-October, with the usual 28 day reservation period. This came and went, during which we got a mortgage offer arranged and ATP confirmed. Solicitors also instructed searches etc. 

To cur a long story short, the solicitors have made various mistakes along the way (telling us things had been done which hadn’t, attaching the wrong searches for another property to our file etc.). We are now at December 8th, and have been told that if we do not exchange and complete by by Dec 18th (Persimmon’s final date for completion this year) they will put the house back up for sale. The fact is they know we have done everything we can to chase our solicitors, and no delay has been caused by us. As you can probably imagine the stress is now through the roof, to the extent it is making us both physically sick. We handed our notice in on our rented house last week, so could be homeless if they carry this through. The solicitors have also been told by persimmon of this ‘threat’. As we are literally days away from exchanging, we are obviously stressed and angry that we are being dismissed by our solicitors who seem to lack any concern, and being blamed for their incompetence by the developers. Any help or shared experiences would be much appreciated! 

anselld

You really should not have given notice on your rental until exchange.
The threat from the developers is fairly common and unlikely to be followed through since they will not easily find a buyer who can overtake you even if progress is slower than they would like.  They are just applying pressure in an effort to meet their year end target.
Keep up the pressure on your Solicitor and try to find out exactly what they are waiting for.  It may be beyond their control, eg searches.

Thrugelmir

SenseandSensibility said:

We handed our notice in on our rented house last week, so could be homeless if they carry this through. 

That's self inflicted stress. Never advisable as anything could happen. Always wait until exchange. 

What's outstanding still to be done?  The 18th December is still 10 days away. A long time in property transactions. Your solicitor is also working for the mortgage lender. (Just happens that you are footing their bill). Solicitor isn't going to be able to draw down the funds until every i is dotted and t crossed. 

misscaraxo

I didn’t have that threat but I have had pressure for the last week to exchange. Even when I kept telling them we couldn’t because we were waiting for lender clearance on some legal bits. We finally exchanged today after a lot of texts/ calls. Don’t worry too much you can only do so much and they would literally not be able to get another buyer in by the 18th. 

Unicorn_cottage

Developers are always right monsters!

pinkteapot

You need a clear understanding from your solicitor of exactly what is outstanding, and an explanation of how long each thing is likely to take. 

I would seriously consider withdrawing your notice though, if your LL hasn’t re-let it already! 

GDB2222

I am not sure that you can unilaterally withdraw your notice, having given it, but your landlord will probably be happy to agree if you ask him. 

RelievedSheff

Unicorn_cottage said:

Developers are always right monsters!

That is simply not true. The developers we bought from could not have been more helpful and we had possibly the smoothest house transaction possible. 3.5 weeks from reservation to completion which included part exchanging our previous property. We certainly had no complaints.

caeler

Persimmons year end is 31 December so they will be very keen that you complete this year.  I was in a similar position with them and they applied the pressure on me in the run up to exchange which took slightly longer than either party would have liked.  However I do think their threat is real if they sense you are not making enough progress towards exchange and completion.  Speak to your solicitor to specifically find out what is left to do, make sure they know what the developer is telling you.  Keep in touch with everybody very regularly especially the developer.  

TheConfused1

GDB2222 said:

I am not sure that you can unilaterally withdraw your notice, having given it, but your landlord will probably be happy to agree if you ask him. 

You can withdraw your notice. However if the landlord refuses to accept the withdrawal you can remain in the property whilst the landlord seeks possession through the courts. In most cases it is always worth having a chat with the landlord about your situation to avoid any extra unnecessary stress such as court action. 

AdrianC

SenseandSensibility said:

We reserved in mid-October, with the usual 28 day reservation period. This came and went, during which we got a mortgage offer arranged and ATP confirmed. Solicitors also instructed searches etc.

That was 28 days to exchange...

We are now at December 8th, and have been told that if we do not exchange and complete by by Dec 18th (Persimmon’s final date for completion this year) they will put the house back up for sale.

This does not seem unreasonable. You reserved the plot in mid-October, with the condition that your reservation would hold it for you to exchange in 28 days. If you did not, the reservation would lapse.

You have been given a second month on that reservation. You are still not exchanging. You can fingerpoint to your solicitors all you like - the developer don't care beyond the fact that that plot has not yet exchanged, so there is no legal obligation on you to buy.

Of course, "putting it back on sale" doesn't mean somebody else is going to reserve it immediately...

Is the property itself physically finished, signed-off, and ready to move into yet...?

Were your solicitors "recommended" by the developer?