Buyer wants to bring completion date forward because he's booked a trip to India

amancalledalex

Hi

Wonder if you lovely people can help me?  We've sold out flat to a chap who is wanting to move in three weeks earlier because he's booked a trip to India (to go see relatives I presume). We were working on the basis that we were going to complete on the 4th Sept. He now wants to complete it before he goes to India., Ideally this is going to be on the 12th August, but I've spoken to my solicitors and they don't think the purchase will be finalised in time. The reason he wants to move before he goes away is that he doesn't want to pay rent on his rental property. We were willing to move out before our sale was completed so he could move in. As you probably know India is on the red list, so he'd have to quarantine on his return so we're in a bit of a pickle.  I've got a meeting with our estate agents on Monday so I need to be prepared with a few suggestions. 

 I feel a bit miffed as the goalposts have changed massively.  I'm now a bit concerned that he's going to back out and leave me in the lurch. We are in a chain and our buyer is moving from a rental property into ours.  Has this ever happened to anyone else? What did you do?  This is our first time moving and we're scared that we're going to miss out on our dream house if our seller doesn't want to go ahead with our purchase.

Thanks in advance!

Alex

SDLT_Geek

Have you exchanged contracts yet?

AdrianC

You're in a chain.
Your purchase won't be ready in time.

So you have a choice - you break the chain, complete on your sale before your purchase, and hope your purchase doesn't fall through at the last minute - or you say "Nope, sorry."

amancalledalex

No, haven't exchanged contracts yet. I was thinking of trying to get my flat sold through one of these quick sale places, but I don't really want to do that. Thanks for your advice! 

user1977

I wouldn't have expected there to be a vast difference for him between the costs of him renting or being an owner for a few weeks, so hopefully he won't push it too much.

Drawingaline

Is breaking the chain a problem for you? I would be concerned about how long he will be out there, assume he will need to quarantine when coming back, does this push the whole chain back if they cannot complete until fully out of quarantine? Also would your sale actually be ready to complete by the 12th August.

TBagpuss

Well, it would be possible to complete even if he were not back - he might not be able to move in but that's not your problem! I'd more more concerned if it was your seller, as they might end up self-isolating in the house, or with all the furniture still in it! 

Completion date always needs to be agreed, so it's perfectly reasonable to say that you can't agree the earlier date because the chain isn't ready. 

If he doesn't want to pay rent then he can look into giving notice and putting his furniture into storage for a few weeks while he is away - it's a bit of a gamble for him if he doesn't have family he could stay with if things take longer than planned, but again, that's not your problem! 

luckbox

You could offer to cover his rent for a month extra if things are looking dicey and collapse imminent. That would probably be a lot  cheaper than using a quick sale company or potentially save you several months of hassle if the chain collapses and you are starting again. Not ideal obviously, but is something to consider.

Irishpearce26

Hi, sorry the proposed dates don't work for us as our on-going purchase wont be ready by then, our solicitor's as mention previously are still stating the 4th September as the earliest completion date.

Don't feel you need to be inconvenienced because they are going on holiday, I also highly doubt they will pull out this close. Stick to your guns and my god don't offer to pay for his rent as you show vulnerability then. The process can only move as fast as the process takes. His problem not yours.

Titus_Wadd

We had the buyers at the end of our chain trying to dictate the completion date for the whole chain.  It's tough when really they should be the most flexible if they're not selling.  Just stay calm and consistent and civil, whilst standing your ground.

prowla

Odds on the solicitors would fail to complete in time anyway.