How difficult is it to pull out before exchange of contracts?

hopeitwill

Hi everyone,

Going to try making it as short as I can. We are normally renting a semi-detached in a sought-after area. We loved our previous neighbours, they were like us, quiet and same sleeping patterns. They sold the house back in March but the new neighbours only moved in after September. And before September, our landlord decided to sell the house and we decided to purchase it, so the conveyancing had started before the new neighbours moved in completely.

The landlord said the house was freehold, it is not. There are leasehold tenures on it. If anyone reading this is a first time buyer or wanting to become one, do your research first! We were probably just lazy. Don't be like us.

And the new neighbours are completely the opposite of what the previous neighbours were. The children are up until late at night, next to our bedroom. The parents are on the speaker phone at night, it feels like they are literally in our room speaking to whomever. Wouldn't matter if the party wall wasn't even there! Thought about noise cancellation, but it would be very expensive as the noise moves through the ceiling as well.

We may come across loud people even with a detached house but we are trying to see what our options if we decide to pull out. It's becoming increasingly clear we will have problems with the neighbours, especially when office working will be a thing again and we'll need to sleep much earlier to do our commutes early in the morning.

No children, no friends and family around where we live so nothing in our way to move other than we started the process of buying this house.

Up until now, we have paid for the mortgage fee, the survey and the searches. The conveyancing quote was based on a no completion no fee arrangement.

If we decide to pull out, can there be any other fees we would lose? I think the mortgage fee is refundable but the survey and the searches aren't. We're a bit scared the lawyers may come up with a bill, even though we haven't authorised any other payments than the searches.

Voyager2002

Under normal circumstances you can pull out without penalty up to the moment when you exchange contracts. Most lawyers would expect you to pay for any conveyancing work that has been completed at the point you tell them that you do not wish to proceed, but perhaps your deal protects you from this. In any case, the cost of conveyancing work is minimal in relation to the costs of buying the wrong house.

kinger101

It's easy to pull out and many people do. I wouldn't let fees bother me.  Buying a house you don't want to live in will be an expensive mistake.

never_again_123

I realise that this isn't the biggest issue here causing you to want to pull out of the purchase, but I wanted to mention that just because there is a leasehold title on a property, it doesn't mean it isn't freehold. If your vendor owns both the freehold and leasehold titles in their name and they were planning to transfer both over to your name, then the property would essentially be freehold. 

I totally agree with kinger101. The fees are nothing in comparison to going ahead and feeling so unhappy.

pinkshoes

If they have bought the house next door then they're not going anywhere...

It's easy to pull out. Just inform your solicitor. 

With covid, if your LL wants you out he will then have to issue and S21 which I think is now 6 months  notice, so plenty of time to look for somewhere else to rent or buy.

The costs so far are nothing compared to years of living next to antisocial neighbours.

Just be honest with your LL about why you are pulling out.

hopeitwill

Thank you all, we're not bothered by the fees lost. Having a mental health in check is better than a few couple hundred lost. Our only problem would be to letting go of the area because it's a sought after area, and houses sell quickly, and that's about it.

never_again_123 said:

I realise that this isn't the biggest issue here causing you to want to pull out of the purchase, but I wanted to mention that just because there is a leasehold title on a property, it doesn't mean it isn't freehold. If your vendor owns both the freehold and leasehold titles in their name and they were planning to transfer both over to your name, then the property would essentially be freehold. 

I totally agree with kinger101. The fees are nothing in comparison to going ahead and feeling so unhappy.

And never_again_123, unfortunately one of the lease tenures is not in vendor's name, it's in the previous vendor's name, which we were not told of. That is another reason, other than the neighbours, that put a shadow on our purchase.

hopeitwill

pinkshoes said:

If they have bought the house next door then they're not going anywhere...

It's easy to pull out. Just inform your solicitor. 

With covid, if your LL wants you out he will then have to issue and S21 which I think is now 6 months  notice, so plenty of time to look for somewhere else to rent or buy.

The costs so far are nothing compared to years of living next to antisocial neighbours.

Just be honest with your LL about why you are pulling out.

Is it the same when he sells the house though? because if another owner takes possession of the house within that 6 months, don't we become lodgers?

Doozergirl

hopeitwill said:

Thank you all, we're not bothered by the fees lost. Having a mental health in check is better than a few couple hundred lost. Our only problem would be to letting go of the area because it's a sought after area, and houses sell quickly, and that's about it.

never_again_123 said:

I realise that this isn't the biggest issue here causing you to want to pull out of the purchase, but I wanted to mention that just because there is a leasehold title on a property, it doesn't mean it isn't freehold. If your vendor owns both the freehold and leasehold titles in their name and they were planning to transfer both over to your name, then the property would essentially be freehold. 

I totally agree with kinger101. The fees are nothing in comparison to going ahead and feeling so unhappy.

And never_again_123, unfortunately one of the lease tenures is not in vendor's name, it's in the previous vendor's name, which we were not told of. That is another reason, other than the neighbours, that put a shadow on our purchase.

The original lease will always have the original purchaser's name on it.   It doesn't
mean it isn't subsequently registered at the land registry to the correct people.  It's the same with freehold property.  The 'deeds' will always contain the original conveyance.  

I can totally understand why the new neighbours put you off, but I'm pretty confident that the name on the original lease is a non-issue. 
 

davidmcn

hopeitwill said:

pinkshoes said:

If they have bought the house next door then they're not going anywhere...

It's easy to pull out. Just inform your solicitor. 

With covid, if your LL wants you out he will then have to issue and S21 which I think is now 6 months  notice, so plenty of time to look for somewhere else to rent or buy.

The costs so far are nothing compared to years of living next to antisocial neighbours.

Just be honest with your LL about why you are pulling out.

Is it the same when he sells the house though? because if another owner takes possession of the house within that 6 months, don't we become lodgers?

No, the new owner just steps into the landlord's shoes. It makes no difference to your tenancy. 

MFWannabe

I don’t know anything about the leasehold so won’t comment on that. 

If your neighbours are a nightmare and you believe they will continue to be / get worse then that’s enough of a reason to pull out. Otherwise you could buy the property and be in an even worse position; hating living there and then trying to sell with nightmare neighbours 

Salemicus

A hell of a lot easier than after exchange of contracts.