Missives pull out

carolineb5949

Please before I begin I can not tell you how worried I am so please no judgement.

So me and my partner are mid 50s and have worked very hard to build up 2 businesses and have a nice home (which has another business - a shop- attached) but this is in the city and we always dreamed of moving to the country one day. Like a lot of people I look at these big detached houses on sites in the millions of pounds knowing we could never afford one until we came across one that had a good income from several cottages, we went to view and although we had no idea how we could afford it we fell in love it was in Scotland and the sellers had already purchased another house they were living in so were keen to hurry thing along. We fell in love with the place.

Sadly after looking in to a bridging loan it was still well beyond our reach. Then the lovely sellers (who are multi millionaires) came up with a loan agreement as they were not desperate for the money straight away, it was interest free, we were over the moon, all we had to do was raise half the money from the sale of our properties and businesses. Although the sellers were being unbelievably kind they did put ridiculous almost unachievable time lines on the purchase especially as we had to find a purchaser and quick, the first deadline for concluding missives end Jan (we only viewed end Nov) we looked at loans, quick sales and so on but then out of the blue one of our customers registered an interest for buying EVERYTHING, we got valuations done, our buyers were sorting finance, we rushed through structural surveys and had a Scottish and English solicitor, a tax advisor, accountant all working on it but our legal team said due to the complexities and scale of it that it would take months. We explained this via us and our solicitor and reluctantly they agreed a final deadline for missives of end of Feb. 

We were elated as we felt this timeline was doable, our buyers (who live round the corner) kept us updated with the finance side having made us aware they had raised a large amount already from a family member and the email I was waiting for came through saying everything for their loan was approved, obviously due to selling in England and buying in Scotland paperwork wise it was difficult. 

Then one day before we were due to sign our missives and the buyer signing our sales contracts we got a call from our solicitor saying the buyers solicitor had contacted him to say although the loan was approved for our buyers finance it had not yet been signed off on as they were still carrying out due diligence our buyers said they were not aware of this.

We were then left in the awful position as the sellers would not extend the deadline further which they pretty much stated in every email to our solicitor, do we sign knowing our buyers were almost there and had already arranged a large sum of money or did we miss the deadline and the sellers pull out and us lose a once in a lifetime dream to own a property like this.

Now our solicitor did warn that if we then pulled out after signing we would have significant costs but we signed the missives with a long date of entry for 1st June. This was a couple of weeks ago and although our buyers had assured us the completed due diligence was only a couple of days off and we have not had anything pulled we have still not had reassurance that everything is in place as yet. I am a nervous wreck, I can't eat, I can't sleep this has been made worse as we have now found out that the large amount from a family member is in fact another loan and that has not been signed off on as yet either, one of the loans is only on the table until end of March but it means we could be in limbo for weeks yet when I should be celebrating and packing, I do genuinely believe the buyers want this more than anything but if the finance is not approved.....

So why am I saying all this, well I had a conversation with my solicitor a couple of days after signing the missives about my costs should the worst happen and he is talking hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the sellers advertising campaign, legals and possibly the difference between our sales price and someone buying it for less, needless to say I do not have that sort of money. If any legal people (or something similar has happened to you, not just on the scale of a standard house) can advise on litigation, can I argue the sellers pressured us with an unrealistic deadline?  could I sue the buyers for being dishonest about their funding?

I am preying it does not come to this and everything goes through but I can not shake that feeling of inpending doom and would love to get some input from others, thank-you.

EssexHebridean

My knowledge on the Scottish system is too limited to give any realistic input I’m afraid, but I didn’t want to read and run. Wishing you well for it all going through in the timescale - you do still have time on your side which is something, at least, so fingers crossed for you. 

comeandgo

The sellers did not give you an unrealistic deadline, they have been more than generous.  Properties sell in a few weeks in Scotland.  The funding of your buyers should have been checked by your estate agents or solicitor.  This is only March so you have a few weeks to get things sorted.

carolineb5949

comeandgo said:

The sellers did not give you an unrealistic deadline, they have been more than generous.  Properties sell in a few weeks in Scotland.  The funding of your buyers should have been checked by your estate agents or solicitor.  This is only March so you have a few weeks to get things sorted.

They certainly have been generous and are a lovely couple unfortunately the sale was 3 parts, house/business and a loan agreement, even their own solicitors said the timeline would be 4 -6 months and not 2 (we put the offer in end December) we never got as far as putting our properties with an estate agent and my Scottish solicitor has not yet asked for proof of our funding (other than he knows we own what we say we own) 

carolineb5949

EssexHebridean said:

My knowledge on the Scottish system is too limited to give any realistic input I’m afraid, but I didn’t want to read and run. Wishing you well for it all going through in the timescale - you do still have time on your side which is something, at least, so fingers crossed for you. 

