Help! Delayed exchange... should we pull out?

Ajsteve

Hello from a very frustrated vendor..!

we accepted the offer from our buyers back at the end of November. Can you believe it is now mid-April and we are still not at the stage of exchanging contracts...! Our buyers have been incredibly lazy throughout the process, almost as if they aren’t particularly bothered about buying the house. We’ve given them so many chances to get things progressing and I am now thinking there have been at least 3 or 4 occasions where we should have pulled out and found another buyer. 

We are selling our house to move into a rented property before buying again next year. Although each passing month results in us paying off more of our mortgage, we are at the stage we really NEED to move as I am expecting our second child in September and we have to upsize. As such, we have committed to a rental and are moving on Sunday. The rental market in our chosen area was extremely competitive due to a lack of housing availability and we had to push our budget to find somewhere suitable.

We are waiting on one obstacle prior to exchange - the buyers’ mortgage offer letter. Our buyers already received this, but their name was misspelled and as such they had to contact their mortgage company and get it changed. This error took 3 weeks to be rectified and for the mortgage co. to be contacted. 

We have been constantly harassing our EA to find out if the buyers / their solicitor have received the updated letter, but to no avail. We have contacted their mortgage broker multiple times to try and shift things along. The mortgage broker has claimed to contact the mortgage co. Admin team directly and each week has promised us it will be “done and dusted and faxed over by Monday”. 

I am so sick of the failed promises and at my wits’ end. I am so terrified we’re going to end up paying rent and mortgage for months on end due to this...! There’s also the added insecurity that prior to exchange they could still pull out of the sale. 

The buyers have agreed on our proposed completion date of next Monday but they have not made any effort to hurry things along. Now they know we’re in contact with their broker they have taken a complete back seat and had no communication with our EA.

Any advice on where to go from here - who can we contact to try and get this letter processed and sent to their solicitor? Getting very desperate and would be keen to gain any insight whatsoever.

gwynlas

You cannot do anything unfortunately and their broker should not be talking to you as you are not their client. Youe estate agent is the one who should be chasing things up. How can a completion date be agreed if no exchange taken place?

Ajsteve

gwynlas said:

You cannot do anything unfortunately and their broker should not be talking to you as you are not their client. Youe estate agent is the one who should be chasing things up. How can a completion date be agreed if no exchange taken place?

Our estate agent has had several off days recently and suggested we contact their broker directly as he had received minimal communication from our buyers. The buyers’ broker was taken aback we had contacted him but admitted that his clients were frustratingly slow to respond and could understand our desperation. 

The completion date has not officially been agreed but to try and hurry the buyers we made it clear via our EA we wanted to complete Monday 19th and they said they were more than happy to work towards that date. Since saying that, they have done nothing. 

AnotherJoe

You can go partway, put it back on the market and let the buyers know (via the EA) that if they exchange first you'll still sell to them. 

Or you could do what my daughter did recently, she gave a cut off date, no exchange by date X (which in her case was "today" !) and the deals off.  In that case she was the buyer but same principal applies.  Note, you should be focussing on exchange not completion, date.  You can be more flexible on completion date, within reason, due to moving into rented. 

So,perhaps in your case it's quite simple, you say "if you don't exchange by Monday, we are putting it back in the market " 

teachfast

It honestly sounds like they don't want to move. I think this may not progress.

K_S

@ajsteve Tbh that's a bit inappropriate of the broker unless he's taken permission from the buyers to communicate with you. As to the delay in correcting an error on the offer, 3 weeks is not unusual unfortunately with some lenders. With Barclays, I've even seen it take a couple of months.

kazwookie

Sounds like a real nightmare

I would pull out of the rental, pull out of the sale and stay put for now, it sounds like you are at a financial limit, you will end up paying both mortgage and rent, how long can you afford this?

Scotbot

teachfast said:

It honestly sounds like they don't want to move. I think this may not progress.

Not necessarily true. Has the survey been done, have the searches been completed? Have the buyers solicitors sent any queries and have they all been answered ? This will give an indication of how committed they are. 

Tiglet2

Ajsteve said:

Hello from a very frustrated vendor..!

we accepted the offer from our buyers back at the end of November. Can you believe it is now mid-April and we are still not at the stage of exchanging contracts...! Our buyers have been incredibly lazy throughout the process, almost as if they aren’t particularly bothered about buying the house. We’ve given them so many chances to get things progressing and I am now thinking there have been at least 3 or 4 occasions where we should have pulled out and found another buyer. 

We are selling our house to move into a rented property before buying again next year. Although each passing month results in us paying off more of our mortgage, we are at the stage we really NEED to move as I am expecting our second child in September and we have to upsize. As such, we have committed to a rental and are moving on Sunday. The rental market in our chosen area was extremely competitive due to a lack of housing availability and we had to push our budget to find somewhere suitable.

We are waiting on one obstacle prior to exchange - the buyers’ mortgage offer letter. Our buyers already received this, but their name was misspelled and as such they had to contact their mortgage company and get it changed. This error took 3 weeks to be rectified and for the mortgage co. to be contacted. 

We have been constantly harassing our EA to find out if the buyers / their solicitor have received the updated letter, but to no avail. We have contacted their mortgage broker multiple times to try and shift things along. The mortgage broker has claimed to contact the mortgage co. Admin team directly and each week has promised us it will be “done and dusted and faxed over by Monday”. 

I am so sick of the failed promises and at my wits’ end. I am so terrified we’re going to end up paying rent and mortgage for months on end due to this...! There’s also the added insecurity that prior to exchange they could still pull out of the sale. 

The buyers have agreed on our proposed completion date of next Monday but they have not made any effort to hurry things along. Now they know we’re in contact with their broker they have taken a complete back seat and had no communication with our EA.

Any advice on where to go from here - who can we contact to try and get this letter processed and sent to their solicitor? Getting very desperate and would be keen to gain any insight whatsoever.

Has your solicitor told you that this is the reason (and the only reason) for the delay?  As Scotbot says, have all the other steps been concluded?  Mortgage lenders have been a nightmare to get hold of recently, some colleagues have been holding for nearly 3 hours just trying to get through.  It seems that there are still lots of staff furloughed or working from home, so it might also be why the broker is not forthcoming (though of course he should not speak to you).  However, since the country is now opening up from lockdown, things might improve rapidly soon.

steve866

If you are serious enough about pulling out you should start with the threat of pulling out. Just say you need exchange by X date or the house is going back on the market. You could also mention that the agent is confident to easily find a buyer at their offer price or more given the heated market. 

In the unlikely case this prompts the buyer to pull out at this late stage, I don’t think they ever would have completed to be honest.

Alfrescodave

Your house should have been back on the market weeks ago; that might have shown your buyers that the delay was not acceptable. You don't have an exchange date and the completion date is wishful thinking on your part.
Ring your EA today.