Selling my leasehold home advice

mrtdg82

I currently own a a part buy part rent property (end terrace house)which with the housing associations permission put on the market for 100% in March this year. It’s relatively new, under 10 years old.

We had an offer accepted on a house which had tenants in at the time so took a bit of a punt as they weren’t allowing viewings but did provide a virtual tour of the house. The house was on the market for a while prior to our offer.

Our house sold straight away to a FTB however they pulled out on around 20th April due to not securing a mortgage. Thankfully we sold again to another FTB just days later which our buyer was fine with

Unfortunately it appeared like the tenants of the address we were buying were refusing to leave so I asked my solicitor to proceed with our sale and we would move into my families address whilst we waited for the Tenants to leave. I told the EA agent of this and the seller was very happy with our commitment to buying the house. As luck would have it, they left the house on July 18th without any issues, we went and saw the house and everything was fine.

Since then the seller has contacted us almost daily for an update and is now threatening to pull out if we don’t complete by 20th July.

Both myself and the buyers have completed searches, have our mortgage offers and we have responded to enquiries over a month ago, the only delay was the leasehold pack which was difficult to obtain however that has been received and the buyers solicitor has it as of last week.

Whilst I appreciate my seller has an empty property we only sold at the end of April so are only 10-11 weeks in. The seller has been aware of this from the start. We are chased almost daily and I’m not sure what to do as whilst we are very close to exchange we won’t meet that date which I explained to the EA. She understands and agrees he is being hard work and doesn’t think he will pull out, but the endless calls are stressful.

The buyers solicitor doesn’t think there will be any more enquires as the pack was sufficient but just needs to review it.

Are we near the end? Is there any benefit to the seller pulling out now given how close we are?

mrtdg82

Sorry that should read that the seller knew we had lost a buyer and that we obtained a new one at the end of April 

ciderboy2009

It sounds like just idle threats from your vendor.  Pulling out now would just set them back at least 3 months.

I would just tell the EA to stop harrassing you - personally I would have done that as soon as they started calling me more than once a week.

GDB2222

You have summed it all up beautifully, and clearly there’s nothing a bunch of strangers on the internet can add. 

It would make no sense for the seller to drop out, unless he reckons that he can get substantially more if he remarkets his property. Is that the case?

Of course, the seller may drop out, even though it makes no sense. Who knows? 

Norman_Castle

mrtdg82 said:

Unfortunately it appeared like the tenants of the address we were buying were refusing to leave so I asked my solicitor to proceed with our sale and we would move into my families address whilst we waited for the Tenants to leave. I told the EA agent of this and the seller was very happy with our commitment to buying the house. As luck would have it, they left the house on July [June?] 18th without any issues, we went and saw the house and everything was fine.

Did the tenants refusal to leave slow your progress? If so point this out to the seller.

BTL landlord resenting the short void period between tenants leaving and sale completing?

mrtdg82

Norman_Castle said:

mrtdg82 said:

Unfortunately it appeared like the tenants of the address we were buying were refusing to leave so I asked my solicitor to proceed with our sale and we would move into my families address whilst we waited for the Tenants to leave. I told the EA agent of this and the seller was very happy with our commitment to buying the house. As luck would have it, they left the house on July [June?] 18th without any issues, we went and saw the house and everything was fine.

Did the tenants refusal to leave slow your progress? If so point this out to the seller.

BTL landlord resenting the short void period between tenants leaving and sale completing?

Yes sorry I meant June.

This didn’t really slow the sale down but did mean we had no updates up until the day they left. Then all of a sudden he was onto us frequently.

The most frustrating part is we were prepared to wait whilst he solved his tenant issue out, yet he isn’t prepared to wait a short while whilst we resolve things from our end.

Drawingaline

Sounds like a lot of hot air. Is he calling you direct? Or through the EA. Keep the EA updated, but they know on average it will be four months from start to finish. 

If he pulls out he either has to get new tenants in or remarket it. Both will take time.

mrtdg82

Interesting development with this.

So unfortunately the buyers solicitor come back with some enquiries to the management company as a result of the leasehold pack. They come back with 15 in total, 4 for me and 11 for the management company. The 4 for me were resolved the same day with satisfactory answers however the management companies enquires were forwarded on awaiting a response.

As a result my seller said he was going to pull out but after a call from the estate agent he retracted and said he would give it until next Friday to complete or would pull the plug on it.

The estate agent contacted my solicitor and informed them of this who in turn contacted my buyers solicitor. As a result it appears that my buyers are going to drive 120 miles tomorrow to their solicitor to sign the contract (they are very keen ftb) and also handover the deposit ready for exchange. Their solicitor said it’s a tough ask but will try and complete by next Friday.

We now have to hope the management company respond promptly. Almost all the enquiries are yes/no answers which appear to be from lazy LPE1 completion. For example one enquiry asks if we have a communal heating system, despite it being a house that only I live in and not a flat. They also mainly appear to be around clarify of an answer and that all funds (rent, service charge, insurance) will be up to date upon completion for the company.

I appreciate it’s a how longs a piece of string answer in some ways but any experience with how long housing associations take to respond to enquiries? Also what the best way is to hurry them along.

princeofpounds

mrtdg82 said:

I appreciate it’s a how longs a piece of string answer in some ways but any experience with how long housing associations take to respond to enquiries? Also what the best way is to hurry them along.

It's totally hit and miss. Sometimes it's a couple of days because its seen as an easy task to get off their plate. Sometimes a couple of months because it gets lost in the bureaucratic cracks and no-one takes responsibility. Probably your best guide for a guess is how long they took to handle the first enquiry.

How best to hurry them along? Probably speak to them direct if you can - even the person who would fill it the form if you can figure it out. But you have few levers over them.

By the way, the delays you are having are totally 'normal' (though they wouldn't be in any civilized society!). It's a rare management pack that gives rise to zero enquiries.

Your vendor is just being difficult to put pressure on, and not being particularly realistic. It's true that it would not be logical for them to pull out, but people are not always logical. Just be very consistent with your message on what stage you are at - it's worse to give the impression you might get over the line on a certain date, then not do so.

Concentrate on what you can handle, i.e. your sale. At least you know you can proceed with that.

Good luck!

tommyt-saver

Yeah, i've had some great results recently by contacting the LA (Landlord) directly via email in regards to their progress. I got the management pack sent to the sellers solicitor within 1 hour of a chase email, and this week, got answers to enquiries sent over within the day too. 
Might not help, but worth a shot i'd say. I found the generic email address on the council's website, so maybe your housing association would have the same? 

climbthatwallseegar

I sold my HA property in June. I owned 100% (previously shared ownership) and the queries from my buyer's solicitor were fairly straightforward but if you look through my past posts you'll see it was not a pretty story as the HA took a while to answer.

BUT they are a particularly bad HA so I wouldn't assume your situation will be the same. The biggest blockers seemed to relate to questions regarding the Service Charge and why there was an increase in such and such a year - my buyer's solicitor wanted 3 years worth of SC statements.

The delay was deeply frustrating and I ended up e-mailing the HA's CEO, stalking them on Twitter (and finding lots of other leaseholders in the same position as me on there) raising a formal complaint and eventually contacting my MP in desperation as I was worried the sale would fall through. I'm not a great fan of my MP but she reacted very quickly and my enquiries were all resolved within a couple of weeks.

Wishing you the very best of luck, I'm sure it will work out.