Thank-you for taking the time to read and your best wishes

_Penny_Dreadful

carolineb5949 said:

Please before I begin I can not tell you how worried I am so please no judgement.

So me and my partner are mid 50s and have worked very hard to build up 2 businesses and have a nice home (which has another business - a shop- attached) but this is in the city and we always dreamed of moving to the country one day. Like a lot of people I look at these big detached houses on sites in the millions of pounds knowing we could never afford one until we came across one that had a good income from several cottages, we went to view and although we had no idea how we could afford it we fell in love it was in Scotland and the sellers had already purchased another house they were living in so were keen to hurry thing along. We fell in love with the place.

Sadly after looking in to a bridging loan it was still well beyond our reach. Then the lovely sellers (who are multi millionaires) came up with a loan agreement as they were not desperate for the money straight away, it was interest free, we were over the moon, all we had to do was raise half the money from the sale of our properties and businesses. Although the sellers were being unbelievably kind they did put ridiculous almost unachievable time lines on the purchase especially as we had to find a purchaser and quick, the first deadline for concluding missives end Jan (we only viewed end Nov) we looked at loans, quick sales and so on but then out of the blue one of our customers registered an interest for buying EVERYTHING, we got valuations done, our buyers were sorting finance, we rushed through structural surveys and had a Scottish and English solicitor, a tax advisor, accountant all working on it but our legal team said due to the complexities and scale of it that it would take months. We explained this via us and our solicitor and reluctantly they agreed a final deadline for missives of end of Feb. 

We were elated as we felt this timeline was doable, our buyers (who live round the corner) kept us updated with the finance side having made us aware they had raised a large amount already from a family member and the email I was waiting for came through saying everything for their loan was approved, obviously due to selling in England and buying in Scotland paperwork wise it was difficult. 

Then one day before we were due to sign our missives and the buyer signing our sales contracts we got a call from our solicitor saying the buyers solicitor had contacted him to say although the loan was approved for our buyers finance it had not yet been signed off on as they were still carrying out due diligence our buyers said they were not aware of this.

We were then left in the awful position as the sellers would not extend the deadline further which they pretty much stated in every email to our solicitor, do we sign knowing our buyers were almost there and had already arranged a large sum of money or did we miss the deadline and the sellers pull out and us lose a once in a lifetime dream to own a property like this.

Now our solicitor did warn that if we then pulled out after signing we would have significant costs but we signed the missives with a long date of entry for 1st June. This was a couple of weeks ago and although our buyers had assured us the completed due diligence was only a couple of days off and we have not had anything pulled we have still not had reassurance that everything is in place as yet. I am a nervous wreck, I can't eat, I can't sleep this has been made worse as we have now found out that the large amount from a family member is in fact another loan and that has not been signed off on as yet either, one of the loans is only on the table until end of March but it means we could be in limbo for weeks yet when I should be celebrating and packing, I do genuinely believe the buyers want this more than anything but if the finance is not approved.....

So why am I saying all this, well I had a conversation with my solicitor a couple of days after signing the missives about my costs should the worst happen and he is talking hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the sellers advertising campaign, legals and possibly the difference between our sales price and someone buying it for less, needless to say I do not have that sort of money. If any legal people (or something similar has happened to you, not just on the scale of a standard house) can advise on litigation, can I argue the sellers pressured us with an unrealistic deadline?  could I sue the buyers for being dishonest about their funding?

I am preying it does not come to this and everything goes through but I can not shake that feeling of inpending doom and would love to get some input from others, thank-you.

I don’t know why people keep trying to line up sales in England with purchases in Scotland. They are two completely different legal systems and it is very risky. 

Unless you’ve exchanged contracts on the English sale then you won’t be successfully suing your buyers for anything. 

You can’t successfully sue the Scottish sellers either. You have a solicitor, your solicitor will have warned you about the risks of completing the missives without adequate funds in place. You had a choice, sign or let the property go. 

It boils down to you making an offer on a Scottish property when you were not really in a position to do so. 

carolineb5949

_Penny_Dreadful said:

carolineb5949 said:

Please before I begin I can not tell you how worried I am so please no judgement.

