Can't agree completion date...

carly_8889

I am really not sure where to go from here and hoping someone will have some advice, suggestions or experience.

We accepted an offer on our house in April. A week later we had our offer accepted on a property which is no forward chain.

Our buyer's solicitor has been painfully slow and pedantic, preferring to ask the same questions 3 times. We also had some issues as the people who lived here before installed leased solar panels, so we had to pay for a Deed of Variation which is now done. Decoration work was also being done to our onward purchase as part of the price we offered, this was only completed Friday last week and we weren't given the opportunity to view it again until today. Just as an aside the lady who lived there moved out a couple of weeks ago! We don't know where she went to but the house was advertised as chain free so she obviously hasn't needed the money to go wherever she has gone.

We were initially hoping to complete mid-August but it became apparent a few weeks ago that this wasn't going to happen. I spoke to our Estate Agent and she said that 16th September works for our buyer as he is in rented and while this would give him an overlap with rent and mortgage this wouldn't be too tricky for him. Which is fine. So I updated the estate agent of our onward purchase the same day about the new completion goal, but that I was still pushing for exchange ASAP so we have a good month to get everything organised. No issues.

So now we should be good to exchange. Except out of nowhere the vendor of our onward purchase has said today that we HAVE to complete on 26th August. But our buyer won't do August and we don't especially want to do August now either as there isn't enough time. We still haven't technically exchanged yet. I did my best, I pushed everyone as hard as I could but I can't make our buyer's solicitor go faster than they want to.

We are baffled. She has moved out, there was apparently no chain. So why this now? We tried to bring everyone to a compromise of 2nd September but both have refused to budge. We've cut a family holiday a day short to accommodate 16th September and we have also said we don't have my mum available to help with childcare on 2nd September but will pay £63 for an extra day at nursery for the kids that week. We are trying to be flexible and compromise but no one is meeting us half way.

What are we meant to do in this situation??

powerful_Rogue

Not much you can do really.

Either everyone moves to the 26th August, or everyone goes with the 16th September.

Failing that, the chain collapses.

Domaco16

I agree not much you can do apart from give your dates you can do. Isn't really up to the solicitors to sort really? It is so hard to sort anything when you are having to go through so many people   
Hope you get it sorted- you are being really flexible so just try and say what you can do and see what happens x

carly_8889

I'm surprised in all reality that we've hit this stumbling block and there's even an issue to sort! It's supposedly a 3 house chain, with us in the middle. Just don't get it.

Tiglet2

Each solicitor acting for each seller/purchaser has to complete all their legal work before anyone can exchange and set a completion date.  While they are open to working towards preferred dates from their clients, a lot depends on whether the solicitors also are ready to set a date.  If one solicitor is not ready, then you cannot exchange.  There will be no exchange until a completion date is agreed and everyone will have to agree the same date.

I suspect your buyer's solicitor wasn't being slow and pedantic.  He was doing his due diligence on behalf of the buyer, by asking pertinent questions relating to the paperwork provided.  A deed of variation does take time unfortunately.  The buyer's solicitor has the right to ask as many questions as he likes, there is nothing your solicitor can about that because it is the buyer's solicitor who decides when he's finished and happy with the responses.

The EA is not involved in the legal process so cannot dictate the completion date.  They can try to talk to all parties to reach another solution, but someone will have to compromise if this transaction is ever going to conclude.

74jax

It is up to your solicitors to contact everyone in the chain, to make sure legalities are complete and the date exchange /completion is expected.

It is not up to you to contact the EA and sort this out. Everyone could say yes, you tell your solicitor and they say 'not a chance'.

You are paying your solicitor. The next time someone asks you, point out solicitors have this information, not you. The EA has no idea where everyone is up too, or when a solicitor can complete, they just go off a seller saying 'it's all done, I'm good to go' when in fact the solicitors are waiting on replies. 

Flugelhorn

I found that sometimes these unreasonable but apparently unmoveable dates come from nowhere and are just to get people moving - everyone (especially the now chain free vendor) have to be reasonably flexible

lika_86

If your vendor isn't budging then you may have to suck it up. It's another two weeks of mortgage payment for your buyer and you have two weeks to get your stuff sorted (plenty of time).

housebuyer143

It's very unlikely she will remarket the property over a two week delay.

As others have said, you are getting too involved. I would direct them back to the solicitors for dates as from experience arranging them amoungst yourselves doesn't work as the solicitors can only do things when everyone is ready. 

carly_8889

Thanks all. I said yesterday that I'm stepping back as this is what we are paying fees for. The professionals need to handle it and bring us to some kind of conclusion.

Worst case my husband and I have agreed that we will pay the additional two weeks rent for our buyer if that means we can get him to 2nd September, but our vendor will also need to adjust their expectations by a couple of days. Beyond that, nothing I can do.

Deed or Variation was definitely complex and needed. The pedantic stuff was them asking for confirmation of when our downstairs WC was installed multiple times, weeks apart when we sent them all our paperwork at the start of the process. Things like that really delayed us getting to this point sadly but what can you do.

Just concerning when you think you're in a 3 house chain but suddenly there is another mystery purchase at the top being used to push for August when it's currently the 12th and we haven't even exchanged yet.

pinkteapot

For me, I've found EAs more useful at this point than solicitors with my previous moves. Assuming EAs in the chain have decent sales progressors, they can really help to calm down parties in the chain getting het up and threatening to pull out if their date isn't met. They tend to be a bit more efficient at ringing round all parties and doing the back and forth on date discussions. As others have said though, this assumes all the solicitors have done their work and are ready to complete - no point discussing dates till then. 

I'd be really, really shocked if your vendor pulls out if you stick to your guns of  2/9 or16/9 instead of 26/8. It makes no sense - they'd re-market and it'd be months till they complete, so are they really going to pull out over those few weeks? 

I would be saying I want exchange ASAP with completion 2/9 or 16/9, even if that means a bit longer than usual between exchange and completion. That way, you've exchanged contracts and everyone in the chain can chill out.  

With one move we ended up exchanging on 23rd December with completion not till 14th Feb. Long chain and various dates people couldn't do due to holidays, operations (!) and what not. Wasn't ideal, but gave us loads of time to organise removals and get new furniture ordered. You breathe a massive sigh of relief once you get exchanged!