3 month between exchange and completion

dankirk777

Hi, we’re first time buyers, currently renting and our tenancy runs out mid July. We’ve just found a fantastic house for sale, however the sellers are still looking for a place to move to and are in no rush. My question is, is it possible to exchange contracts in the coming weeks to secure our purchase, but with an agreed upon completion date of mid July to give them time to find a new place to live? 

AdrianC

No...

First off, your lender won't agree to it.
Even if you're ready to exchange contracts now, which you aren't, they won't agree a three and a half month completion window.

Apart from anything else, even if they found the perfect place tomorrow, there's no guarantee the onward chain would be complete before July, let alone everything moves to completion. It's April in two days... Three and a half months is not a ridiculously long conveyancing timescale even without the current situation.

Also - just because your tenancy's fixed period runs out in mid-July doesn't mean you'll be on the streets the following day. The tenancy simply becomes periodic, only expiring when notice YOU give expires, you choose to leave in accord with your landlord's notice, or when a court orders you to leave.

Even if you actually mean you had six months s21 two and a half months ago, it doesn't mean you're out - you can stay put until a court orders you to leave, which will almost certainly not be until 2023, assuming the landlord got his paperwork correct.

But play nicely with the landlord - talk to him, explain the situation, and keep him posted on the progress of your chain.
Unless he's a complete waste of breath, then he'll be quite happy to know the score, and will wish you well.
If he IS a waste of breath, then sod 'im - teach him something about the legalities of his business...

davidmcn

AdrianC said:

First off, your lender won't agree to it.

Not sure why the lender would be a concern, as long as the mortgage offer doesn't expire prior to the completion date.

Suseka97

I'd say there are two many variables at play here - so its not wise, even if your sellers were up for it!   You say you want to 'secure' your purchase, is that directly linked to the current end date of your tenancy (although as has been said, that's not a hard deadline for you) or is it because you've found a 'fantastic house' and yet you are concerned that your sellers are not committed to the sale?

If they are in no rush to sell and then you could find yourself waiting a lot longer than you think, especially if they have particular wants/needs for their onward purchase.  So you should keep your offer on the table and keep looking and in the meantime keep your LL in the loop.  Buying property can be fraught with hurdles (just read a few threads on here) and not something you can rush.

dankirk777

The house we're looking at is a far better fit for us than any others we've seen at a similar price, so we ideally want to get a concrete commitment from the sellers that they are going to sell and take it off the market. 
I can see how we could be waiting a long time though if the sellers have a specific vision of a house they want as the area they are looking to buy in is not very large.

So essentially, put our best offer in and keep hunting and if the sellers find a new place in the mean time, job's a gooden?

dankirk777

Also thanks for three constructive replies so quickly. 

Mutton_Geoff

dankirk777 said:

The house we're looking at is a far better fit for us than any others we've seen at a similar price, so we ideally want to get a concrete commitment from the sellers that they are going to sell and take it off the market. 
I can see how we could be waiting a long time though if the sellers have a specific vision of a house they want as the area they are looking to buy in is not very large.

So essentially, put our best offer in and keep hunting and if the sellers find a new place in the mean time, job's a gooden?

You seem to be putting yourself on the back foot and in the hands of the vendor. You are the one's with the money, you are the purchaser. Take control of the situation, get a mortgage offer in principle, make a formal offer, instruct solicitors etc. Exchange of contracts is a commitment to buy, not some kind of holding arrangement. The vendors onward move is not your problem, don't try to accomodate it, they either want to sell or they don't. Taking a property off the market once a proceedable offer has been made is normal practise.

Be aware the market is very lively at the moment as buyers rush to complete before the end of June.

field1990

We are in a similar position but we are actually the sellers. Our buyers are FTB and we are buying a new build that we cant start legal work on as wont be built until Dec 2021.

Our buyers are going through the legal paperwork and we have agreed to exchange asap but complete in June (to ensure they save on stamp). As our new build wont be ready anytime soon we have agreed to vacate on a set date and move in with family 50 or so miles away for a few months until ours is ready. As its not the buyers fault that we are buying a new build and couldn't expect them to wait a year. It is possible to have a window between exchange and completion but usually there has to be a fixed completion date (whereas if buying a new build this can be a notice for completion nearer the time). We were upfront and agreed with our buyers a plan before we accepted their offer and started the legal work so that everyone was clear.

Maybe worth putting in an offer but continue to look elsewhere if they aren't in a position to move forward.