10 months since offer accepted -- Fed up -- what leverage do I have?

lugtigheid

First time buyer, currently renting. We had an offer accepted on a house 10 months ago. We were told it was an independent purchase, so we moved quickly and we were ready to complete within 2 months, which was amazing considering all the restrictions. When we suggested that we were ready to complete, vendors' situation changed and they now had an onward purchase, which meant we were then stuck in a chain. We have had to re-apply for the mortgage after it expired after 6 months.The chain apparently completed in October, with one of the vendors currently finding an issue with a survey (water pipes and iron).

In the time since the offer was accepted, houses have gone up about 10% in our area and the supply has dried up. We have spent about £2000 on conveyancing and surveys. Against a backdrop of likely financial misery and given that we are invested, we are not eager to walk away because we have no alternatives and therefore feel we have no leverage.

I'm looking for some guidance from you wonderful forumites - this situation is really pressing down on us at the moment. Are we to grit our teeth and bare it, or am I wrong and is there anything we can do?

Flugelhorn

Apart from pestering everyone to see what the hold up, there is not much you can do 

sammyjammy

If the hold up isn't with your vendor your options are limited, even if the problem is with your vendor you can only issue an ultimatum/deadline to pull out, these things do take some time, solicitors are busier than ever and don't seem to even think about turning customers away when they have all the business they can reasonably manage at the moment.  

How many in the chain?

lugtigheid

sammyjammy said:

How many in the chain?

We've been told five, problems are mid-chain, so we believe the link above our vendors.

lookstraightahead

Your vendors are not being put out are they, in fact it's only you in the whole chain. You are the ones holding the chain together, while everyone else treads water. Why can't your vendors rent and take they're turn now (rhetorical question), then at least you and them can get in with it. But they don't seem to be in a rush.

I know you don't want to move on, but honestly how much longer should you wait? 

lookstraightahead

sammyjammy said:

If the hold up isn't with your vendor your options are limited, even if the problem is with your vendor you can only issue an ultimatum/deadline to pull out, these things do take some time, solicitors are busier than ever and don't seem to even think about turning customers away when they have all the business they can reasonably manage at the moment.  

How many in the chain?

The problem is with the op's vendor. They are the ones waiting around, keeping the op waiting, irrespective of what's going on up the line. They could sell to the op and move out into rented, just like the op is having to do. Oh I see they actually did promise this originally. Shocking behaviour. 

no one can blame solicitors for such a long wait. It's rarely anyone else's fault.

propertyhunter

It can be so frustrating - especially when you've set your heart on a new home and just want to move in. I think everyone in your chain is keen to stick with it - because they realise what the market is like right now. There's no stock and prices are absurd. 

jenni_fer

@lugtigheid it must be very frustrating and I feel incredibly sorry for the bottom of the chain in these situations. 
In my opinion it's worth getting pushy in terms of chasing every day,  finding out exactly what is the hold up etc but I wouldn't make any threats you don't want to follow through on.
If your area is anything like mine, if you dropped out and tried to purchase an equivalent property you'd probably be looking at having to spend a fair bit more, remember that your vendor probably knows that they could replace you fairly easily for more money too. It's a horrible position to be in. 

lookstraightahead

I'm hoping for all those struggling to buy that things will calm down a bit with interest rate rises and cost of living. Hopefully vendors will appreciate the true value of chain free buyers. 

TXC

jenni_fer said:

@lugtigheid it must be very frustrating and I feel incredibly sorry for the bottom of the chain in these situations. 
In my opinion it's worth getting pushy in terms of chasing every day,  finding out exactly what is the hold up etc but I wouldn't make any threats you don't want to follow through on.
If your area is anything like mine, if you dropped out and tried to purchase an equivalent property you'd probably be looking at having to spend a fair bit more, remember that your vendor probably knows that they could replace you fairly easily for more money too. It's a horrible position to be in. 

The only saving grace here would be that this would require the vendor's upward chain to be happy with them going back to square one and adding another 3-6 months onto an already 10 month long process - buyers are indeed easy to replace atm but the whole process remains painfully slow.

Suppose what I'm trying to say is buyers are easy to replace and that includes the OPs vendor with their "buyer" hat on.

lookstraightahead

TXC said:

jenni_fer said:

@lugtigheid it must be very frustrating and I feel incredibly sorry for the bottom of the chain in these situations. 
In my opinion it's worth getting pushy in terms of chasing every day,  finding out exactly what is the hold up etc but I wouldn't make any threats you don't want to follow through on.
If your area is anything like mine, if you dropped out and tried to purchase an equivalent property you'd probably be looking at having to spend a fair bit more, remember that your vendor probably knows that they could replace you fairly easily for more money too. It's a horrible position to be in. 

The only saving grace here would be that this would require the vendor's upward chain to be happy with them going back to square one and adding another 3-6 months onto an already 10 month long process - buyers are indeed easy to replace atm but the whole process remains painfully slow.

Suppose what I'm trying to say is buyers are easy to replace and that includes the OPs vendor with their "buyer" hat on.

To be honest though, the only people in this chain who are serious about moving is the op. The rest seem to be playing at pretend houses. I don't understand the reasoning for waiting so long. Surely people want to get on with their lives.