Buyer trying to delay completion

Tiglet2

Karen_Artioli said:

I’m buying/selling and I’m the only one in the chain: buyer-myself-seller.
We’ve been in the conveyancing process since March and our target date was 17th June (next Friday).
Now (a week from expected completion) I got the news that everything is ready but my buyers solicitors are saying 17th June is too soon and suggested 7th July!! Their excuse is that buyers money is in Hong Kong and it takes couple weeks to receive the money and carry out the checks, also they need time for them to review the contract and buyers to sign it.
There is no way my seller and myself are waiting that long and my solicitor agreed it’s unacceptable as everything is ready.
As per google, a bank transfer from Hong Kong to the UK shouldn’t take more than 3 days.
What should I do? Any advice would be much appreciated.

I'm wondering whether the buyer's solicitors are still doing their AML checks on the source of funds.  A lot of HK buyers have names which are the same as or similar to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), together with the fact that it is a cash purchase.  They will want to know where exactly that cash has come from, particularly if it is obvious that it is not from their own work/savings.  The buyer's solicitor could get into serious trouble if they do not do the due diligence needed here.

Also, when you say your target date was 17th June, whose target date was this?  No problem working towards a target date, but the solicitors involved won't promise to complete by the target date as they won't know what problems they might face during the course of the transaction.

hpsauce86

Not sure how you’ve got the target date for exchange. Solicitors think of completion date only, exchange and completion can happen on the same day. If they aren’t ready yet then no date for completion let alone exchange will have happened between solicitors. It’s a waiting game I’m afraid. We have no chain (us and our vendor who has bought a finished new build), we had offer accepted in early February and still waiting for the exchange and completion to happen. 

Karen_Artioli

Quick update if someone is curious:

After a conversation with my buyers I understand they have the 10% deposit ready, however the remaining amount is invested in Hong Kong and they have a 2 weeks cooling period to withdraw from the investment before transferring to the UK.

Unfortunately they didn’t do it before as their solicitors failed to advise them that our target date for completion was 17th June and they would need the funds ready.

Therefore we agreed the exchange by Friday 17th or earlier if possible, and the completion for Wednesday 29th June.

Fingers crossed!

Skiddaw1

Good luck OP! At least you know what the issue is (and that the buyers are serious).