Notice to complete issued what does this mean in reality.

Splatfoot

jimbog said:

Peppermint90 said:

But why do you want to take buyers deposit 

Probably doesn't 'want to' but it would recompense for  losses incurred

I would want to. 100%. 

jeps

General_Grant said:

Peppermint90 said:

But why do you want to take buyers deposit 

It might compensate for lower eventual sale price compared with what has been the agreed value some time ago.
Why enter into a contract, staking the deposit money, if you are not willing to risk losing it?

ETA:  I now see that there wasn't enough time to "exchange and complete" so perhaps there was no exchange of contracts and therefore no deposit.

The contracts were exchanged. There was no time to exchange and complete the sale before the offer expired hence why the mortgage extension was applied for. Exchange took place on 22/12. 

NameUnavailable

Why do solicitors bother taking deposits if the intention is just to hand it all back if anything goes wrong?

Falafels

On exchange of contracts, not only does the transaction become legally binding but the purchaser undertakes to forfeit their deposit if they then fail to complete. This is built into the contract as standard, it's not a question of this greedy vendor wanting to 'take the buyer's deposit'. This is also why exchange shouldn't be happening until all the enquiries have been satisfactorily answered, funds checked etc etc.

Of course, there's room for flexibility if all parties can agree, and people are urged to do so in these Covid times.

To the OP - hang fire for now. Completion may take place anyway; at least, let's hope so. You may find this link useful: https://www.russell-cooke.co.uk/failuretocompletepurchase/#:~:text=The%20standard%20conditions%20provide%20that,the%20deposit%20and%20accrued%20interest.

GDB2222

We have been there and have the T shirt. 

The sellers become automatically entitled to the deposit once the completion notice expires. If the sellers' total loss is more than the 10%, they can sue the buyer for the difference. This can arise, for example, if the final selling price to a new buyer is more than 10% below the original contract price.

Bear in mind that your contract with the estate agent may require you to pay them even though the sale has fallen through.

My advice would be to take the deposit and readvertise the property. At the same time, you can agree to sell to the original buyer at a price that reflects the forfeited deposit and all the annoyance, ie for a bit more than 90% of the previously agreed price.  This isn’t just a kind act. You want shot of the place, and the original buyer is well advanced with searches etc.  For the same reason, if the buyer can’t make the deadline in the completion notice, you could extend this by a day or two.

wilfred30

As a Notice to Complete has been issued, the buyer has until that expires (usually 10 days) before they will forfeit their deposit due to failure to complete.  At the Notice was only issued yesterday, the OP needs to wait and see what happens.

Should the sale not complete, the seller is perfectly entitled to take the deposit and, in that situation, I would do so.

The buyer however, should look to their solicitor for recompense due to their failure to secure written confirmation of the mortgage extension, rather than just verbal, before exchanging.

pinkteapot

GDB2222 said:

My advice would be to take the deposit and readvertise the property. At the same time, you can agree to sell to the original buyer at a price that reflects the forfeited deposit and all the annoyance, ie for a bit more than 90% of the previously agreed price.  This isn’t just a kind act. You want shot of the place, and the original buyer is well advanced with searches etc.  For the same reason, if the buyer can’t make the deadline in the completion notice, you could extend this by a day or two.

I think this is spot-on advice. Slightly confused by the people saying not to take the deposit - every day on here people are warned not to exchange without guaranteeing they can complete because they may lose their deposit. If they're not taken in reality, exchange as a commitment is meaningless. I do take the moral point, but in this case the buyer may have a case against their solicitor for not ensuring he was in a position to commit.

And I like the idea of taking it then reducing the price if they can complete a short while later so it all turns out as it would have done.  

jeps

GDB2222 said:

We have been there and have the T shirt. 

The sellers become automatically entitled to the deposit once the completion notice expires. If the sellers' total loss is more than the 10%, they can sue the buyer for the difference. This can arise, for example, if the final selling price to a new buyer is more than 10% below the original contract price.

Bear in mind that your contract with the estate agent may require you to pay them even though the sale has fallen through.

My advice would be to take the deposit and readvertise the property. At the same time, you can agree to sell to the original buyer at a price that reflects the forfeited deposit and all the annoyance, ie for a bit more than 90% of the previously agreed price.  This isn’t just a kind act. You want shot of the place, and the original buyer is well advanced with searches etc.  For the same reason, if the buyer can’t make the deadline in the completion notice, you could extend this by a day or two.

Thanks for that advice. I would certainly be happy to do something along those lines if the buyer fails to met the new deadline but then could complete. There was a point prior to exchange when we actually put the house back on the market due to repeated delays on the buyers part and lack of communication. It had the desired effect the following day. I am still hopeful that completion will happen but wanted to make sure my understanding of what the next steps would be was correct. Fortunately our estate agent is working on a no sale no fee basis. 

Thanks to everyone who offered advice and support. Much appreciated.