Agreeing completion date

lovecake1

I am a FTB and the sellers of the house I am buying are moving to a new built. Their estate agent called me three weeks ago to say their new built completion date has been delayed and they have been told middle to end of August, but no firm date. I was told by the EA that they will get in touch as soon as they know it. Since then my solicitor has asked me for my preferred completion date as most of the paperwork is complete. Of course this needs to be agreed with the sellers, but I enquired with the estate agent again two weeks ago and they have no news on their new built. I am renting and will need to have exchanged if we have a completion date in August by mid August as my tenancy runs from the middle of the month and I will need to give a month's notice.

My question is what is the normal route to agree on a completion date with a seller: via estate agent or via solicitors? So far the communication has been via their estate agent but they are working for them! Also, how long do I wait for them to get back to me regarding a firm date? Part of me feels like just telling my solicitor what my preferred August completion date is and see if he can be agree this with the seller's solicitor, but I am not sure if this is the way to do it. My solicitor has not been much help with questions beyond things that relate to the bare bones of the transactions.

lonibra

In this case your completion date is entirely dependent on when the vendor's builder has the property ready to hand over. Builder timelines are notoriously elastic so August end could easily slip by a few months.

Alfrescodave

What is preventing you from exchanging now ? and agreeing a later completion date? The seller is completely running this purchase and I would now be pushing back to let them know that I was not happy with the lack of  progress. August could quite easily become December.
I would be asking the seller to consider moving into rented if no acceptable completion date is forthcoming.

mat1964

You can exchange now with a flexible completion date which includes a backstop date after which the vendor would need to complete and find alternative accommodation.  I have done exactly that.  My sale has a completion date between 1 September and 28 November.  (It will probably be 1 September).

lovecake1

Alfrescodave said:

What is preventing you from exchanging now ? and agreeing a later completion date? The seller is completely running this purchase and I would now be pushing back to let them know that I was not happy with the lack of  progress. August could quite easily become December.
I would be asking the seller to consider moving into rented if no acceptable completion date is forthcoming.

Can you exchange without a completion date? I thought the completion date had to be agreed before exchange. Would discussions about this go through the solicitor or via the seller's estate agent?

lovecake1

mat1964 said:

You can exchange now with a flexible completion date which includes a backstop date after which the vendor would need to complete and find alternative accommodation.  I have done exactly that.  My sale has a completion date between 1 September and 28 November.  (It will probably be 1 September).

That's very helpful. Should I ask my solicitor to arrange this or should I negotiate via the estate agent?

eddddy

lovecake1 said:

That's very helpful. Should I ask my solicitor to arrange this or should I negotiate via the estate agent?

You would do this via the estate agent.

TBH, ideally this is a discussion that should have been had at the same time you made the original offer.


Typically, with a newbuild, the developer expects the buyer to exchange contracts within 28 days, with no fixed completion date. Then the buyer gets 10 days notice of completion - i.e. the buyer is told 10 days in advance that they're moving.

(Any 'target completion date' that's mentioned in advance is often just 'wishful thinking'.) 

• Is your seller expecting you to accept the same terms? i.e. They'll tell you 10 days in advance when you're completing?

• Is the developer giving your seller a 'long stop date'?  Your seller can't really give you a 'long stop date' unless the developer gives them one.

• Or is your seller prepared to move into temporary accommodation? (e.g if the new build isn't ready by a particular date) Are they prepared to put that in the contract?

• What's the situation with your mortgage offer expiry date? It would be very risky to exchange contracts, if there's a risk of your mortgage offer expiring before completion.

lovecake1

eddddy said:

lovecake1 said:

That's very helpful. Should I ask my solicitor to arrange this or should I negotiate via the estate agent?

You would do this via the estate agent.

Thanks that's exactly what I wanted to know!

At the original sale all the EA kept saying was that the seller were looking for a quick completion in July (I had the offer excepted at the beginning of May) which we agreed we would aim for, so the delay is completely on their side. I have contacted my solicitor to see if legally we are now ready to exchange. If he confirms I will contact the estate agent to start further discussions with the seller regarding completion. My mortgage offer runs out in November so I want to have a back stop in the contract for a completion before this date.