Missives signed and need to pull out Scotland

john2017

Hi im looking for advice from anyone who knows the way all this works.Basically i put my house up for sale in october and after a few weeks accepted an offer and all was well.The buyers then missed then first date of exchange "unbeknown to me that i needed missives signed" and the lawyer didnt tell me anything like that instead saying alot of people dont bother until sale day to sign missives.I had sold most of my belongings as we were moving into my partners house.Long story short they missed another 4 and the whole scenario of not knowing whats going on has caused alot of stress.We asked how the missives worked and have an email from our lawyer stating when they recieve the letter from the buyers solicitor she will call us to confirm im still ok to proceed.She emailed last week about moving dates and we suggested a date heard nothing back then friday she emailed saying Missives signed for the end of the month.Ive been signed off my work due to mental health for the last 13 weeks 8 days after their first pull out.My relationship with my partner finally failed thru this stress on thursday night and me and my two kids 10 and 12 years old have nowhere to live.
I am looking to find out if we can somehow be forced to sell or what we can do and what fines we will recieve.Im a single parent who works full time and recieves child benifets to survive basically.I have a trust deed paying back loans to furnish our house and dont exactly have much money spare but understand and am willing to pay buyers fees etc incurred so long as i can pay them up.
Thanks.

_Penny_Dreadful

In Scotland there isn’t an exchange date, exchange is something that happens when you buy a house south of the border. 

You mention that you have signed the missives, do you know if the missives have been concluded i.e. have both you and the buyer accepted the missives? Once the missives have been concluded you have a binding contract and it will be very expensive to back out.  You really need to speak with your solicitor asap to see how far down the track you are and if you’re passed the point of no return. Then you can work out your next steps e.g. looking for a rental property. 

justwhat

Just contact your solicitor , if the missives are not concluded you can back out and will only have normal solicitors fees to pay.

If missives are concluded then you may  have to pay compensation to the buyer and the seller. However the norm is for the missive to be signed / concluded at the last minute.

Just call you solicitor today. Many sales fall through and your solicitor will have encountered this situation before 

Flugelhorn

I am a bit confused, do you want to move now or not?

user1977

john2017 said:

then friday she emailed saying Missives signed for the end of the month..

Can you copy exactly what she said in her email, because your story is rather difficult to follow, and I'm not clear on whether you actually have a binding contract for the sale yet.

john2017

Hi no I need to keep this house for me and the 2 kids.She just emailed saying the missives are now signed I’m going to call when they open.

john2017

_Penny_Dreadful said:

In Scotland there isn’t an exchange date, exchange is something that happens when you buy a house south of the border. 

You mention that you have signed the missives, do you know if the missives have been concluded i.e. have both you and the buyer accepted the missives? Once the missives have been concluded you have a binding contract and it will be very expensive to back out.  You really need to speak with your solicitor asap to see how far down the track you are and if you’re passed the point of no return. Then you can work out your next steps e.g. looking for a rental property. 

Sorry I don’t know that part she’s been very vague about how it all works all she emailed was the missives are signed.