Broken chain situation

amsjrt

Hi,

I need some advice on my broken chain situation:

Back in Nov 21, I have accepted to an offer for my property (he also has a property to sell, and his buyer is end of chain). For myself, I found a property and the vendor has nothing to buy, so he is end of chain. So altogether there are 4 parties in the chain. (i.e. the structure is something like this - bottom of chain starts with Buyer 1, then Buyer 2, then Me and finally the vendor)

Due to some issues (cracks/subsidence) with the property that I want to buy, there is a long delay with investigations of these cracks/subsidence, then I decided to pull out of buying it. Then I started to look for new properties, but nothing suitable comes up in the market during december. My buyer (buyer 2) has been waited patiently at the meantime.

Now, this month, with more properties coming to the market, we have found a property that we really like and our offer has been accepted. We have told the vendor (again he has nothing to sell) my chain situation and they have contacted my estate agent asking for my chain situation too. However,  a week ago, I contacted my buyer (i.e. Buyer 2) and he told me that his buyer (i.e. Buyer 1) has decided to pull out and found something else. He has now started advertising his flat but not many viewing taken place as yet. 

My dilemma now is that, the vendor actually wanted a quick transaction and they thought I have a complete chain, but now if I tell the vendor that the chain is actually broken then he is very likely to offer the property to someone else. So my thinking is, whether to do one of the following options:

1) Quickly re-advertise my property in the market in the hope of finding someone with no chain or his property under offer. then go back to vendor to tell him that the chain was broken but this is now resolved as I have found someone. However, I felt like I am doing something morally wrong to Buyer 2, who has been waited patiently for more than 2 months for me to find a property. Also I am not sure if I can find someone with no chain or with few chains under him, in the short time. 

2) Continue to wait for Buyer 2 to find his buyer, and at the same time not telling my vendor about the broken chain situation. Here I am hoping Buyer 2 will find a buyer before the vendor finds this out.

3) Be honest with the vendor that the chain is broken, but this is very likely means that he will offer his property to someone else.

I am currently more towards option (2). What do you think and if there is any other options available?

Thanks in advance


    

housebuyer143

This exact thing happened to me the of last year. I found my dream home and the day after offering and having the offer accepted my buyer changed their mind! Deverstated.

I believe strongly in being honest and having good communication so I explained to my seller what had happened and how I was 100% committed to their property and asked them to give me a certain amount of time to replace my buyer, maybe 2/3 weeks - think what is reasonable in your area. I then reduced the price a fair amount and the viewings flooded in and I had 3 offers by the end of the specified period and we are back on track.

Your seller might very well say, no thanks but I would say you should be upfront than lie in the hope of not being found out. Although don't be afraid to put your chosen plan in place for a few days before informing them... Gives you a little more time.

In your case if the seller agrees you could put yours back on the market then tell your buyer that if he finds a replacement buyer before you, you will honour his offer and keep selling to him OR you can hope he finds a buyer in that timeframe stick with him and risk your onward if he doesn't.

It's hard because if your buyer is committed it's not great to maybe replace them. It does depend how much you want the onward purchase really.

Mahsroh

We had an almost identical scenario last year. Our buyer pulled out around the same time our vendors found their onward purchase (end of chain). 

We were honest and our vendors relisted their property (as did we, obviously), but I don’t believe they told the vendors of their onward purchase. 

As it happened we found a buyer within a week or two before our vendors did so they ended up taking back of the market and we’re now living in it! 

If both you and your buyer have their properties on the marker, in the current climate it’s highly likely at least one of you will have an offer pretty quickly. The only risk is that your buyer finds something else upon realising you’ve relisted it, but maybe just be upfront about it from the off and explain what / why you’re doing it, and tell them they have first refusal if they find a buyer first.