What to do…house buying and selling - help!!!

No41edwardianhouse

Apologies for the long post. I’m very upset and stressed…Ok, so two months today we accepted an offer on our lovely house. We also had an offer accepted on a bigger equally lovely house. 

We are moving due to an increasing family. 

Our sellers agreed to break the chain and move out with a move date agreed for the middle of April. 

On Monday they went back on their word and have now said they will not do this and need to complete their purchase on the same day as they sell to us. This is really distressing for us as a family - especially as our little one is already very anxious about the move. We feel very let down and disappointed as we have moved like lightening speed. Our buyers also are becoming anxious as the goal posts have shifted. 

The chain is a chain of 6:
our buyer
us
our seller
their seller
their seller (top of chain currently) 
probate

The current top of the chain have offered on a probate property (see above). The estate agents have said current top of chain won’t “hold up the chain”. But we’ve heard that before. 

We went to see another property on Monday but it’s simply not the same as the one we want to buy. We were very open and honest with the agents. They understand the trust between us and our seller has been damaged. However, the house we want is the best house we’ve seen. If we start again we end up right back to square one. 

Any thoughts? What on earth can we do? 

Feeling totally fed up with this and really struggling. Our current house isn’t big enough. We can’t move to rented ourselves because of the lack of permanence for our little one who has already been passed from pillar to post within the care system. This has all been explained to our seller but it seems they couldn’t give a hoot. They got an asking price offer and we’ve been the best buyers we could possibly be.  

Please be kind…

The_Unready

Two options, I'm afraid: stay with it and accept the date changes, or pull out. Only you can make that decision, and you can't force the rest of the chain to move any quicker.

[Deleted User]

Even with starting again with another house, similar things could happen and no guarantees. It’s a bit like trying to make the decision on which checkout queue looks like it will go down quicker and sometimes the very short queue gets completely held up by a missing barcode or something and the one that looks long flies through. (Strange analogy I know)

Looking at your posts before it seems you are 8-9 weeks in to the process I think. A lot of vendors will take that time even trying to find another property or establishing mortgages etc. You don’t know what you’d be getting in to next time. 

If this house is THE house then I would stick with the chain. No there’s no guarantees but that’s the same any way round. I wouldn’t necessarily lose faith in them, this isn’t a decision they’ve made after six months etc like some people would. Their situation has changed and it’s frustrating but that’s how it is.

When we were buying ours, our vendors said they would break the chain and rent but I always assumed the worst case would be they found somewhere they loved and wanted to do it all in one. In our situation I was wrong and they did stick to renting which was great but I think the only way to get through the buying process is to assume the worst case and work back from that.

I know all this is easier said than done especially with your family situation but everyone in the chain sounds committed to the sale and it’s a house you love.

No41edwardianhouse

Thanks. Just feeling like we’ve been lied to and strung along. 

Extremely worried our buyer will pull out!!! 

400ixl

You haven't said what the expected delay is on your purchase date.

Has probate been granted on the top of the chain, assume so if it is on the open market. So that shouldn't be an issue unless something comes up on searches, surveys or finances.

Is your in rented or a first time buyer? Given how far through their buying process they must be then unless the delay will cause them real issues then I wouldn't see them pulling out as a high risk. Easiest way to get rid of that uncertainty is to have a conversation with them, understand their thoughts. There may be no issues, there may be mitigations that can be put in place.

No41edwardianhouse

400ixl said:

You haven't said what the expected delay is on your purchase date.

Has probate been granted on the top of the chain, assume so if it is on the open market. So that shouldn't be an issue unless something comes up on searches, surveys or finances.

Is your in rented or a first time buyer? Given how far through their buying process they must be then unless the delay will cause them real issues then I wouldn't see them pulling out as a high risk. Easiest way to get rid of that uncertainty is to have a conversation with them, understand their thoughts. There may be no issues, there may be mitigations that can be put in place.

We really aren’t sure if probate has been granted. Our solicitor said that probate can often be delayed. We’ve been told it’s a “probate house”. I thought a house could be marketed even without grant of probate? 

Our buyer is currently in a house he owns but plans to keep it and turn into a buy to let. I think the risk is low but just got that niggling feeling. 

We don’t know the expected delay. The EAs have said 4 weeks till exchange at the quickest and based on the top of the chain breaking it. However, we’ve totally lost faith in all that! 

babyblade41

I think the delay is more than likely the probate house .  So many problems can arise during this process.


The only way to know is to find out if probate has gone through due process and complete .
So many say it has or it's in the final stages when in reality it's far from it .

Not a lot you can do apart from wait it out  especially if no-one will break the chain unfortunately . 

In our situation our first sale fell through at the last hurdle , a day before exchange, never really got an honest answer & subsequently had to pull out of our purchase.

Had a second buyer the very next day who is renting round the corner from us but we have decided to not purchase at the min & stay with MIL .

This hopefully helps our buyer feel a little more comfortable and we won't be changing that as we  are putting in place everything we need for a short term stay 

kazwookie

Sorry to say it, but you are suffering like the rest of us, the pitfalls of buying in England.

Anyone can pull out for what ever reason they like up until the contracts are exchanged.

I found it very stressful, but once I heard they where exchange I breathed a sign of relief.

You either stick with it, or start again, and sellers can say one thing and do another, there is nothing binding on them or the purchaser.

housebuyer143

I think you need to think of it like this, would you have offered on the house if you knew there was a chain and they did not say they would move out? It seems like you might have by the way you described it.
In this case, its just a delay that would have been expected in any non chain free house.

I think you should stick with it and just adjust your expectations. Its hard when you had a date set in your mind, trust me I know, but it will help centre you if you know its going to happen but aim for a date later in the year. 

No41edwardianhouse

housebuyer143 said:

I think you need to think of it like this, would you have offered on the house if you knew there was a chain and they did not say they would move out? It seems like you might have by the way you described it.
In this case, its just a delay that would have been expected in any non chain free house.

I think you should stick with it and just adjust your expectations. Its hard when you had a date set in your mind, trust me I know, but it will help centre you if you know its going to happen but aim for a date later in the year. 

Probably thee most useful piece of advice to date! 

gwynlas

Sorry to hear that this is distressing you, house buying and selling is up there with divorce and death for a reason.
As hard as it may be you need to bottle your anguish for the sake of family life as children and pets are very intuitive.
To a child the future is unknown yet the Easter Bunny, Halloween and Father Christmas all come round each year. You just need to be vague about when the move will take place but can talk about possible colour schemes buying bed linen for the new house etc making it a positive experience possibly planting seeds now redy for the new garden.