Purchase close to falling through due to mortgage offer expiry

stacehr

Offer on flat accepted Dec 21, Mortgage offer received end of Jan with expiry 27 July
Seller lives in San Francisco and has been completely useless and incredibly slow in all aspects.
Freeholder (Local Authority) picked up outstanding works applications on the flat which needed remedial works completing and certificates supplying.
We have driven this forward on his behalf as he is totally incompetent - he has paid for everything obviously however we are still awaiting sign off by Council before everything can proceed and still encountering daily problems which need addressing.
With just over 4 weeks to go, I cannot see us making our mortgage deadline and lender emphatically won’t extend.
New 5 yr fixed mortgage has double the interest rate of one already agreed. Repayments over 5 yrs will cost £350pm extra - total £21000.
Can we look to seller to cover as delays have been entirely his fault and we have been ready to exchange since early March?? Would it be appropriate to lower the offer accordingly?

donutandbeer

You can certainly ask, whether they are going to accept it or not is another question. Will you be able to find somewhere similar with the same amount of money now? Because you do have to be prepared that they might just decide to relist the flat when you ask to lower your offer, especially when they don’t sound very proactive in the selling process so probably not in a rush to sell. 

stacehr

@donutandbeer - Sadly prices have gone up in this area in the 7 months we’ve been waiting. Our only option would be to reapply for the mortgage and take the hit. Anything comparable in size/location would cost much more and with new rates we’d be even worse off. Seller is desperate to sell but doesn’t have the faintest clue how to go about it and has a lazy solicitor ☹️ 

julicorn

Our buyer was going to try something like this - our EA's response to him was 'You can ask, but if you do I'll have to advise my client to relist, given that prices have gone up, not down'. Safe to say he just applied for a new mortgage instead. 

K_S

stacehr said:

Offer on flat accepted Dec 21, Mortgage offer received end of Jan with expiry 27 July
Seller lives in San Francisco and has been completely useless and incredibly slow in all aspects.
Freeholder (Local Authority) picked up outstanding works applications on the flat which needed remedial works completing and certificates supplying.
We have driven this forward on his behalf as he is totally incompetent - he has paid for everything obviously however we are still awaiting sign off by Council before everything can proceed and still encountering daily problems which need addressing.
With just over 4 weeks to go, I cannot see us making our mortgage deadline and lender emphatically won’t extend.
New 5 yr fixed mortgage has double the interest rate of one already agreed. Repayments over 5 yrs will cost £350pm extra - total £21000.
Can we look to seller to cover as delays have been entirely his fault and we have been ready to exchange since early March?? Would it be appropriate to lower the offer accordingly?

@stacehr It looks like a tough situation to be in. To answer your question, I don't think you'll have any luck with renegotiating the price, especially if things have improved in the local market over the past 6 months and the vendor is chain-free.

To minimise your risk, it might be worth getting your broker (or yourself if direct) to secure a new rate asap rather than waiting for end July by which time rates could again be higher than today. With the notable exception of Halifax, most lenders offer free-valuations on their purchase products so you could do this cost-free. Good luck!

lookstraightahead

Why do people even bother putting their properties up for sale when they don't want to sell them?