Completion Delay - Won't pay costs

NNLisbon

babyblade41 said:

elsien said:

babyblade41 said:

sorry I'm being a bit thick... you say you exchanged last December , but your solicitor advised against exchange but went ahead anyway ...

If exchange definitely went ahead & completion failed then a notice to complete would be given to your buyer .

If you didn't complete then why didn't you stay in your house as it would still be yours ?

You should, where possible mitigate any costs and keep them to a minimum.

You maybe able to claim any costs of your removal but not a hotel if it wasn't necessary .

Forgive me if I've mis understood 

Presumably because all their worldly goods were in the back of a van? 

I suppose but  I'd still rather go & buy a blow up bed and a duvet for a few hours rather than check into a hotel  .Normally you keep a box of basics to take in the car on move day so they are at hand at the other end 

Yes, of course we could have done that, but hotel costs were minimal and the bulk of costs were related to the rebooking of moving cans and teams. 

Regardless of whether it's agreed that asking for hotel costs is reasonable or not. It is still reasonable that my buyer should cover the moving costs that I could not have avoided. 

My question is how I recoup these given they will not engage in reasonable communication.

Doozergirl

What does your solicitor say? 

It's their job.  They'll charge for it, but if the buyer is to blame then they'll have to pay for it.    If it's a !!!!!!-up by their mortgage company or solicitor then they'll be liable in turn.  

Presumably the onward chain is pressing you for costs if this affected everyone?  It normally gets passed down.  

babyblade41

Agree with @Doozergirl..your solicitor should sort this out .  

What happened to your ongoing purchase as they will be chasing you for failure to complete .. 

NNLisbon

My solicitor is saying they can't support any longer as they don't deal in litigation and I need to seek advice elsewhere. 

I can't really afford to throw good money after bad with more solicitor fees and it's clearly the buyers' error (they did not transfer their funds to their solicitor in time and my solicitor only received all funding at 5pm-ish many, many hours after the deadline set in contracts). 

I was hoping the small claims court might be a viable route, but really just wanted to check if anyone here had ever pursued that way?

elsien

I suppose the question is whether your solicitor advising you not to complete puts some of the onus onto you rather than onto your buyer?   

babyblade41

I presume there was no onward purchase as your buyers would be pursuing you

NNLisbon

The buyer was in clear breach of the contract we had in place, with the key clause requiring funds to be received by 12pm (and for me to vacate the property by the same time). 

The funds only arrived at 5:10pm and my solicitor advised me not to complete as we could not guarantee the funds could then be moved on in time to the next solicitor to complete my onward purchase. Completing on my sale but not my purchase was in breach of my own mortgage agreements. 

The moving team also wouldn't complete the move at that time of the day either, so I was doubly screwed really. 

Does anyone know of any options I have to pursue this? It's not an un-sizeable sum of money and having delivered on my part of the contract, I don't see why I should be liable for costs.

elsien

Is your solicitor a proper solicitor or a conveyancer? 
If they're not touching it with a bargepole then it would be the small claims route but you would need to show how to tried to mitigate your costs. You'd also need to check the contract very carefully with regards to liability if the funds were received the same day albeit very late in the day. 

newsgroupmonkey_

I guess if you're 100% sure it's the fault of the buyer, small claims court as you said.

TheJP

NNLisbon said:

The buyer was in clear breach of the contract we had in place, with the key clause requiring funds to be received by 12pm (and for me to vacate the property by the same time). 

The funds only arrived at 5:10pm and my solicitor advised me not to complete as we could not guarantee the funds could then be moved on in time to the next solicitor to complete my onward purchase. Completing on my sale but not my purchase was in breach of my own mortgage agreements. 

The moving team also wouldn't complete the move at that time of the day either, so I was doubly screwed really. 

Does anyone know of any options I have to pursue this? It's not an un-sizeable sum of money and having delivered on my part of the contract, I don't see why I should be liable for costs.

So you did complete on your sale on the correct completion date, however the delay means you have breached the terms of your contract with your purchase. What was the delay in funds from your purchaser? Was it the fault of the bank?