Seller delaying completion

AnotherJoe

Luna1719 said:

Hi all ,

we are in a chain since October ( two houses behind us ) and all ready to proceed on that end . Our original sellers pulled out of their ownward purchases twice so we decided to go with another property ( offer on the 6 January , accepted on the 7 ) .

the agents ( purple Bricks ) were aware we made an offer because there was no onward chain and the owner didn’t live in the house ( however her son was staying there temporarily ) and that we could sim to complete quickly .

Now that everything is progressing relatively quickly - one of enquiry left to reply to and local land authority search expected early next week - I wrote to the seller asking if she d be happy with a completion at the end of February ( as the rest of the chain is putting a lot of pressure on us)

she didn’t reply to me directly but contacted her solicitor who told my solicitor that they can’t complete before end of March as they need to find an alternative accommodation for her son .

im not too sure what to do , as I’m scared our chain will fall if our buyers find out . Should I try to find temporary accommodation for a month and break the chain ? I’m really stressed and disappointed as I didn’t see this coming at all 

Give them an ultimatum. Exchange by <your selected date, say end feb, with completing by, say Mid March> or its off. And mean it.

Luna1719

Just wanted to update that we did exchange on both our sale and purchase this week but with different completion dates . We ll be staying in an Airbnb for 18 days , which is not ideal but at least contracts are exchanged .

i wanted to ask , what would happen if for instance the sellers son doesn’t move out by the agreed completion date ? Our friend are telling us we made a mistake by agreeing to this ans we could potentially never be able to move in . We exchanged with the seller agreeing on vacant occupation but I’m still slightly concerned

Tiglet2

Luna1719 said:

WoozieSioux_tse said:

But it doesn't take 9+ weeks to find accommodation! Why can't he move in with his parents? Have they actually declared him as a tenant in the house you wish to buy? Have they not got him to sign an agreement to vacate form if so?

No they have not declared him as a tenant - they said he was an occupier and my solicitor requested he would also be signing the contract as he currently lives there. 

Ask your solicitor to confirm that the occupier did sign the contract to confirm he would vacate the property on completion.  If the occupier signed the contract and then doesn't leave on completion, then your sellers' would be in breach of contract.  If the occupier did not sign the contract, your solicitor should not have exchanged.

pinkteapot

Agree with Tiglet2 - don’t worry because so long as your solicitor has done their job right, either you complete as planned and the house is empty, or the sellers are in breach of contract and will be liable for any costs you incur due to not being able to get in. 

diggingdude

I hope they have made a financial gesture for your costs. Otherwise they have played you 

Angela_D_3

Luna1719 said:

Just wanted to update that we did exchange on both our sale and purchase this week but with different completion dates . We ll be staying in an Airbnb for 18 days , which is not ideal but at least contracts are exchanged .

i wanted to ask , what would happen if for instance the sellers son doesn’t move out by the agreed completion date ? Our friend are telling us we made a mistake by agreeing to this ans we could potentially never be able to move in . We exchanged with the seller agreeing on vacant occupation but I’m still slightly concerned

What will happen is the seller will have to pay you 10% i belueve of the purchase price ... but goodness knows if youll ever see it 

AnotherJoe

Luna1719 said:

Just wanted to update that we did exchange on both our sale and purchase this week but with different completion dates . We ll be staying in an Airbnb for 18 days , which is not ideal but at least contracts are exchanged .

i wanted to ask , what would happen if for instance the sellers son doesn’t move out by the agreed completion date ? Our friend are telling us we made a mistake by agreeing to this ans we could potentially never be able to move in . We exchanged with the seller agreeing on vacant occupation but I’m still slightly concerned

Thats no different really to a normal house purchase, people dont generally move out on exchange after all.

Now, if it was a third party in the house that had rights to stay through a tenancy, fine, but in this case, part of the family, odds are good youll be OK since the vendors would be on the hook for damages and can presumably put pressure on the son if he decides not to move. Indeed suppose they were living there now and then moved out leaving the son there for the last 3 weeks or whatever. Same situation.

Thrugelmir

Luna1719 said:

i wanted to ask , what would happen if for instance the sellers son doesn’t move out by the agreed completion date ? Our friend are telling us we made a mistake by agreeing to this ans we could potentially never be able to move in . We exchanged with the seller agreeing on vacant occupation but I’m still slightly concerned

That's why people generally don't vacate their own property early.  The downside is all yours.