Delay on purchase advice

tsears

Hi all, I'm a FTB, back in late Feb/Early March I put an offer in on a leasehold flat. Offer was accepted next day and I had mortgage offer the following week. When viewing the property I was advised there was no chain and that the vendors would move in with family until they found somewhere which is why I was keen on the property. Every time I had paperwork sent though from sols I send back completed without an hour and everything seemed to have been ticking along nicely. 2 months on and its been very quiet for a while, I contacted my sols and they were waiting on service charge statement and then we are ready, but this seemed to be taking ages, so I decided to contact the EA, they informed me that the vendors found somewhere but was way behind schedule but wasn't sure if they could move in with family, to which I replied quite a stroppy email explaining how there was meant to be no chain and everything was agreed with moving in with family.

Anyway, this morning I received an email from EA stating that they would need to look for temporary accommodation as for family reasons cannot move in with family anymore, but as they didn't want to be in temporary accommodation long they wouldn't want to exchange and complete until June! Which is way off what I was told originally (I was told we were hoping for a mid April completion) I just think this is all delaying tactics so they can now complete on their property the same day.

This now means I have to pay for another months rent when we are pretty much ready, which I think is unfair considering they don't want to be in temporary accommodation long. I don't want to pull out, but its put a sour taste in my mouth as I was told it would be a quick sale. 

Any advice on what to do, could I ask them to pay my months rent? As I'd rather be paying towards my mortgage instead of dead money in rent! 

Soot2006

Tbh unless you're actually prepared to walk away and start again with another property you're kinda stuck to their timeline now.

You could ask the EA if they have any other properties on the books as you're concerned about the delays and would like to see if anything better has come in the meantime, but a bluff will only get you as far as a bluff unless you're prepared to back it up with action.

sharp910sh

From the sounds of it you cannot do anything. Literally nothing other than take their word till exchange. You can ask them for money for your rent, they will probably say no. 

Slithery

You were always being far too optimistic if you expected your purchase to go through in under 2 months. Average timescale pre-covid was 12 weeks, it's now much longer.

Tiglet2

Purchasing a leasehold flat will take a minimum of 3 months to be honest, longer now that services are stretched with solicitors, lenders, land registry, councils working from home during the pandemic.  So many people are trying to push through transactions before the end of June, you're just one of thousands at the moment.

tsears

Thanks for the advice everyone. I was expecting around 3 months for completion to be honest, but the house they are looking to buy on the chain is way behind and my rental agreement is due to end in a few weeks, so my solicitors are trying to get them to cut the chain so we can complete on the property as this is also the first my solicitor has heard about being on a chain. I do think they were just trying to slow down the process so the completion dates would line up!

Slithery

tsears said:

...and my rental agreement is due to end in a few weeks,

Unless you have given notice then your tenancy doesn't end in a few weeks, it just reaches the end of its fixed term. You don't have to move out as it automatically becomes a periodic tenancy.