Seller won’t leave after concluding missives - what are our options?

stu92

Hi everyone, hoping for some advice from anyone that may have found themselves in a similar situation. 

My partner and I had an offer accepted on a property in March 2020, just hours before the first lockdown came into effect. The deal went on hold and by the time the economy started to open up again, the seller’s deal for their new home had fallen through. We were not in a rush to move, so agreed to wait on them finding somewhere new. 

Fast forward to June, and the seller finds their new property. Unfortunately for us, it is currently being rented and so the tenants need a 6 month notice period to leave. Again, we are not in any rush to move and agree to wait for a further 6 months. 

We had a deadline with our mortgage offer in November to conclude the missives, and so a completion date had to be agreed. The seller of our house asked for a couple of weeks beyond their entry date to complete their own move, and so we agree on mid-February as the completion date. The missives are concluded, and there is a legal contract in place obligating us to buy and them to sell. 

Into early January, and we start to receive a series of text messages from the seller saying that the deal might not go through as they are having issues with their new home. We forward these on to our solicitor, who advises that we’re in a good position, the contract is signed and they need to sell. The messages get sent on to the seller’s solicitor, who apparently reminds the seller of the legal obligations and penalties. 

We are supposed to complete today and get the keys to our new home. We received a phone call from our solicitor after 3pm yesterday to say that the seller’s solicitor had informed them that the seller would not be handing over the keys. They offered a nominal reduction in price to go through with the sale and let them continue to live there, which seemed absolutely mental. We have gone back with a counter proposal to delay the sale by two weeks, and to reduce the price by more than they had offered. We are yet to hear back one way or the other on this. 

We obviously really want the property at the end of the day, but just do not see an end to this. It feels like we have no powers, other than a lengthy legal process through the courts, to force the move. We can negotiate and delay the deal to accommodate the sellers (note that the 2 week delay was their request), but what is to say that we are not then left in the same situation at the end of that?

Our solicitor has said that the legal process for pursuing this would be lengthy and costly, but they could not give a ballpark estimation for this. Are we talking about hundreds or thousands? They also said that there was no guarantee the courts would side with us. I understand that this is probably their legal default as they can’t guarantee a win etc, but I can’t see how a court could not side with us given that the seller would be in breach of a contract that was signed over three months ago, and that they had five weeks to address any potential issue but instead waited until the day before to say they couldn’t leave. I understand that they may not be in an ideal situation with their new home, but is it right that we are the ones that suffer when the contract has been in place since last year? I feel like we’ve just been taken for mugs the whole way through, and despite having everything in place from our end the seller seems to be holding all the cards. 

Has anyone any similar experiences, or able to offer some crumbs of comfort?

Norman_Castle

If the property was rented to tenants why does the owner now need to live there?

stu92

Norman_Castle said:

If the property was rented to tenants why does the owner now need to live there?

Sorry Norman if I didn’t explain clearly. We are trying to buy a property from person A, who is in turn trying to buy a property from person B. Person B is currently renting their property out, and so has had to give notice to their tenants before they can sell. 

Norman_Castle

"Into early January, and we start to receive a series of text messages from the seller saying that the deal might not go through as they are having issues with their new home."

Ask them to clarify the issues, are the tenants refusing to move out?

loubel

That their new property isn't ready isn't your problem. They can still sell to you and move into rental. If they knew in January that their purchase might not be ready they should have been setting this up to minimse their losses. At the moment all you can do is leave it to your solicitor to keep pressure on the seller to complete. Even if you aren't keen on enforcing through the court you don't want the seller to know that! I hope it works out for you.

xylophone

They also said that there was no guarantee the courts would side with us. 

Why not? Your vendors are surely in breach of contract?

Voyager2002

Everyone responding to this thread, please note that this is in Scotland and so the transaction is governed by Scots law, which is different from that in England.

Personally I would ask my solicitor to speak with the vendor's solicitor and make it plain that the vendor's difficulty in moving into their new home is not my concern. The contract is in place and I expect to move within the next two weeks: should the vendor fail to complete as per the contract I would pursue them for substantial damages. Presumably the vendor's solicitor would then have words with her/his client.

While there is no guarantee of the outcome of a lengthy and expensive court process, the vendor would be less likely to win than you would, and any half-competent solicitor would advise them to complete the sale and if necessary rent somewhere until their new home is ready.

davidmcn

Voyager2002 said:

should the vendor fail to complete as per the contract I would pursue them for substantial damages. 

They only have the right to pursue them for their costs actually incurred - which may or may not be "substantial". Though this doesn't sound like a situation where the buyer has had to find a hotel, put the contents of their removal van into storage, etc, so I expect their actual losses are minimal.