Vendor saying “after Christmas”

SJE89

We’re in the process of buying a house, our first house, and we’re currently in rented accommodation with no chain.
Everything is sorted, contract paperwork is through, surveys, searches, mortgage offer, simply waiting to exchange and agree a completion date.
We were buzzing, thinking we’ll be in before Christmas.
Email from the solicitor yesterday saying the top of the chain says they can’t move before Christmas and they are querying this as to why.
I have the property report and been reading through it and got to the property information from and on the back page “Does the seller have any special requests for a moving date?” And they have written “after Christmas”
So I have queried this with the solicitor and waiting for a response.
But I’m starting to get the feeling the vendor is taking advantage of the fact we have no chain and want to take their time/save stress before Christmas.
I’m not about to let this happen if I can help it. Is there anything I can do to stop them playing games and speed up the process?
Or if it does happen is there anything to be done to recover additional costs later down the line?
I don’t want to lose this property, but if they mess me around, I will start looking for properties. 

nicmyles

They've told you at information form stage that they don't want to move until after Christmas. 

There's nothing you can do other than ask if they can move sooner. You could exchange before Xmas and move after, as well.

It will come down to whether you're more likely to accept a move after Xmas or pull out; and whether they're more likely to accept a move before Xmas or lose you as a buyer.

You will not be able to recover any costs from them per se, although eg you could ask them for money off/a payment in exchange for agreeing to their timescale, based on you incurring other costs (but what would they be?)

eddddy

SJE89 said:

I’m not about to let this happen if I can help it. Is there anything I can do to stop them playing games and speed up the process?
Or if it does happen is there anything to be done to recover additional costs later down the line?
I don’t want to lose this property, but if they mess me around, I will start looking for properties. 

It's all down to negotiation. You want to move before Christmas, and they want to move after Christmas.  So one of you has to back down.

You can try suggesting (or threatening) that you'll walk away. That may or may not persuade them to change their mind.

It could also annoy them and get things off to a bad start.

lincroft1710

As there are only 7 weeks to the Friday before Christmas, it is extremely unlikely you would be able to find another property, and guarantee that with everything arranged and completed, you would be moving in no later than 23 December 2022. 


There may be good reason for the vendor to delay completion until after Christmas, they may have made arrangements which would be difficult and inconvenient to change.

pinkteapot

I don't blame them. Having moved on 12th December one year, and late November the following year, it kills Christmas. You're still unpacking. 

Or it could be they have a financial penalty for completing earlier (e.g. mortgage redemption charge).

As others have said, it's a negotiation. You don't really have a lot of sway though as they know you won't be able to find somewhere else and get completed before Christmas. 

If they don't back down, I would push to exchange sooner rather than later, so you've got the certainty of knowing the purchase is going ahead, then complete in the New Year.

housebuyer143

Have you considered that maybe their fixed rate doesn't end until after Christmas and they will be hit with an early repayment charge if they do it earlier?  Maybe they are going away for 2 months to sunny Spain. Could be anything.
It's probably not because they are lazy. Find out and if it is that offer to pay the ERC to move in earlier. I doubt they are delaying it two months for a laugh and tbf they did tell you upfront of their requirements.

donutandbeer

With our current purchase, two months after our offer, our vendor said in the TA6 form that he needs two months gap between exchange and completion. Before and after we offered we have checked with the estate agent twice, in person, whether our vendor has any requirements around dates, as he is moving abroad. Estate agent obviously had no clue, and told us nothing both times. We are chain-free buyers, this is a chain-free property, we thought it would be quick! But at the end of the day, we can’t find anything cheaper or similar to buy, there’s very limited stock on the market, and our vendor is in no rush to sell. He will definitely put it back on the market if we try to push him too hard, and he will probably get similar offer again, even in the current climate, as this is the cheapest freehold in the area and just really hard to come by. 

I will say certainly ask them why and see if there’s room for negotiation. If we are not living in boxes at in-law’s with most belongings in storage, we probably would be more prepared to walk away therefore in stronger position to negotiate. 

[Deleted User]

Christmas is 7 weeks away and it's an awful time to be moving - i can see both points of view - if there's an older person involved anywhere it can be a daunting time for such a big upheaval.

As i said, i can see both points and have been in the situation myself, and wouldn't do it again, i'd move the dates to the 2nd week of the New Year - far less hassle !

SJE89

Seems many would rather wait until after Christmas. I would have thought the opposite. At the current rate I would expect the first week of December to be a fine one for moving. 

I’m also not ready to wait too long as our mortgage expires at the end of March. Might seem like a long time but I feel the longer it takes to complete, there more opportunities there are for things to go wrong along the chain, taking longer and potentially pushing us even closer to the expiry date of the offer and losing our interest rate. 

gingercordial

I think it's unfair to say they are "playing games".  They've said they don't want to move until after Christmas, even put that on the form.  They have not been going back and forth and messing you around.  Plenty of good reasons why they might not want to - lots of good ones already given above, or maybe they have family coming to stay over the festive period and need to still have guest rooms available, or maybe they work in retail and are not allowed any time off between now and Christmas so can't fit in a move.  It doesn't really matter but you can't force them and you won't find a replacement property sooner, frustrating as it is.

liberty_lily

We've also completed close to Christmas on a couple of occasions (30th November and 16th December) and agree it's not ideal. Ours were both long distance moves (200 & 150 miles), took five days (loading/unloading by our removal co) and involved a one tonne hot tub on the first occasion 🙄

We had a serious amount of stuff, so organising the whole thing (particularly on the second move that close to Christmas) was a bit of a logistical nightmare. On the more recent move (16th Dec) we struggled to find a removal company available in the run-up to the festive period and had to pay extra to secure one in the end.

Both times though, we and our buyers (each time the properties we were buying were already vacant so the sellers weren't bothered either way) were extremely keen to be in ahead of Christmas and had discussed this in the October when both sets of buyers had offered.
Personally, despite the hassle, each time we were glad to get the move out of the way so that come the New Year we were ready to start renovations!

However, if the OP's vendor is adamant that they won't (or can't for whatever reason) complete till after Christmas I agree you can either accept this - and maybe see if exchange before Christmas is possible  - or threaten to pull out, which as a previous poster said might result in them remarketing.