Debt against house/mortgage

JMcc123

Hi,
I was due to complete on my first house sale today, at 16:20 yesterday my solicitor called and advised that the vendors solicitor has just notified them they won't be in a position to complete/exchange today.
My solicitor believes this is due to an old debt against the house/mortgage and advised I chased the estate agent to see if they have any idea when they will be in a position to complete.
They spoke with the seller who advised she had received a message saying it may be Monday due to an 'issue with her mortgage', she's going into rented accommodation, so there's no chain. And she was given no further information.

Does anyone have any idea how long the delays may be? My tenancy on where I am runs out a week on Saturday, literally leaving myself and my 3 year old son homeless.

I've chased EA and Solicitors, just wondering if anyone has beeb in a similar situation?

Windofchange

What does your contract say? If you are exchanging and completing same day then nobody here is going to be able to answer this for you, and this is what you pay your solicitors for. If you have already exchanged contracts, then there will be a completion date by which your seller must vacate the property by. If they don't do this, they are in breach of contract and you should be instructing your solicitor to start proceedings to recover your costs - usually means you get the 10% deposit. 

user1977

JMcc123 said:

Does anyone have any idea how long the delays may be?

Not without more information than you appear to have.

My tenancy on where I am runs out a week on Saturday, literally leaving myself and my 3 year old son homeless.

Can you clarify what you mean by "runs out"? It's pretty likely you can stay where you are for the meantime.

GrumpyDil

Op

As regards staying where you are. Does the fixed term of your existing tenancy end on the Saturday or have you given notice? 

If it merely ends then staying put would result in your moving onto a contractual or statutory periodic tenancy and you would need to give notice to end the tenancy at a future date.

If you have given notice then staying on past the Saturday could cause you problems and in that case you would need to dis uss the situation with your landlord. 

eddddy

You need to push the estate agent hard, so that they push the seller hard for an explanation of the problem - so that, hopefully, you can get a better idea. (But some sellers might be a bit 'dopey' and not really understand themselves - or they might fib.)


It could be that a 'known issue' is taking a bit longer to resolve than expected. For example, if there's on 'old debt'/charge secured on the house, the debtor needs to sign documents approving the sale - perhaps they're being a bit slow in sending across the signed documents.

But if a new 'unexpected issue' has come up - depending on what it is, it might take weeks to resolve.

JMcc123

Hi all,

Thank you for your feedback.

An outstanding debt is against the house, so the seller can't complete until the debtor has given consent. Seller is stating she'd forgotten about the debt and sellers solicitor have only sent off the request yesterday, so ive been advised there is no timescale.

We've not exchanged contracts as both were due to be done today as I'm a FTB and there is chain. 

EA has pushed for key exchange only, but my solicitor has refused this as there is no security due to the debt remaining outstanding and contract exchange not being done.

We agreed today for completion over a month ago, so I gave notice on my rental at this point, LL already has interest and other people eager to move in, so staying for a little longer isn't really an option.

EA has advised seller is chasing debtor for fast response as she has already vacated the property.

I'm just shocked we've got to so far a long in the buying process before this has come to light. No-one is able to offer any time scale, so im guessing it's just a case of sitting tight and crossing my fingers.

My solicitor has had to return funds to lender, as we have no date, so this will potentially cause further delays as we'll need the funds to be released again

JMcc123

There is no chain*

MaryNB

You need to talk to your landlord ASAP. If they're smart they won't have signed new people on an agreement before you have moved out (although they may not turn down eager new potentially long term tenants just to give you another few weeks but no harm in asking). Given the lack of information you have been given and the fact your seller only just realised there's an issue, you should start looking at alternative accommodation asap in case your landlord won't let you stay on and the seller doesn't resolve it by the end of next week. With such a lack of info you need a plan B.

Slithery

JMcc123 said:

We agreed today for completion over a month ago, so I gave notice on my rental at this point,

This was your biggest mistake. You should never give notice until after exchange.

Thrugelmir

Unfortunately one of those situations totally outside your control. Frustrating when people are never upfront up. You'll never know the real truth behind the matter. Hopefully soon will be resolved. If there's adequate equity to settle the outstanding liability. 

JMcc123

Thanks again for everyone who has responded.

I'm looking at storage and we're able to stay with my mum and step dad, although not ideal we have a roof over our head and are very lucky in that respect! 

I'm hoping for an update on Monday, so shall let you know how we get on x