6 months in on buying a house

Firsttimebuyers21

Like the title says we are now 6 months into buying our first home. Our mortgage offer expires in 2.5 weeks and we are unlikely to be accepted for another mortgage due to going on maternity leave. Our seller keeps saying they are in a rush to move but the people they are buying off are taking forever to reply to enquires even though their new house is empty. 

We really do not want to lose this house we have fell in love with it. Just to add into the mix I’m due to have a baby in 2 days and we thought we would definitely have completed by the time baby was due. We are currently living with my parents.

What options do we have? We have asked the seller if there is any way of them moving into temporary accommodation to allow us to complete in time but they said no. What else can we do? My partner is saying should we bribe them with money and offer them £1k to cover the cost of living elsewhere until they are able to complete but surely that isn’t legal? 

Please help!!! I am so stressed 

Firsttimebuyers21

Sorry I should have added, we have been ready to complete since the beginning of June!! 

AdrianC

Firsttimebuyers21 said:

Like the title says we are now 6 months into buying our first home. Our mortgage offer expires in 2.5 weeks and we are unlikely to be accepted for another mortgage due to going on maternity leave. Our seller keeps saying they are in a rush to move but the people they are buying off are taking forever to reply to enquires even though their new house is empty.

So where are you with the purchase? Is everything ready to exchange, all the way up and down the chain?

How big's the chain?
You -> House you're buying -> Empty property...?

So what's the delay? Why is that property empty?

My partner is saying should we bribe them with money and offer them £1k to cover the cost of living elsewhere until they are able to complete but surely that isn’t legal?

It's not a bribe, it's an incentive - and, yes, it's perfectly legal.

But will it work? Not unless everybody's ready...

Firsttimebuyers21

AdrianC said:

Firsttimebuyers21 said:

Like the title says we are now 6 months into buying our first home. Our mortgage offer expires in 2.5 weeks and we are unlikely to be accepted for another mortgage due to going on maternity leave. Our seller keeps saying they are in a rush to move but the people they are buying off are taking forever to reply to enquires even though their new house is empty.

So where are you with the purchase? Is everything ready to exchange, all the way up and down the chain?

How big's the chain?
You -> House you're buying -> Empty property...?

So what's the delay? Why is that property empty?

My partner is saying should we bribe them with money and offer them £1k to cover the cost of living elsewhere until they are able to complete but surely that isn’t legal?

It's not a bribe, it's an incentive - and, yes, it's perfectly legal.

But will it work? Not unless everybody's ready...

We are ready to exchange on our end. Our seller is awaiting responses to enquires for the house that they are buying. 

The chain is us > the house we are buying > the empty property our seller is buying.

We have been requesting updates from our sellers solicitor twice a week for over a month and we have only had one reply a couple of weeks ago saying they are awaiting responses to enquires. Local searches are back. I’m not sure why the property they are buying is empty. 

AdrianC

Firsttimebuyers21 said:

AdrianC said:

Firsttimebuyers21 said:

Like the title says we are now 6 months into buying our first home. Our mortgage offer expires in 2.5 weeks and we are unlikely to be accepted for another mortgage due to going on maternity leave. Our seller keeps saying they are in a rush to move but the people they are buying off are taking forever to reply to enquires even though their new house is empty.

So where are you with the purchase? Is everything ready to exchange, all the way up and down the chain?

How big's the chain?
You -> House you're buying -> Empty property...?

So what's the delay? Why is that property empty?

My partner is saying should we bribe them with money and offer them £1k to cover the cost of living elsewhere until they are able to complete but surely that isn’t legal?

It's not a bribe, it's an incentive - and, yes, it's perfectly legal.

But will it work? Not unless everybody's ready...

We are ready to exchange on our end. Our seller is awaiting responses to enquires for the house that they are buying.

So the chain is not ready to exchange.
Your vendor is not ready to exchange. The next link up is not ready to exchange.
Exchanging is mutual, and requires both sides to be ready.

You're asking your vendor to become ready by breaking the chain, but they've said no.
Perhaps they have good reasons for that?
What if their purchase falls through?
Where would they move to in the next fortnight?
What if they become ready to exchange...?

The chain is us > the house we are buying > the empty property our seller is buying.

We have been requesting updates from our sellers solicitor twice a week for over a month and we have only had one reply a couple of weeks ago saying they are awaiting responses to enquires. Local searches are back. I’m not sure why the property they are buying is empty.

Perhaps it's a probate or repo sale, and the responses they want will simply never come, because nobody involved with the sale has the information they want?
What if the answers rely on some external factor - perhaps trying to remove a charge that has been long-neglected?
What if their lender is insisting on the answers?

You would have known you were three months pregnant when your offer was accepted in the depths of the pandemic at the start of this year. Even in the best of times it's entirely feasible for a chain to drag for six months, let alone in times as unprecedented as this.

Your best bet forward is to talk to your mortgage broker about your options for extending or renewing your current offer, or finding another lender.

If there really aren't any options, rather than you simply assume there won't be, then you may need to face facts and prioritise your new family member over stressing about the purchase.

ciderboy2009

Have you actually made it clear to your vendors that you MUST complete in the next few weeks or you will be forced to pull out and explained why?  They may just think it's an idle threat.

Personally I would be calling the EA to see if they can get the message across.

UnderOffer

Is your seller aware your mortgage offer expires in 2.5 weeks? Have you mentioned that you may not get it extended due to your maternity status. It may not improve the situation for you but I’d contact your EA and the sellers EA to ensure they are aware of your circumstances. 

Irishpearce26

Can you seek an extension on your mortgage offer?

Its not a bribe but an incentive to encourage them to move quicker however £1k isn't going to tempt anyone as that wouldn't cover moving costs, storage and rent, £5k would be more realistic to get them to move into temp accommodation.

Justonemorecupoftea

Were you aware you were pregnant when you applied for your mortgage? Even if you didn't you really should be told them

We applied for a mortgage back in April and let them know I was going on mat leave from August and they didn't have an issue. We just let our broker know our approx allowance for childcare for the affordability calculations and confirmed I intended to return to work.

m0bov

You are asked when applying if there are any material changes you are aware of. So, you might have the mortgage pulled if you suddenly go on maternity. Fraud at best.

Greymug

I don't see anything good coming out of this situation. 

2 out of 3 parties are not ready to exchange and honestly 2.5 weeks is a very short time.

Don't want to sound pessimistic but if I were you I'd start thinking about plan B.