So me and my partner are mid 50s and have worked very hard to build up 2 businesses and have a nice home (which has another business - a shop- attached) but this is in the city and we always dreamed of moving to the country one day. Like a lot of people I look at these big detached houses on sites in the millions of pounds knowing we could never afford one until we came across one that had a good income from several cottages, we went to view and although we had no idea how we could afford it we fell in love it was in Scotland and the sellers had already purchased another house they were living in so were keen to hurry thing along. We fell in love with the place.

Sadly after looking in to a bridging loan it was still well beyond our reach. Then the lovely sellers (who are multi millionaires) came up with a loan agreement as they were not desperate for the money straight away, it was interest free, we were over the moon, all we had to do was raise half the money from the sale of our properties and businesses. Although the sellers were being unbelievably kind they did put ridiculous almost unachievable time lines on the purchase especially as we had to find a purchaser and quick, the first deadline for concluding missives end Jan (we only viewed end Nov) we looked at loans, quick sales and so on but then out of the blue one of our customers registered an interest for buying EVERYTHING, we got valuations done, our buyers were sorting finance, we rushed through structural surveys and had a Scottish and English solicitor, a tax advisor, accountant all working on it but our legal team said due to the complexities and scale of it that it would take months. We explained this via us and our solicitor and reluctantly they agreed a final deadline for missives of end of Feb. 

We were elated as we felt this timeline was doable, our buyers (who live round the corner) kept us updated with the finance side having made us aware they had raised a large amount already from a family member and the email I was waiting for came through saying everything for their loan was approved, obviously due to selling in England and buying in Scotland paperwork wise it was difficult. 

Then one day before we were due to sign our missives and the buyer signing our sales contracts we got a call from our solicitor saying the buyers solicitor had contacted him to say although the loan was approved for our buyers finance it had not yet been signed off on as they were still carrying out due diligence our buyers said they were not aware of this.

We were then left in the awful position as the sellers would not extend the deadline further which they pretty much stated in every email to our solicitor, do we sign knowing our buyers were almost there and had already arranged a large sum of money or did we miss the deadline and the sellers pull out and us lose a once in a lifetime dream to own a property like this.

Now our solicitor did warn that if we then pulled out after signing we would have significant costs but we signed the missives with a long date of entry for 1st June. This was a couple of weeks ago and although our buyers had assured us the completed due diligence was only a couple of days off and we have not had anything pulled we have still not had reassurance that everything is in place as yet. I am a nervous wreck, I can't eat, I can't sleep this has been made worse as we have now found out that the large amount from a family member is in fact another loan and that has not been signed off on as yet either, one of the loans is only on the table until end of March but it means we could be in limbo for weeks yet when I should be celebrating and packing, I do genuinely believe the buyers want this more than anything but if the finance is not approved.....

So why am I saying all this, well I had a conversation with my solicitor a couple of days after signing the missives about my costs should the worst happen and he is talking hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the sellers advertising campaign, legals and possibly the difference between our sales price and someone buying it for less, needless to say I do not have that sort of money. If any legal people (or something similar has happened to you, not just on the scale of a standard house) can advise on litigation, can I argue the sellers pressured us with an unrealistic deadline?  could I sue the buyers for being dishonest about their funding?

I am preying it does not come to this and everything goes through but I can not shake that feeling of inpending doom and would love to get some input from others, thank-you.

I don’t know why people keep trying to line up sales in England with purchases in Scotland. They are two completely different legal systems and it is very risky. 

Unless you’ve exchanged contracts on the English sale then you won’t be successfully suing your buyers for anything. 

You can’t successfully sue the Scottish sellers either. You have a solicitor, your solicitor will have warned you about the risks of completing the missives without adequate funds in place. You had a choice, sign or let the property go. 

It boils down to you making an offer on a Scottish property when you were not really in a position to do so. 

We had no intention of making an offer on the property, we went to view with the idea we could arrange a bridging loan but when that was not possible we explained to the seller we could go no further and at that point had only viewed (the house was not on the market as a sale had fallen through  and before missives were signed) I had registered an interest months earlier, the day after they rang back with the generous loan offer but again I said unless by some miracle we sold everything somehow, it would still be a no, it was at that point our customer came forward. But I do agree your point.

