Being pressured to exchange/complete same day but let the current owners live in the property!!

housebuyer143

This makes sense now. You can't exchange now because you do not have the deposit to pay them to transfer up the chain which is why you need simultaneous exchange and completion... The lender does not require this. 

Not a lot to be done apart from seller moves out and sells to you. Why will it take them one month to move into temp accommodation?

Twins

housebuyer143 said:

This makes sense now. You can't exchange now because you do not have the deposit to pay them to transfer up the chain which is why you need simultaneous exchange and completion... The lender does not require this. 

Not a lot to be done apart from seller moves out and sells to you. Why will it take them one month to move into temp accommodation?

We haven’t been told the reason why apart from this is their earliest date that they can move. The EA did let slip the other day that the vendor is mortgage free so I would have hoped that would have been even easier for them to vacate but I don’t know if they are just being super stubborn. All pressure seems to be on us to come up with a solution which we don’t have 

housebuyer143

Twins said:

housebuyer143 said:

This makes sense now. You can't exchange now because you do not have the deposit to pay them to transfer up the chain which is why you need simultaneous exchange and completion... The lender does not require this. 

Not a lot to be done apart from seller moves out and sells to you. Why will it take them one month to move into temp accommodation?

We haven’t been told the reason why apart from this is their earliest date that they can move. The EA did let slip the other day that the vendor is mortgage free so I would have hoped that would have been even easier for them to vacate but I don’t know if they are just being super stubborn. All pressure seems to be on us to come up with a solution which we don’t have 

Yeah, I think this is one for the seller to sort out. If they want to secure the new build they are going to have to give a little or they will lose it. 

I feel your pain, you seem to have had a nightmarish time at this. I hear some people have straightforward transactions but I have personally never experienced one. I do hope it all works out for you. Please keep us posted. 

donutandbeer

Surely your seller should be the one making compromises to secure their new build purchase. Yes you also won’t want to lose this purchase but at the end of the day if you can’t exchange without completing, then it’s not like they can find another buyer immediately. Perhaps if they lose their purchase they will refuse to sell to you, either because they can’t find another place to buy or they are just annoyed with you, but it’s not like you can really do anything different. 

JMA74

This happens a lot on let to buy mortgages arranged by brokers who dont realise this condition exists. I'll be honest I've been caught out by early in my career as no one mentions it until you realise you've messed up. 
The let to buy lender wants to know that they are definitely releasing funds to facilitate an onward purchase and the client isnt going to remain in the property that is now a BTL so they make this condition that everything must happen at the same time. 

There is no exchange for a remortgage. Only completion. But they wont allow completion to take place without it being on the same day as your residential completion. 

So Let to Buy lender releases funds to your remortgage solicitor who sends them to your purchase solicitor who uses them for the purchase.   If the Resi purchase doesnt complete then everything is unwound and the LTB lender doesnt end up with a buy to let mortgage on a property you never moved out of.  

The only way out of this is to either:

1.  Play hardball and get the sellers to move out and give you the house now and then exchange/complete on the same day.  

2.  Have your purchase solicitor be comfortable enough that the remortgage funds are secure to allow them to exchange early on the purchase and then arrange completion of the remortgage and the purchase at a future date. 

3. Wait for the date the sellers can move out and then exchange/complete on the same day. 

You wont find many solicitors willing to do the 2nd option, especially if another solicitor is involved in the remortgage, as it opens you up to massive risk. If the remortgage funds dont come through in time or the offer is withdrawn then you have exchanged on a purchase but have no way to fund it.   I've had a few solicitors willing to do it but i've specifically had the purchase solicitors do the legal work on the remortgage as well to give them more peace of mind.  


There are lenders who allow a let to buy to complete with no linked onward purchase transaction but switching lender doesnt really help you at this stage.  

SusieT

To stop the estate agent pressuring you, just turn the tables on them, tell them NOT to contact you to complete until they can assure you that the sellers have secured a rental of some sort, or are moving in with family or friends and are therefore giving vacant posession. Anything else is not acceptable to you. Be very firm and practice saying a very firm NO without any explanation, and keep repeating vacant posession. You are the one in a very strong position as it sounds as if their house is very close to being ready to move in to, and they will not find anyone else who will be able to complete as fast as you, so they are in a very sticky position if they carry on pressuring you.

subjecttocontract

You are paying the solicitors bill so you tell the solicitor what you want or what suits you.....don't be dictated to. Same goes for the Agent.
Why can't the other party just get a bridging loan for their purchase ?

jj_43

You could ask the seller to move temporary, that then gives you occupancy. But then they take on the same risk from you, while you are the buyer lol. Why would or should they do that? 

It is your problem to resolve and your risk to take. If I was the seller I wouldn’t be interested in your predicament but would be wondering why I accepted the offer, perhaps a reduced offer. I am saying this to give you a perspective from the other side. If this is stressful why do you want a BTL. Perhaps reconsider.

p00hsticks

subjecttocontract said:

You are paying the solicitors bill so you tell the solicitor what you want or what suits you.....don't be dictated to. Same goes for the Agent.
Why can't the other party just get a bridging loan for their purchase ?

By the same token why can't the OP get loan of some sort to fund their deposit at exchange ? Or get their solicitor to see if the seller will accept a smaller (or even no) deposit ?
Unless I've missed something, the only proviso from the lender on the LTB property is  that the two sales both complete at the same time - the only thing driving the 'exchange and complete at the same time' is the fact that the OP doesn't have the funds on hand to provide the deposit for an earlier exchange but is expecting to source it from the remortgage of the existing property, at completion. . 
 

pinkteapot

OP, take a deep breath. The EA works for the vendor and absolutely does not have your best interests at heart. Mentally, try to keep them at arms length. They can pressure you all they want but they can't force you to do anything.

I would absolutely not agree to the vendors staying in the property after completion, for all the reasons given. I would simply be saying to the EA that either:

1. We same-day exchange and complete and the vendors move out to temporary accommodation. You will ONLY complete with vacant possession, as required by your mortgage. 
2. Or, we exchange and complete with a gap between with the vendor accepting a smaller deposit than usual (do you have ANY cash you can offer for exchange for this option? Even if it's with a short-term loan? No-one will agree to exchange with zero deposit - zero deposit necessitates same-day exchange and completion). We've been in a chain where we accepted a deposit of less than 10% from a buyer because most of their money was tied up in house equity so they didn't have cash for exchange.

Either the vendor agrees to one of these options, or you're pulling out. Put the ball back in their court, as currently the EA is trying to make it 100% your problem and not a problem at all for your vendor.

If your mental health is really suffering, put the above in an email to the EA and your solicitors rather than phoning. If they ring to discuss you can always let it go to voicemail and phone them back when you're mentally prepared for the conversation.

If they flat-out refuse to either option then you don't have to pull out. Just threaten it to see if they back down a bit. If it reaches that point (it may well not), you can decide but unfortunately your options will be to become a landlord to the vendors or to pull out.