Building society left us on the streets!

Four_Oaks_Bookworm

Hope you can help with this one folks.
We were due to complete on our sale and purchase last Wednesday.  Mortgage offer from the Bank (I won't name them - yet..) received at the end of June.  Release of funds confirmed by broker and BS on 27th, for release on 3rd.  Exchanged on 29th on that basis.

Completion day arrived, loaded the lorry and waved it off, literally as the door closed our solicitor called to say the Bank were not releasing the funds after all, because they needed to review a survey on the property (Which they were sent on 14th June but had ignored...).  No keys, no house.  Sale completed (to fulfil contract), so no return to our old house

House contents into storage, 2 nights in a hotel, now borrowing a friend's empty house for the time being. Bills exceeding £1000 already.

We could really do with some guidance
- if the Bank refuse to lend after all, we're still liable for 10% of the purchase price as we've exchanged.  No idea where that's going to come from!
- if they place a retention on a new offer pending renovations, that doesn't leave us with enough to proceed (retention could potentially be £30k, our 'profit' was 'only' £50k), but is that enough to still hold the Bank responsible for the 10% penalty if we withdraw from the sale

i've started a complaint process with the BS, but they won't allow this via email, it has to be via post.  They've posted the complaint form to the new property, for which we don't have keys/access, so how can I complete the form?  Should I involve the Ombudsman, or do I need to go through the BS's process first?   We're on a tight deadline, as our vendor has served notice so we only have 10 working days to fulfil the contract.

Thanks in advance

74jax

Surely your solicitor is at fault for completing on one (sale) but not the other (purchase).

If you are homeless I think your first call should be to your local council. 

elsien

What does your solicitor say? Did  they not have confirmation from the lender that all was ok? 

You have to go through the bank’s processes before going to the ombudsman- it’s not going to happen in 10 days. 
Just wondering why the bank have posted the complaints form to a property you don’t own? Can you not just write a complaint and send it to them. I’m sure they’d still have to respond anyway. 

tacpot12

You need to go throught the BS process, and reach an impasse with them before you can go to the Ombudsman. 

I'd call them again to see if you can get a complaint form resent to your friend's house, or collect one from a branch, or just you can write a letter of complaint - I would also complain to them about having to use a form (I think the ombudsman might rule that this makes complaining too difficult!), although they will probably justify it as they need certain information that customer's don't usually supply when making a complaint. Review the form to see if you can see what "extra" information they are asking for!

I think if the BS is the cause of the sale falling through they might be liable, but why were contracts exchanged without either the solicitor or you confirming that there would be no retention? The fact you know the retention could be £30K suggests that you knew that the property needed significant repairs following the survey and that a retention was likely if not enevitiable.

I think the BS will argue that you allowed Exchange to happen without being sure you had all the funds you needed. You need to think carefully about how the situation arose. What did they say and do that led you to beleive that you were ok to exchange contracts? Ask the same of your solicitor, what did the BS do or say that led them to beleive that it would be ok to exchange contracts? Make notes to support your complaint.

I expect this will get sorted out, but I appreciate your frustration and worry.     
 

Four_Oaks_Bookworm

74jax said:

Surely your solicitor is at fault for completing on one (sale) but not the other (purchase).

If you are homeless I think your first call should be to your local council. 

We gave our solicitor the go ahead to complete on our sale, as we would have been in breach of our sale contract as well had we not done so.

Section62

tacpot12 said:

I'd call them again to see if you can get a complaint form resent to your friend's house, or collect one from a branch, or just you can write a letter of complaint - I would also complain to them about having to use a form (I think the ombudsman might rule that this makes complaining too difficult!), although they will probably justify it as they need certain information that customer's don't usually supply when making a complaint. Review the form to see if you can see what "extra" information they are asking for!
 

I agree that the bank's own process has to be completed before going to the ombudsman, and also that making a customer use a specific paper form to complain could be grounds for complaint in itself.

