How much would I lose if I pulled out of buying a home?

Dannydee333

How much would I lose if I pulled out of buying a home now?

I've signed contracts on my side but the seller has not. We agreed the sale in October and it's still dragging on. They have some personal issues they are trying to tie up but I don't get how or why that has to leave me in the lurch. When I signed the contract I terminated my tenancy agreement and now it looks like I'll have to remain in the rented place on a weekly rolling basis until the seller and the management company decide to do what they are supposed to do (the management company apparently don't know how to execute the very difficult task of sending a file to my solicitor). I also have arrangements in place to fit my internet and have all my furniture collected, etc, and it looks like I'll have to rearrange those dates.

I'm very agitated to the point I'd almost like to pull out due to incompetency and lack of consideration. If I pulled out, what would be my financial implications or obligations, given that the seller has not signed the contract?

I'm so annoyed. We were both ready to go back in October. The seller does not live in the property, and I was ready to move ASAP. So I really do not understand why it needs to take 5 months and counting.

Utterly ridiculous.

_Penny_Dreadful

Dannydee333 said:

How much would I lose if I pulled out of buying a home now?

I've signed contracts on my side but the seller has not. We agreed the sale in October and it's still dragging on. They have some personal issues they are trying to tie up but I don't get how or why that has to leave me in the lurch. When I signed the contract I terminated my tenancy agreement and now it looks like I'll have to remain in the rented place on a weekly rolling basis until the seller and the management company decide to do what they are supposed to do (the management company apparently don't know how to execute the very difficult task of sending a file to my solicitor). I also have arrangements in place to fit my internet and have all my furniture collected, etc, and it looks like I'll have to rearrange those dates.

I'm very agitated to the point I'd almost like to pull out due to incompetency and lack of consideration. If I pulled out, what would be my financial implications or obligations, given that the seller has not signed the contract?

I'm so annoyed. We were both ready to go back in October. The seller does not live in the property, and I was ready to move ASAP. So I really do not understand why it needs to take 5 months and counting.

Utterly ridiculous.

Until contracts are exchanged all bets are off. You’ll lose whatever you’ve spent on a solicitor and paying for survey’s etc but that’s it. 

If you’ve served notice to end your tenancy then you don’t have the right to remain in the property unless you’ve managed to negotiate a new contract with your landlord. 

EssexHebridean

First bit of advice is think this through VERY carefully and be careful that your unhappiness right now doesn't lead you to cut your nose off to spite your face. 

Signing a contract means nothing at all in legal terms - it's at the point of exchange where you are tied in. 

Think through what you have currently spent. You may have to pay the vast majority of your conveyancers fees - as although at an early stage plenty will simply not charge much if anything, there will have been too much work done now for them to take that path, almost certainly. 

You do understand I trust that deciding to terminate your tenancy and make other arrangements at the point at which you signed the contract rather than waiting for the exchange was on you - and that it's not fair to consider your seller to blame for inconvenience around that? 

It IS frustrating, but this is presumably somewhere you want to live, and if you start from scratch now, it's highly likely to take another 5 months... 

DullGreyGuy

As long as you've not exchanged you walk away at any points just losing what you've already paid out (which may include costs to your conveyancers that have been incurred but not yet billed). It's only after exchange where things get messy with forfeiture of deposits etc. 

SDLT_Geek

I think there is a rule about double rent if you stay in the let property after you have brought the tenancy to an end by notice.

The advice on here is usually firm: do not give notice to end your tenancy until you have exchanged contracts on your purchase.  It sounds too late for you, but this note might be of use to someone reading this thread in the future.

Dannydee333

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Dannydee333 said:

How much would I lose if I pulled out of buying a home now?

I've signed contracts on my side but the seller has not. We agreed the sale in October and it's still dragging on. They have some personal issues they are trying to tie up but I don't get how or why that has to leave me in the lurch. When I signed the contract I terminated my tenancy agreement and now it looks like I'll have to remain in the rented place on a weekly rolling basis until the seller and the management company decide to do what they are supposed to do (the management company apparently don't know how to execute the very difficult task of sending a file to my solicitor). I also have arrangements in place to fit my internet and have all my furniture collected, etc, and it looks like I'll have to rearrange those dates.

