Vendor is buying a new build- long stop date

House13

So our vendor is buying a new build. He will need to exchange way in advance so we will be wanting a long stop date in our sale so that our mortgage doesn't expire. However, if the long stop date does come around can we have it written that we complete on their house (so that he has to move in with friends for example) even if his new build isn't ready? This would be instead of the usual cancelling of the contract.

Thanks

user1977

Yes, you can do that. If he agrees.

Thrugelmir

Forcing somebody else legally into an alternative course of action is somewhat unlikely. Terminatating the contract is the straight forward cheapest option. 

Slithery

You can write whatever you want into a contract. I very much expect that your vendor (or their solicitor/lender) will refuse to accept those terms though...

Phoenix1451

Sorry to jump on this thread but I was wondering if you are given a longstop date of say 1st August is this last and final date for completion? What is a termination period does this extend the 1st August longstop? 

Thrugelmir said:

Forcing somebody else legally into an alternative course of action is somewhat unlikely. Terminatating the contract is the straight forward cheapest option. 

user1977

Slithery said:

You can write whatever you want into a contract. I very much expect that your vendor (or their solicitor/lender) will refuse to accept those terms though...

I don't see why the vendor's solicitor or lender would be interested? All the OP is seeking is for the completion date to be x, or (if the vendor gives sufficient notice) at a date earlier than x.

It's pretty commonplace (and indeed preferable to everybody else!) that somebody buying off-plan takes on the risk themselves and finds somewhere else to stay while they wait for their shiny new house to be built, rather than drag the rest of the chain along with them. What's being proposed here seems a fair compromise i.e. the OP's vendor has the option of bringing forward the completion date, if their builders are working to plan.

Slithery

user1977 said:

Slithery said:

You can write whatever you want into a contract. I very much expect that your vendor (or their solicitor/lender) will refuse to accept those terms though...

I don't see why the vendor's solicitor or lender would be interested?

You're obviously correct. The solicitor/lender part of my post is irrelevant.

Thrugelmir

Slithery said:

user1977 said:

Slithery said:

You can write whatever you want into a contract. I very much expect that your vendor (or their solicitor/lender) will refuse to accept those terms though...

I don't see why the vendor's solicitor or lender would be interested?

You're obviously correct. The solicitor/lender part of my post is irrelevant.

Other than the solicitor will advise their own client in their best interests, i.e. no onerous or complex arrangements. Longstop should suffice. 

pinkteapot

Phoenix1451 said:

Sorry to jump on this thread but I was wondering if you are given a longstop date of say 1st August is this last and final date for completion? 

No...

A long-stop date is used to give you protection when you exchange contracts with no fixed completion date. This happens when buying a new-build because the developer wants you legally bound to the purchase early (which happens at exchange) but doesn't know the exact date the house will be ready. You exchange with what's called "completion on notice" rather than a fixed date. When the seller is ready to complete, they have to give you 10 days notice that it's going to happen (10 days is normal - guessing you could make it a different period). 

So, you exchange on your new-build say now, then in November or whenever the builder says "right, your house will be ready in 10 days - we're completing then" and you have to complete.

In such contracts, a long-stop date is used to give the buyer some protection. Without it, you could be stuck in that contract for years (forever in theory). Say the builder goes bust, or just stops building the house... In theory they could come back in 10 years and say you have to complete. To avoid this, or more importantly completion being delayed till after your mortgage offer expires, a long-stop date is added. If that date is reached and the seller still isn't ready to complete, you can cancel the contract and walk away with no penalty. Normally you can't do that after exchange.

Your question is a common misperception. Some people think a long-stop date is a date when the seller will be forced to complete with them - it isn't. That was an issue in another thread on here recently, where someone thought that's what a long-stop meant and had already given notice on their rental and was a couple of weeks from being homeless. 

OP isn't buying a new-build of course - their vendor is. However, if like OP's vendor you're buying a new-build and have a house to sell yourself, you have two options. You either sell normally (exchange and complete a few days later) and go into rented while waiting for your new-build, or you exchange on both your purchase and sale at the same time and make your buyer do the completion on notice process too. If you're buying a house from someone who's buying a new-build, you can try to negotiate for them to go into rented rather than make you wait around for their new-build, but they'll often say no. 

OP is asking whether, instead of the long-stop date being the date on which they can walk away, it can be a date when the seller MUST complete with them. As others have answered, OP can ask for this but I suspect the vendor will say no. It's all a negotiation.