I've made dozens of complaints to banks and building societies, and never once been told that I had to be sent and then fill out a paper form.

This bank might have a specific process for mortgage complaints, but I'm also wondering if the use of a paper form indicates the bank have got some crossed-wires and think the OP is asking for some kind of review of the lending decision, rather than a complaint about process?  The two things aren't the same.

user1977

Four_Oaks_Bookworm said:

74jax said:

Surely your solicitor is at fault for completing on one (sale) but not the other (purchase).

If you are homeless I think your first call should be to your local council. 

We gave our solicitor the go ahead to complete on our sale, as we would have been in breach of our sale contract as well had we not done so.

Yes, but what were your buyers' circumstances? If they could have stayed where they were, it may have been cheaper to delay the sale. If they were also selling then fair enough.

Justonemorecupoftea

Surely it's on your solicitor to confirm with the lender that everything is ready to proceed before the contracts are exchanged? What have they had to say about this.

What about the property you are buying, what have the sellers/their solicitor said?

Four_Oaks_Bookworm

tacpot12 said:

You need to go throught the BS process, and reach an impasse with them before you can go to the Ombudsman. 

I'd call them again to see if you can get a complaint form resent to your friend's house, or collect one from a branch, or just you can write a letter of complaint - I would also complain to them about having to use a form (I think the ombudsman might rule that this makes complaining too difficult!), although they will probably justify it as they need certain information that customer's don't usually supply when making a complaint. Review the form to see if you can see what "extra" information they are asking for!

I think if the BS is the cause of the sale falling through they might be liable, but why were contracts exchanged without either the solicitor or you confirming that there would be no retention? The fact you know the retention could be £30K suggests that you knew that the property needed significant repairs following the survey and that a retention was likely if not enevitiable.

I think the BS will argue that you allowed Exchange to happen without being sure you had all the funds you needed. You need to think carefully about how the situation arose. What did they say and do that led you to beleive that you were ok to exchange contracts? Ask the same of your solicitor, what did the BS do or say that led them to beleive that it would be ok to exchange contracts? Make notes to support your complaint.

I expect this will get sorted out, but I appreciate your frustration and worry.     
 

Thanks for this comprehensive advice!
We had written confirmation of the offer from the BS (which had no retention or other conditions), and written confirmation from both BS and broker that funds would be released on the day, so we had no reason to think that there wouldn't be enough funds available, or that there would be a retention.
We know there are renovations required, but this BS (who are a high street bank) was selected by our broker because it lends on this kind of property (old, a couple of single skin walls).  The profit on our sale was to fund those renovations, but only if there was a small or zero retention: because of the condition-free offer and release confirmation, we had no reason to think that this wouldn't then work out.
I think it's more about the timing: the BS had a copy of the survey 2 months ago, so were aware that renovations were required. Yet they still went ahead and made an offer, and further still agreed to release the funds on completion day, meaning we could exchange with (we thought...) peace of mind.  Only on completion day did someone in their office decide to review the survey and say no

Four_Oaks_Bookworm

user1977 said:

Four_Oaks_Bookworm said:

74jax said:

Surely your solicitor is at fault for completing on one (sale) but not the other (purchase).

If you are homeless I think your first call should be to your local council. 

We gave our solicitor the go ahead to complete on our sale, as we would have been in breach of our sale contract as well had we not done so.

Yes, but what were your buyers' circumstances? If they could have stayed where they were, it may have been cheaper to delay the sale. If they were also selling then fair enough.

No they were in rented, but were on notice to quit on the same day

Strummer22

Written confirmation of the offer and that funds will be released puts you in a strong position. You might reach an impasse complaining to the BS. Then I think the ombudsman look at this and, assuming there are no compounding factors you haven't revealed here, will slap the BS down pretty hard, make them reimburse you costs (plus 8% interest) and pay you a 'goodwill gesture' for stuffing up so badly.