Vendors breached contract

saajan_12

first78 said:

We completed on our house at 11.30am
..
The estate agent advised us an hour later that our onward purchase had exchanged...great I thought!!  terms in compensation/reimbursement? The whole day was hugely stressful, more than it ever needed to be. We have 2 young children and my elderly Mum...the day was particularly difficult for her as well as being exhausting for us.

Couple of key questions.. 
* do you mean exchanged or completed on your onward purchase? Was exchange / completion the same day?
* Was this at 12:30pm? What time did your contract specify - often its 12pm / 2pm / 5pm..

  

anselld

AdrianC said:

anselld said:

JamoLew said:

Unless it was specified that the Vendors vacate before a specific time then they haven't breached a contract

Standard conditions of sale state 2pm.  Hopefully the OP checked the contract first.

The OP's sale completed at 11.30, and their purchase at 12.30.

The time of completion can be varied far more easily than the requirement for vacant possession on completion.

Indeed.  I was referring to vacant possession.  2pm is specified for both financial completion and vacant possession in the Standard Conditions. 

davidmcn

Completion really shouldn't happen until the parties are actually ready to complete i.e. the vendor can provide vacant possession. Unfortunately the solicitors tend not to bother checking that with their clients.

diego_94

Your potentially just as guilty, your lucky your buyer is not tying to get costs from you! Why did you leave stuff in your old house and have to go back? Surely you should of got everything out in one go if you used removers, unless you done it yourself......

Soot2006

To the OP. It was stressful. It was annoying.  Probably for all parties in the chain.  But it's done now.

Enjoy your new house?

eve824

You should never have assumed you could do two loads on moving day if you are in a chain. By doing so you have automatically breached a contract (see Adrian's explanation above). Chalk it up to experience and move on!

Slinky

Doesn't sound like your 'removal men' were professionals, otherwise they wouldn't have been leaving stuff behind to go back and collect. I'm also not understanding why your purchasers were helping loading stuff into your van if you had employed removal people to do it for you.  It seems like an attempt on cost cutting on your part by using man and a van types has bitten you in the wallet.

greatcrested

first78 said:

We completed on our house at 11.30am, ....
The estate agent advised us an hour later that our onward purchase had exchanged...

Soundslike Exchange and Completion were on the same day then, yes?

So until the Exchange at 12.30 you had absolutely no contract with your seller and no right of access at all.

Aspiration

Sounds like a stressful day.

 For £240 it’s just worth considering if your time, emotion and enjoyment of the house makes this worth chasing. 

Hopefully you love your new home and are really happy there now your moved in.

rik111

Don't bother pursuing via solicitor, money claim on line is much cheaper and simpler. Send the bill directly to the sellers giving them 7 days to pay and if they don't complete the claim and once they receive paperwork from the court it's pretty much a certainty they will oay up.