Failed to complete house purchase after exchange due to mortgage lender not releasing funds

ACG

The vendors need to be told this. 
They can shout and scream, but if it cant physically be done any quicker then they need to look at what happens next. 

You are unlikely to lose your deposit, but obviously you could be on the hook for costs incurred. It sounds like it will be sort of 2 weeks late, not ideal and no doubt someone in the chain will incur costs which you or someone on your side will be liable for but I suspect completion will still go through. 

I say this to a lot of our customers as people do worry but if everyone wants to complete, it 9 times out of 10 will happen. Someone pulling out now will delay them a lot more. Even a cash buyer would probably take longer than 2 weeks. As you say though, leave it to the solicitors. It takes the emotion out of it. 

[Deleted User]

I dont really understand how it got this late.  If a damp and timber survey is requested then its usually done pre offer.   Not come across many that have been post offer.   And if it is then its usually put as a condition on the mortgage offer.   If it was a condition then its really on your solicitor who shouldn't exchange with a conditional offer until the condition has been reviewed and if possible satisfied.  

warby68

You need to wait for the report and hopefuly get your purchase completed first and foremost

It does seem though that the 'professionals' may have dropped the ball a bit here. A 3y old report for a person not even involved in the chain should have been a red flag. Perhaps the rarity of this particular condition led to someone on the lender's side not knowing what to do with it until too late but for 2 solicitors to also 'approve' an old report for a third party is odd.

Perhaps some of these parties should share some of the blame with you if anyone comes after you for material costs. I'm not into the compo culture at all but the questioning of the process would seem fair here.

Woodsie81

ACG said:

The vendors need to be told this. 
They can shout and scream, but if it cant physically be done any quicker then they need to look at what happens next. 

You are unlikely to lose your deposit, but obviously you could be on the hook for costs incurred. It sounds like it will be sort of 2 weeks late, not ideal and no doubt someone in the chain will incur costs which you or someone on your side will be liable for but I suspect completion will still go through. 

I say this to a lot of our customers as people do worry but if everyone wants to complete, it 9 times out of 10 will happen. Someone pulling out now will delay them a lot more. Even a cash buyer would probably take longer than 2 weeks. As you say though, leave it to the solicitors. It takes the emotion out of it. 

Thank you for this reassuring account. Things have settled a bit, we have submitted one (successful) report and waiting for a different type in case they want something different but hopefully you're right and it will still go through just a bit later than planned. The other complication is that our mortgage offer expires at the end of the month, and can't be extended, so this next stage needs to happen quickly.
We've had a family emergency since, and also watching the horrible news - we are keeping things in perspective

Derd

Hi @Woodsie81,

Unfortunately, we are in a similar issue. There was damage to the property bertween exchange and completion. The lender was notified by the solicitor and now the lender wants a damage report with cost of fixing and who will bear the cost. The seller has decided to go to litigation to show that he was not responsible for the damage, although I never questioned them. He has also threathened to give a completion date in the next 7 days or will serve notice. I cannot do that until I provide the Lender with a damage report with quotations to fix. 
I just wanted to ask how your case ended with the Lenders ?

user1977

Derd said:

I just wanted to ask how your case ended with the Lenders ?

You're asking someone who hasn't been seen here for 3 years.

MWT

Derd said:

Hi @Woodsie81,

Unfortunately, we are in a similar issue. There was damage to the property bertween exchange and completion. The lender was notified by the solicitor and now the lender wants a damage report with cost of fixing and who will bear the cost.

Hopefully you had buildings insurance in place from the date of completion so that should give you cover for the cost of the damages and backstop the answer on that point at least.

saajan_12

Start your own thread with detail about your situation. It'll be confusing for posters to comment on your situation instead of the OP.