FTB Purchase Nightmare - 3-month Stalled Chain

ElectricJungle889

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in the process of purchasing a house, but I'm feeling a bit unsure about the current state of things and I'm hoping to get some advice. This is actually our third attempt at buying a house, as we've had two previous houses fall through due to factors outside of our control. We've been trying to buy since the end of 2021, so it's been a bit of a frustrating process so far.

Our current situation is that we're first-time buyers (that are renting) and we had an offer accepted just before Christmas 2022. At that point, we were told that it was just a two-property chain, with the sellers buying a vacant property. However, after the New Year, we found out that this wasn't actually the case and they were still looking for a property.

They found a property in mid-January, and we were then told that we had a completed chain because the person our vendors were buying from had a no onward chain purchase agreed. We accelerated from our side and completed pretty much everything from our side in terms of surveys and conveyancing, but whilst we were pushing all of that along, we were told at the start of February by the estate agent that we didn't have a complete chain after all.

We were frustrated by this, but then we were told a week or so later that they'd found a place and that their vendor was at the offers stage. However, it's now the end of March, and we haven't had any further movement. We've been told that the top of the chain has offered on four places but "missed out".

My gut is telling me that this is heading south and we only have just under three months left on our mortgage offer. We've mentioned this to the estate agent and made sure they know, to which they've said that they'll explore breaking the chain options with the other parties, but we're not very confident that this will happen.

We're currently renting on a monthly rolling contract, which means that we don't have much security, and we're just feeling a bit frustrated by the whole situation. I think it's very selfish of people who already own a property to delay and just mess so many people around.

I'm at the point where me and my partner are considering looking at other properties, as I don't want to just wait for it to fall through eventually. However, we don't want to make any rash decisions.

I'm just looking for some advice on what to do next. Have any of you been in a similar situation? Do you have any tips for how we can navigate this process? I'd appreciate any advice or insights that you might have.

Thank you in advance!

Flugelhorn

unfortunately it is the longest wait at the bottom of the of the chain and as each new link is a whole transaction in itself it can take time. last 3 I have bought have been "no upward chain" and that has speeded things up considerably

ElectricJungle889

Well this is the thing, we're over 3 months along and don't even have a completed chain at the moment as the top of the chain have dragged their feet for now 6 weeks...

housebuyer143

You need to either look for a chain free property and hope it is quicker or wait. Chains can take a while to complete and they can be long if no one wants to break it. I would not say it is selfish that they are making you wait - people at the top of the chain have no idea how long you have been waiting and are probably trying their best to find something. With the amount of fall throughs you had, you must appreciate how these things are out of their control as well. 

It is not so easy to just break a chain and go into rented for everyone either. With all the will in the world, if you cant afford the rents, have dogs, need to be in a particular area for schools etc, then finding a rental can be a real challenge and then try and co-ordinate that with exchanging contracts on your house so you do not commit before the sale is guaranteed. Anyway, not a lot you can do tbh apart from push your seller to move out before their purchase is completed. 

lookstraightahead

Some people can't (or wont) go into rented so they are happy to hang around for ever it seems.
I don't wait for someone to find a property to buy. They can either move out or they can't (their prerogative of course). If they can't I move on, as I'm always happy to break chains I expect others to. However, mine isn't a popular approach on here (although it seems to be ok when I buy, and have never had a problem with vendors moving out in the real world). 

ElectricJungle889

housebuyer143 said:

You need to either look for a chain free property and hope it is quicker or wait. Chains can take a while to complete and they can be long if no one wants to break it. I would not say it is selfish that they are making you wait - people at the top of the chain have no idea how long you have been waiting and are probably trying their best to find something. With the amount of fall throughs you had, you must appreciate how these things are out of their control as well. 

It is not so easy to just break a chain and go into rented for everyone either. With all the will in the world, if you cant afford the rents, have dogs, need to be in a particular area for schools etc, then finding a rental can be a real challenge and then try and co-ordinate that with exchanging contracts on your house so you do not commit before the sale is guaranteed. Anyway, not a lot you can do tbh apart from push your seller to move out before their purchase is completed. 

Oh, 100% in terms of I'm not expecting people to break the chain. But when our sellers lost their supposed dream property they found another within 2 weeks. For the top of the chain to be sitting on their hands for 6 weeks to me is selfish knowing how many people are down the line and waiting on them.

If you've missed out on 4 properties in this market you're either under-offering or the unluckiest people in the world...

ElectricJungle889

lookstraightahead said:

Some people can't (or wont) go into rented so they are happy to hang around for ever it seems.
I don't wait for someone to find a property to buy. They can either move out or they can't (their prerogative of course). If they can't I move on, as I'm always happy to break chains I expect others to. However, mine isn't a popular approach on here (although it seems to be ok when I buy, and have never had a problem with vendors moving out in the real world). 

And to be honest, I wouldn't have been expecting them to do so, but considering I have under 3 months left on my mortgage offer it's probably the only option left.

JM68

Unfortunately its quite a common situation.  Chains break for all sorts of reasons.  You really only have the option of waiting or walking.

No chain is guaranteed until exchange, whether that is the one you currently in (if it comes back together) or if you find another property and proceed with that instead.

Even properties marketed as 'chain free' can have complications that mean they don't proceed e.g. probate complications, survey or mortgage valuation issues the vendor won't accept, tenants not leaving if a BTL).

If you do walk away from the current one then you will lose some money, on the survey and conveyancing.  You may also lose some of any mortgage fees depending on your deal, as a new chain is very unlikely to complete before your expiry.

Feel for your frustration but its just how it all works (or doesn't work sometimes!!).

MultiFuelBurner

Sometimes a bit of pressure helps. It might be worth advising the estate agents /solicitors you are considering walking away as it's taking too long.

See what rattling the tree does.

diego_94

Start looking at other properties

MFWannabe

Maybe start looking at other properties to see if you see anything you like? 

That will help make your mind up if to wait or pull out 
Bear in mind chain free doesn’t always mean quicker; we were chain free and it still took 14 weeks