Deadline with decreasing offer

parkingadvice1212

hazyjo said:

Honestly, what's the point? It takes as long as it takes. Perhaps if you miss the new stamp duty deadline say you'll drop by X amount, but I stand by what I always say, the main thing to cause grief, rows, stress, pulling hair out, anxiety etc etc is a deadline for the sake of a deadline! Mostly there's not even a real reason.

I am living with my parents so there's not a huge rush but the main reason for the deadline is the lack of respect shown in constantly pushing back the exchange date and lying to me

Indigo_and_Violet

For us putting a monetary value on extending the time between exchange and completion worked to our favour but this was in the context of us having previously been very patient (offered in August, exchanged in Jan), being willing to be flexible in other areas, having documented that the hold up was on the sellers side (we had requested a doc in October that was not supplied until late Jan) and having demonstrable additional costs (rent) plus the looming expiration of our mortgage offer and end of stamp duty holiday gave credence to us being willing to pull-out/renegotiate if necessary. 
Our solicitor cautioned us that is was a risky move in terms of potentially annoying your seller, running the risk of the sale falling through and losing even more time/money having to go through it all again, so it's something I would consider carefully. You're not currently losing out by waiting (except getting frustrated). Is that frustration enough to drive you away from the sale? If so, probably worth starting to look for alternative properties so that you have a credible threat of 'I have found another property I am considering putting an offer on' if this sale does not progress. You could also consider the 'squeaky wheel' route of pushing your solicitor to keep contacting their solicitor for progress updates and being in regular contact with the agent (who works for the seller, but wants their commission) for updates on exchange etc.
I don't think its unreasonable to ask for a reason why they want to wait for the budget. Is it to do with their ongoing chain or did they price for a quick sale and now think they can get more? 

parkingadvice1212

Indigo_and_Violet said:

For us putting a monetary value on extending the time between exchange and completion worked to our favour but this was in the context of us having previously been very patient (offered in August, exchanged in Jan), being willing to be flexible in other areas, having documented that the hold up was on the sellers side (we had requested a doc in October that was not supplied until late Jan) and having demonstrable additional costs (rent) plus the looming expiration of our mortgage offer and end of stamp duty holiday gave credence to us being willing to pull-out/renegotiate if necessary. 
Our solicitor cautioned us that is was a risky move in terms of potentially annoying your seller, running the risk of the sale falling through and losing even more time/money having to go through it all again, so it's something I would consider carefully. You're not currently losing out by waiting (except getting frustrated). Is that frustration enough to drive you away from the sale? If so, probably worth starting to look for alternative properties so that you have a credible threat of 'I have found another property I am considering putting an offer on' if this sale does not progress. You could also consider the 'squeaky wheel' route of pushing your solicitor to keep contacting their solicitor for progress updates and being in regular contact with the agent (who works for the seller, but wants their commission) for updates on exchange etc.
I don't think its unreasonable to ask for a reason why they want to wait for the budget. Is it to do with their ongoing chain or did they price for a quick sale and now think they can get more? 

All good points that I will need to consider.

The Budget thing is because the seller's sellers are buying a house with a dead owner. This has been in progress since September with still no grant of probate. They agreed with our seller that they would enter a rent-to-buy agreement (as apparently, the Executor is able to do this until they have the grant of probate required to actually sell) so as not to hold up their sale/our purchase and not cause everyone to have to pay SDLT.
I have now been informed on three separate occasions over the space of several weeks that "the rent-to-buy agreement was all finalised today and we will exchange next week" which has all turned out to be a load of !!!!!!. Our solicitor correctly predicted from the start that they were making this up to stall in the hope that probate will be granted.
We now believe they are waiting to see if the SDLT holiday is extended so they can delay even further in waiting for the grant of probate. From what I've read, this can take years.

Irishpearce26

So what is your timeline? When did you make the offer/paperwork/enquiries/chain etc?

parkingadvice1212

Irishpearce26 said:

So what is your timeline? When did you make the offer/paperwork/enquiries/chain etc?

Offered 9/1 - estate agent that showed me round said that the seller was all ready to go as soon as possible and the chain wasn't an issue as he'd already done all his searches, his seller was going to rent, and that was a factor in offering
We were ready to exchange from beginning of Feb and seller's solicitors sent our solicitor a note saying they were also ready to exchange for completion on 2nd march
Obviously this turned out to be impossible so !!!!!! knows why they offered it

hazyjo

lookstraightahead said:

hazyjo said:

Honestly, what's the point? It takes as long as it takes. Perhaps if you miss the new stamp duty deadline say you'll drop by X amount, but I stand by what I always say, the main thing to cause grief, rows, stress, pulling hair out, anxiety etc etc is a deadline for the sake of a deadline! Mostly there's not even a real reason.