Olinda99

hopefully your buyers will proceed soon

if the worst happens and you are unable to complete by the date specified then yes you could be on the hook for rather a lot of money if you pull out

As the date approaches there may be options for example you could sell your properties for knockdown price at auction which would raise some money

if you cannot raise all the money to complete it may be that the sellers will grant you a mortgage for the outstanding amount i.e you pay them back so much a month with interest you say they are rich they may well do this who knows. there will be fees for setting this up of course.

there may be other options

carolineb5949

Thank- you for your comments, yes perhaps although with them already offering a generous loan I think this would be pushing our luck. But who knows

user1977

_Penny_Dreadful said:

carolineb5949 said:

Please before I begin I can not tell you how worried I am so please no judgement.

So me and my partner are mid 50s and have worked very hard to build up 2 businesses and have a nice home (which has another business - a shop- attached) but this is in the city and we always dreamed of moving to the country one day. Like a lot of people I look at these big detached houses on sites in the millions of pounds knowing we could never afford one until we came across one that had a good income from several cottages, we went to view and although we had no idea how we could afford it we fell in love it was in Scotland and the sellers had already purchased another house they were living in so were keen to hurry thing along. We fell in love with the place.

Sadly after looking in to a bridging loan it was still well beyond our reach. Then the lovely sellers (who are multi millionaires) came up with a loan agreement as they were not desperate for the money straight away, it was interest free, we were over the moon, all we had to do was raise half the money from the sale of our properties and businesses. Although the sellers were being unbelievably kind they did put ridiculous almost unachievable time lines on the purchase especially as we had to find a purchaser and quick, the first deadline for concluding missives end Jan (we only viewed end Nov) we looked at loans, quick sales and so on but then out of the blue one of our customers registered an interest for buying EVERYTHING, we got valuations done, our buyers were sorting finance, we rushed through structural surveys and had a Scottish and English solicitor, a tax advisor, accountant all working on it but our legal team said due to the complexities and scale of it that it would take months. We explained this via us and our solicitor and reluctantly they agreed a final deadline for missives of end of Feb. 

We were elated as we felt this timeline was doable, our buyers (who live round the corner) kept us updated with the finance side having made us aware they had raised a large amount already from a family member and the email I was waiting for came through saying everything for their loan was approved, obviously due to selling in England and buying in Scotland paperwork wise it was difficult. 

Then one day before we were due to sign our missives and the buyer signing our sales contracts we got a call from our solicitor saying the buyers solicitor had contacted him to say although the loan was approved for our buyers finance it had not yet been signed off on as they were still carrying out due diligence our buyers said they were not aware of this.

We were then left in the awful position as the sellers would not extend the deadline further which they pretty much stated in every email to our solicitor, do we sign knowing our buyers were almost there and had already arranged a large sum of money or did we miss the deadline and the sellers pull out and us lose a once in a lifetime dream to own a property like this.

Now our solicitor did warn that if we then pulled out after signing we would have significant costs but we signed the missives with a long date of entry for 1st June. This was a couple of weeks ago and although our buyers had assured us the completed due diligence was only a couple of days off and we have not had anything pulled we have still not had reassurance that everything is in place as yet. I am a nervous wreck, I can't eat, I can't sleep this has been made worse as we have now found out that the large amount from a family member is in fact another loan and that has not been signed off on as yet either, one of the loans is only on the table until end of March but it means we could be in limbo for weeks yet when I should be celebrating and packing, I do genuinely believe the buyers want this more than anything but if the finance is not approved.....

So why am I saying all this, well I had a conversation with my solicitor a couple of days after signing the missives about my costs should the worst happen and he is talking hundreds of thousands of pounds due to the sellers advertising campaign, legals and possibly the difference between our sales price and someone buying it for less, needless to say I do not have that sort of money. If any legal people (or something similar has happened to you, not just on the scale of a standard house) can advise on litigation, can I argue the sellers pressured us with an unrealistic deadline?  could I sue the buyers for being dishonest about their funding?

I am preying it does not come to this and everything goes through but I can not shake that feeling of inpending doom and would love to get some input from others, thank-you.

It boils down to you making an offer on a Scottish property when you were not really in a position to do so. 

It's fine to make an offer, as long as you're clear that you're relying on (a) your sale and (b) the speed of the system in England, and so won't be in a position to conclude unconditional missives until quite late.

OP, what did you think would happen if you missed your sellers' "deadline"? If they pulled out they'd presumably have been starting from scratch and have to find another buyer? Did nobody suggest calling their bluff?

oldernonethewiser

comeandgo said:

The sellers did not give you an unrealistic deadline, they have been more than generous.  Properties sell in a few weeks in Scotland.  The funding of your buyers should have been checked by your estate agents or solicitor.  This is only March so you have a few weeks to get things sorted.

Bit of a generalisation there.