I'm very agitated to the point I'd almost like to pull out due to incompetency and lack of consideration. If I pulled out, what would be my financial implications or obligations, given that the seller has not signed the contract?

I'm so annoyed. We were both ready to go back in October. The seller does not live in the property, and I was ready to move ASAP. So I really do not understand why it needs to take 5 months and counting.

Utterly ridiculous.

Until contracts are exchanged all bets are off. You’ll lose whatever you’ve spent on a solicitor and paying for survey’s etc but that’s it. 

If you’ve served notice to end your tenancy then you don’t have the right to remain in the property unless you’ve managed to negotiate a new contract with your landlord. 

I'm with a housing association not a landlord and they told me I can stay on a rolling basis (because I had to call them in anticipation of this dragging on even longer).

Dannydee333

EssexHebridean said:

First bit of advice is think this through VERY carefully and be careful that your unhappiness right now doesn't lead you to cut your nose off to spite your face. 

Signing a contract means nothing at all in legal terms - it's at the point of exchange where you are tied in. 

Think through what you have currently spent. You may have to pay the vast majority of your conveyancers fees - as although at an early stage plenty will simply not charge much if anything, there will have been too much work done now for them to take that path, almost certainly. 

You do understand I trust that deciding to terminate your tenancy and make other arrangements at the point at which you signed the contract rather than waiting for the exchange was on you - and that it's not fair to consider your seller to blame for inconvenience around that? 

It IS frustrating, but this is presumably somewhere you want to live, and if you start from scratch now, it's highly likely to take another 5 months... 

I will think carefully and I do want the place but I'm just annoyed at incompetency and zero consideration. The process is ridiculously long and unnecessary.

My solicitor advised me to terminate the tenancy and then gaslighted me that it was on me. I'm annoyed with them too. I'm annoyed with almost everyone.

EssexHebridean

That was poor advice. I would suggest you have grounds for a complaint on that aspect - if only to prevent this sort of advice being given to others. 

eddddy

Dannydee333 said:

... and the management company decide to do what they are supposed to do (the management company apparently don't know how to execute the very difficult task of sending a file to my solicitor). 

What is it that the management company are "supposed to do"?

Is it really something they are "supposed to do", or something that somebody would like them to do?

What does the management company say when the seller chases them about it?


Essentially, you need to find out if this is an issue that's likely to be resolved, or whether it's a "no hoper" - or whether it's somewhere in between.

Dannydee333

eddddy said:

Dannydee333 said:

... and the management company decide to do what they are supposed to do (the management company apparently don't know how to execute the very difficult task of sending a file to my solicitor). 

What is it that the management company are "supposed to do"?

Is it really something they are "supposed to do", or something that somebody would like them to do?

What does the management company say when the seller chases them about it?


Essentially, you need to find out if this is an issue that's likely to be resolved, or whether it's a "no hoper" - or whether it's somewhere in between.

Yeah, the solicitors need confirmation of the monthly fees for the building.

Very hard to get, it seems. Even though we know what the fee is, a bit of paper is partly holding this up.

The home-buying process is insanely tedious.

FlyMeSomewhere79

I completely empathise with your situation as I s just been through a similar nightmare myself, we all agreed a completion date at the request if the solicitors a month in advance of the chosen date and all got ready to go etc. My buyers solicitor left too many stones unturned that it blew the exchange and completion time frames out of the water, I had to rearrange my removal men three times in a fortnight! They had weeks to get the exchange of contracts done ahead of time but we ended up being asked on a Thursday afternoon if we could exchange, complete and move out the next day! 

My sellers couldn't move last Fri and we finally moved on the Monday. My buyers were in a real predicament because they were in rented digs with a tenancy ending. Nightmare!

But we got there and you will too, just do not be afraid to come down heavy on people and be a pain in the backside until they do what you need them to do. I also got criticism on here because I had things organised in advance but are we really supposed to arrange a removal van and notify utilities the day we move! It'd be great if solicitors could exchange ahead of time to give us certainty but when they don't and you could be moving anyday what do you do!