Lease extension as part of sale

AskAsk

My friend is buying a flat, which he made an offer on and was accepted on 19 Ocober last year.  Progress has been slow as the seller is slow in response.  Now we have found out why.

The seller is buying a flat which needs the lease extension as part of the sale.  They are having issue contacting the freeholders, as there are more than one freeholder, to get the lease extension done and so they have informed the estate agent that there will be a delay to the chain.

I don't think we can wait forever as I understand that a lease extension done as part of sale is complicated and may not happen at all.

Any thoughts on what we should do?  The flat is at the bottom of the chain as my friend is a first time buyer, so I am thinking may be give the seller an ultimatum that they sell the flat to us and then sort out the purchase of the other one later, or we reduce the purchase price to compensate for the delay and my friend having to continue to pay rent.

eddddy

AskAsk said:

The flat is at the bottom of the chain as my friend is a first time buyer, so I am thinking may be give the seller an ultimatum that they sell the flat to us and then sort out the purchase of the other one later, or we reduce the purchase price to compensate for the delay and my friend having to continue to pay rent.

Your friend can try giving an ultimatum - but what if the seller simply says "no"?  Will your friend then walk away?


Maybe your friend could give the ultimatum, and if the answer is "no" - say that the offer remains on the table but your friend will start to look for other properties, and if your friend finds another property, they'll withdraw this offer.


But once your friend starts giving ultimatums the whole process will become less friendly - and any potential goodwill will probably disappear.

The seller might even take offence, and decide they don't want to sell to your friend any more, and put the flat back on the market.

AskAsk

eddddy said:

AskAsk said:

The flat is at the bottom of the chain as my friend is a first time buyer, so I am thinking may be give the seller an ultimatum that they sell the flat to us and then sort out the purchase of the other one later, or we reduce the purchase price to compensate for the delay and my friend having to continue to pay rent.

Your friend can try giving an ultimatum - but what if the seller simply says "no"?  Will your friend then walk away?


Maybe your friend could give the ultimatum, and if the answer is "no" - say that the offer remains on the table but your friend will start to look for other properties, and if your friend finds another property, they'll withdraw this offer.


But once your friend starts giving ultimatums the whole process will become less friendly - and any potential goodwill will probably disappear.

The seller might even take offence, and decide they don't want to sell to your friend any more, and put the flat back on the market.

the flat is cheap and property prices are going up so there isn't really much leverage, but then again we don't want to hang around forever so there needs to be a cut off point as this could go on for a few months and then the whole thing fall through anyway as the lease extension can't be done as part of the sale.

i may prep my friend to walk away and maybe say to the seller that we will wait for a certain amount of time, then we will need to think of alternative plans.  so that they don't think we are going to hang around forever and they got all the time in the world.

my friend is paying rent in the mean time so if he waits for months and it all falls through anyway, now is probably a better time to exit and save on further solicitors' fees.  at least then he can make alternative plans.

SusieT

How much more would the flat be worth with the lease extension?It could be that by issuing them with an ultimatum they will just say no and remarket the flat for more when it is eventually done.