Buying a house from divorced couple, LIES!!!

middleagedriver

Been trying to buy a house for over 5 month now from a couple that have divorced. Have opened direct contact with both sellers, everything seems ok on the surface.

There has been delay after delay, they both keep blaming their solicitor saying they can’t get a hold of them etc. Our solicitor is now blaming the sellers for holding things up, I just don’t know which one is lying.

We are both using a large conveyancing company that are based in Leicester (those who know know) which have awful reviews on TrustPilot. But we have actually used our conveyancer before and they were spot on and still are now to be fair, we just don’t know how much we trust the sellers solicitor.

Anyone had this before, what did you do?

P.S. We would have pulled out ages ago if it wasn’t for having a low interest mortgage offer in place. 

lookstraightahead

Do both the divorcees want to move/sell? Who lives there at the moment? 

middleagedriver

lookstraightahead said:

Do both the divorcees want to move/sell? Who lives there at the moment? 

Well as far as I know yes. Why would they put the house up for sale and accept our offer, don’t understand why they would string us along.

The ex-husband lives in the house at the moment.

Bossyboots

My divorcing neighbours put their house on the market even though the husband did not want to sell.  He used every trick in the book to thwart the sale and managed to drag it out for months before finally conceding defeat.  Their buyer was under the impression both wanted to sell.

middleagedriver

Bossyboots said:

My divorcing neighbours put their house on the market even though the husband did not want to sell.  He used every trick in the book to thwart the sale and managed to drag it out for months before finally conceding defeat.  Their buyer was under the impression both wanted to sell.

He has told me on multiple occasions that he wants to be out ASAP and is trying his best and he can’t afford the mortgage himself. Can’t imagine the ex-wife wants anything to do with house either so wants to sell. I have to believe that our solicitor and the seller’s solicitor is telling the truth. Why would solicitors lie.

SuseOrm

I’m sorry but my experience of solicitors is if they lips are moving they’re lying.  Same reason everybody else does it to cover their !!!!!!.  

middleagedriver

SuseOrm said:

I’m sorry but my experience of solicitors is if they lips are moving they’re lying.  Same reason everybody else does it to cover their !!!!!!.  

I have thought about this. But what will they be covering. We drop out and they still continue the process but this time with a different buyer. Only thing our solicitor gains is a few hundred pound if we pull out, don’t see the point of them lying.

SuseOrm

It literally could be anything he could be buying time for his client to go to court to renegotiate the divorce settlement offer,  they could be buying time for his client to save up to move to a new property that they are purchasing through the solicitors too.  

One thing that is 100% certain is it they are active in their clients best interests not yours.  

F37A

Unbelievable even with mortgage rates / cost of living / house price inflation stuff like divorce can cause financial pain as well and lose stamp duty if have to purchase again after a split. Tough to survive.

middleagedriver

I understand a divorce can be hard, but my understanding is the divorce is complete and the house is the last thing to be split. How true that is tho, I have no idea.

The main thing here is who should I believe? Sellers solicitor is telling our solicitor they are waiting for sellers to make a decision on something. I then ask both sellers direct 'what's going on?' they then tell me they haven't heard from solicitor and can't get hold of them. This has been the same for around 5 weeks now. 

We're on the edge of pulling out but really don't want to as not only is it our dream house, same mortgage for similar house is going to cost £400 - £500 more per month with the interest rate rises as we cannot transfer our mortgage offer.

kirtondm

Almost Certainly it is one of the divorcing parties holding it up but you will probably never know for sure.
Can estate agents exert any pressure?