Purchase fell through, should we continue with sale?

bsmith147

To cut a long story short, our purchase has fallen through a week before we’re due to complete (fantastic timing)! We’re all packed, removals booked etc and we were due to exchange yesterday for completion Friday 30th.

Our buyers are not prepared to wait for us to find another house and are insistent that it’s the 30th as planned or they’re out.

We were porting a fixed rate mortgage across so selling without buying simultaneously will cost us £4000 in early exit fees. We would also have to pay for storage, but could stay with family (though not ideal).

I realise there’s no right or wrong answer but after trying to decide what to do all day and now enduring another sleepless night over the whole process… thought I would ask what others would do in this situation. 

1 - Cancel the sale, stay put and start again

2 - Sell anyway and incur the costs

I’ve already written a pros/cons list and still not reached a decision! Nightmare situation. Thanks  

Trynsave2

I feel for you, especially so late in the process. I suppose the real crux is to understand why you are moving. If your current home no longer works for your needs and you must move then I think I would bite the bullet and accept the financial hit. That way you have at least moved from a no longer suitable property and will be in a good position to put an offer in when you do see something you like. Heading towards the winter and end of stamp duty, this is no bad thing for future selling potential of your existing home. However, if your house would continue to work well for a while I would remove from market and hunker down for a while to let the market stabilise and even run the term of the mortgage fix.

pinkteapot

Bear in mind it could easily be 6 months - or more - till you’re in a new house you buy. Be realistic on whether you want to live with family that long or whether you’d be better to rent… 

pinkshoes

We had similar but just couldnt find a property to purchase so completed the sale, but our stuff in storage and moved in with the inlaws.

It wasnt ideal but 4.5 months later we purchased our current house which is amazing, a lower offer was accepted as we were chain free,  and living rent free with inlaws saved a lot of money! 

If you're confident you'll find something else I'd do it.

davilown

Don’t forget that if you do purchase within 6 months, you can still normally port your mortgage AND get the ERC back.

We broke the chain as we couldn’t find anywhere, and then promptly found a property just prior to completion. We were in a much better loo than most other sand got a reasonable amount off the asking price as well

teachfast

I would call the bluff of your purchasers. They would be pulling out just out of spite as another offer on something else is unlikely to be quicker. This is a business decision in the end.  Provided they know the reason behind your buy falling through and also provided that reason was not your fault (meaning it might happen again).

bsmith147

teachfast said:

I would call the bluff of your purchasers. They would be pulling out just out of spite as another offer on something else is unlikely to be quicker. This is a business decision in the end.  Provided they know the reason behind your buy falling through and also provided that reason was not your fault (meaning it might happen again).

The vendors have basically just decided not to move!!! It’s unbelievable really. If I don’t laugh I’ll cry. 

Thrugelmir

bsmith147 said:

teachfast said:

I would call the bluff of your purchasers. They would be pulling out just out of spite as another offer on something else is unlikely to be quicker. This is a business decision in the end.  Provided they know the reason behind your buy falling through and also provided that reason was not your fault (meaning it might happen again).

The vendors have basically just decided not to move!!! It’s unbelievable really. If I don’t laugh I’ll cry. 

For many these are are uncertain times. 

lookstraightahead

Hi op.
You will be in a much better situation if you have no chain, and works likely make up any costs on the next purchases because you're in a position many vendors need (no chain). I break the chain every time I move.

it's really inconvenient and I feel for you. I would imagine your buyers are serious but it might be worth asking if they can hold out a few weeks while you get your ducks in a row, but of course it could all sorts of issues with their mortgage etc.

sammyjammy

I'd go for it and exchange with your buyer, puts you in a much less stressful situation going forward, you might even find that a new house will be cheaper a few months down the line!

deannagone

Hopefully an increase in sale value of your house, plus what you have paid off the initial mortgage will mean you are coming out of the deal with a decent amount of money in hand - which will help pay the early exit fees.  Obviously its 4k you'd rather not have to pay out. But hopefully you will still come out on top.  Its not strictly a loss.  

But if you are convinced you will sell quickly, you could withdraw from the sale, put your house back on the market, and in some areas house prices might have actually increased in value during the time you have been selling to make up for the loss of legal fees etc that you will have to pay out (and this will be less than the early redemption fee anyway)..  But only you can do the figures and assess how easily you can resell your house and at what price (although EA's might help, if you can trust them to some degree).  This would then enable you to stay in the home while you look for another property, and get another buy/sell simultaneously situation going. But obviously the same thing could happen again, one can't predict that.

Yes you can sell still, yes it will mean you only have to deal with purchasing but you can assess which is less stressful, living with relatives, putting stuff into storage, possibly having to pay the early redemption fees, and still looking for your onward purchase for however long it takes.  Or withdrawing from the sale and starting again completely.