There is if you are renting and waiting. Spending thousands each month waiting for vendors to go on their merry way. Or if you're moving areas, or if your buyer won't wait for you. if there's no deadline (albeit imaginary) you get pushed to the back of the queue while 'professionals' deal with more demanding clients.

There will always be some, but they are pretty cool standard reasons.

And tbh, it seem none apply to the OP. If I were in their shoes and saving money every month, I'd not want to rush at all!

It's very common for dates to keep changing and for Chinese whispers to pass up and down a chain. I remember getting in touch with my vendor once to have her tell me it looks like everyone was set to exchange the next week. I said it was the first I'd heard of it, my buyers had booked a late survey in, and we were on holiday for a week! We were nowhere near exchanging (I had slow, cautious buyers). 

parkingadvice1212

hazyjo said:

lookstraightahead said:

hazyjo said:

Honestly, what's the point? It takes as long as it takes. Perhaps if you miss the new stamp duty deadline say you'll drop by X amount, but I stand by what I always say, the main thing to cause grief, rows, stress, pulling hair out, anxiety etc etc is a deadline for the sake of a deadline! Mostly there's not even a real reason.

There is if you are renting and waiting. Spending thousands each month waiting for vendors to go on their merry way. Or if you're moving areas, or if your buyer won't wait for you. if there's no deadline (albeit imaginary) you get pushed to the back of the queue while 'professionals' deal with more demanding clients.

There will always be some, but they are pretty cool standard reasons.

And tbh, it seem none apply to the OP. If I were in their shoes and saving money every month, I'd not want to rush at all!

It's very common for dates to keep changing and for Chinese whispers to pass up and down a chain. I remember getting in touch with my vendor once to have her tell me it looks like everyone was set to exchange the next week. I said it was the first I'd heard of it, my buyers had booked a late survey in, and we were on holiday for a week! We were nowhere near exchanging (I had slow, cautious buyers). 

I'd rather be paying a mortgage than living with my parents! I've been back here for about 9 months since living in rented and it's driving me insane 

Irishpearce26

parkingadvice1212 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

So what is your timeline? When did you make the offer/paperwork/enquiries/chain etc?

Offered 9/1 - estate agent that showed me round said that the seller was all ready to go as soon as possible and the chain wasn't an issue as he'd already done all his searches, his seller was going to rent, and that was a factor in offering
We were ready to exchange from beginning of Feb and seller's solicitors sent our solicitor a note saying they were also ready to exchange for completion on 2nd march
Obviously this turned out to be impossible so !!!!!! knows why they offered it

We are due to complete on the 3rd but haven't exchanged yet, there is still time for all that to happen as long as your solicitor has notified your lender etc. There can be many things as to why it all hasn't happened yet. I would say it would be pretty cheeky at this stage to try and add £1k weekly penalties when your completion date hasn't passed yet and you haven't exchanged yet, I would assume the seller would just say no. 

parkingadvice1212

Irishpearce26 said:

parkingadvice1212 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

So what is your timeline? When did you make the offer/paperwork/enquiries/chain etc?

Offered 9/1 - estate agent that showed me round said that the seller was all ready to go as soon as possible and the chain wasn't an issue as he'd already done all his searches, his seller was going to rent, and that was a factor in offering
We were ready to exchange from beginning of Feb and seller's solicitors sent our solicitor a note saying they were also ready to exchange for completion on 2nd march
Obviously this turned out to be impossible so !!!!!! knows why they offered it

We are due to complete on the 3rd but haven't exchanged yet, there is still time for all that to happen as long as your solicitor has notified your lender etc. There can be many things as to why it all hasn't happened yet. I would say it would be pretty cheeky at this stage to try and add £1k weekly penalties when your completion date hasn't passed yet and you haven't exchanged yet, I would assume the seller would just say no. 

Definitely not happening then, as from a conversation to the EA today the top of the chain has no intention of exchanging until the 8th

Irishpearce26

parkingadvice1212 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

parkingadvice1212 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

So what is your timeline? When did you make the offer/paperwork/enquiries/chain etc?

Offered 9/1 - estate agent that showed me round said that the seller was all ready to go as soon as possible and the chain wasn't an issue as he'd already done all his searches, his seller was going to rent, and that was a factor in offering
We were ready to exchange from beginning of Feb and seller's solicitors sent our solicitor a note saying they were also ready to exchange for completion on 2nd march
Obviously this turned out to be impossible so !!!!!! knows why they offered it

We are due to complete on the 3rd but haven't exchanged yet, there is still time for all that to happen as long as your solicitor has notified your lender etc. There can be many things as to why it all hasn't happened yet. I would say it would be pretty cheeky at this stage to try and add £1k weekly penalties when your completion date hasn't passed yet and you haven't exchanged yet, I would assume the seller would just say no. 

Definitely not happening then, as from a conversation to the EA today the top of the chain has no intention of exchanging until the 8th

Are they the top of the chain?