Our house buyer is wasting time being petty

NameUnavailable

2bFrank said:

You need to bin off this buyer, im pretty much sure you will sell faster by finding a decent buyer and starting again.

That being said, this is partly your own doing. No one sensible would accept an exchange so early with a massive delay before completion, its a crazy situation, as the buyer is liable for the house at that point, yet unable to move. You are also unable to offer a 'set in stone' completion date, so this poor buyer is now liable for a house, that he has no idea when he can move in, any thing can happen, they could lose their job, the mortgage could expire, yet you have no liability.

You need a serious buyer, but you also need to be a serious seller, you need to either offer a real completion date, where you can complete, even if its to move in temp accom whilst you are waiting for your builder (they nearly always get delayed, they say November but its more than likely be longer than that).

Why 'bin off' the current buyer? Any new buyer is likely to have the same reservations about exchanging asap but completing whenever the new house is ready.

The buyer isn't the issue here - if the OP does as you suggest then the currently buyer is on the face of it going to be OK to proceed.

The OP is trying to shift their problem onto their buyers shoulders - I already said the simple answer is that they complete asap and move out.

Waunakee

If I was the buyer I’d be “binning off “ this vendor pronto

pinkteapot

Going to disagree with the majority here... 

From what they said, OP was honest with the buyer from the very start that it would be a period of months between exchange and completion. The buyer chose to offer anyway - they could have decided not to. They knew what they were getting into. 

On one move a few years back we ended up with two months between exchange and completion - and there was no new-build involved. It was a long chain, and there were various dates that certain parties couldn't do for completion due to holidays and a major surgery (!), so the gap ended up being two months. That's highly unusual of course, but far from impossible. 

The extra 'signed document' the buyer wants isn't necessary because the standard contract makes clear that the house must be handed over at completion in the same condition it was in at exchange. So if something were to happen during the long period between exchange and completion, OP would be liable for it - there's no doubt on that anyway. 

I know a lot of you wouldn't have offered on OP's house because you weren't prepared to accept the terms it was being sold under, and that's totally fair enough. But the buyer offered despite the OP's conditions and is then messing about afterwards...

Waunakee

That may well be the case but as a FTB they may well have been unaware of the pitfalls of the situation they were getting themselves into.It’s a high risk strategy.

New build completion dates are only ever a guesstimate and with the current materials shortages prevalent in the construction industries coupled with a bout of bad weather completion could easily slip well into the New Year.

The OP mentions the buyer received their mortgage offer early June,which for a typical offer life of 3-6 months,leaves little or no wriggle room before the offer expires.In the current financial climate there would be no guarantee that a lender would extend.

The OP may well have been upfront with the prospective purchaser at the outset but has  been somewhat economical with the truth regarding their own mortgage offer.

Section62

pinkteapot said:

From what they said, OP was honest with the buyer from the very start that it would be a period of months between exchange and completion. The buyer chose to offer anyway - they could have decided not to. They knew what they were getting into. 

The way I read the OP's posts, the buyer hasn't significantly changed their position regarding the timing.  The stumbling block now appears to be the assurances the buyer the buyer's solicitor wants regarding problems during the period between exchange and completion.

It isn't unreasonable for a buyer, especially a FTB, not to think about this detail until progressing the purchase and getting legal advice.

The OP says stuff will be covered by their home insurance. Well, up to a point, and subject to payment of an excess (presumably). Insurance isn't a cover-all, there will be exclusions. Furthermore the buyer has no assurance the OP won't cancel the policy or refuse to claim/pay the excess on any claim.

Although the buyer has other options, why should they put their own financial position at risk in the extended period that someone else (the OP) will be living in the house?

Yes, the contract may well contain clauses about the condition of the property at completion, but does the buyer want to go through the hassle of enforcing a contract written in vague terms if there are specific items they have concerns over (e.g. the boiler) and a side-agreement or the use of non-standard clauses could give them a remedy with much less hassle?

I crossed out "the buyer" above because it appears the OP is having direct communications with the buyer, and the buyer seems uncertain what is going on. That suggests to me that the issues have been identified by the buyer's solicitor, and it is the solicitor who is unhappy with the buyer exchanging with such a large liability unresolved. It sounds like they are doing their job.

I don't think direct communications between vendor and buyer are a great idea, especially not in complicated situations.  If that is what is happening in this case then it too could be adding to the confusion and delay.

MsACam

You want an uncertain completion date? You pay for the deterioration in condition whilst the FT buyer waits for you to give green light. You can’t have your cake and eat it. No one sues on breach of obligation to put property right / sell as described in contract - that’s why buyers get stuffed with socket coverings / lights/ other fixtures being ripped out and they have to do remedial work (even though vendor should have done it before completion; I’m yet to come across a diligent vendor who does!). 

Put yourself in their shoes. Then agree to give them contract of condition - ie property will be as it is now, subject to fair wear and tear, and they can sue you for cost to fix it if it’s not. Seems fair.

GixerKate

I see both sides of this.  Yes the OP has been upfront with the buyer from day one, the buyer could have walked away but chose to stick with it.  On the other hand there is a big long gap between exchange and completion with the fact that the completion date could be pushed if the new build isn't ready - this does often happen afterall.  Plus there isn't anything stopping the OP from ignoring any issues that come up between exchange and completion apart from a promise on an email (not saying the OP will do this but lots of people will ignore any issues once exchange has taken place).

Options:
1. Keep going with hoping that the buyer will fall in with an emailed promise that everything will be ok
2. Exchange now and move into rented accommodation until the new build is ready
3. Provide some guarantees in writing as part of exchange that the current house will be maintained until completion 

I'm guessing the developer must be getting pretty close to losing patience and cancelling the reservation so I would have thought option 2 would be best to keep the developer onside to prove that you are serious about progressing with the purchase.  Just a point, the threat from the developer isn't an empty one, if they think you are messing them around they will cut and re-market.

NameUnavailable

Maybe the developers should be more reasonable and more commercial here in understanding how buyer/seller chains work?!

Trynsave2

Now what if a clause could be written in that reduced the sale price by £x/pw for every extra week developer delays prevent the seller from completing? Bet that would soon see them move out.

Flugelhorn

NameUnavailable said:

Maybe the developers should be more reasonable and more commercial here in understanding how buyer/seller chains work?!

Trynsave2 said:

Now what if a clause could be written in that reduced the sale price by £x/pw for every extra week developer delays prevent the seller from completing? Bet that would soon see them move out.

I think this is the problem, I was  amazed to find that developers could have a completion on notice in the contract and effectively keep a chain of people dangling without a firm timeline, no-one else can just say "lets complete on x because we feel like it" . 

Maybe developers shouldn't release properties for sale until there is some reasonable prospect of them being available within the next 6-8 weeks