Offer accepted... Am i being unreasonable?

TheJP

What if your conveyancing takes you past your March deadline? 

badger09

housebuyer143 said:

The seller probably has every intention of moving by march and will tell you that, but if they don't find a house or the solicitors are slow then it might not happen. What if they find a house but it's also in a chain and that person needs to find something. 

You are best of saying that you will only proceed if the seller agrees to go into rental because at this stage that is what you are asking them to do.

BIB
And how do you propose OP can enforce that? 😏

ReadingTim

It's not unreasonable, it's just completely unenforceable and laughably stupid.  

You have no way to force them to complete before your deadline, nor will you be able to make them cover any of the additional costs you incur by completing after the deadline, or any of your costs whatsoever should you pull out of the sale.  Your ultimatum is utterly meaningless to them, and will only cost *you* money.  

Even once they've found somewhere to move to, each party in this transaction shall have to rely that the other side will act in good faith to complete the transaction by the proposed date.  This should be achievable in 4 months, assuming no chain and no unforeseen complications, but you have to realise that there could be delays caused by factors outside their control, so cannot be guaranteed, especially in the case of a chain. 

If this is too much of a risk for you, you should find another property, preferably on that is chain free, already vacant etc.  Probate sales and auctions are probably your best bet, and spend your time and energy sorting out another mortgage extension / deal, rather than silly conditional offers such as this.  

secla

I would tell them the fact you need to complete by march but as said until you exchange nothing is legally binding and by the time you get to exchange you will have agreed a date anyway, You have no way of forcing them to move out even if they agree they will now.
I would just make your intentions clear from the start

lookstraightahead

Op, you have a very real deadline here that changes your situation completely. The seller can choose what they want to do, but you have to tell them that this is definitely your deadline; it doesn't really matter beyond that to you or what their reasons might be as your mortgage offer will end. Hopefully they will be honest back and you can then decide to continue cautiously if they agree, or withdraw at any point along the way if you think it's not going to happen (as you need to secure something else).

Personally end of March seems like an age to me, but then I've never been in any long chains for this reason. Irrespective of their willingness, it can still go wrong, so you have to make your own choices as there are no definites.