Can’t agree on completion date

angel3130

The reason I am having to sell is because I bought the house under a shared equity scheme with Persimmon - they lent me 25% of the value for the deposit and now the time is up to pay it back. Due to me being on my own now and with bad credit I can’t get another mortgage to borrow this money so have to sell. Once Persimmon get their share I won’t be left with much so don’t want to be moving in somewhere temporarily first. I haven’t sold before so wasn’t sure of the right way to do things hence asking for advice on here. I’ve just asked to view a couple of properties but they said first available is next week so I think being ready in 3 weeks is pushing it

Exodi

angel3130 said:

The reason I am having to sell is because I bought the house under a shared equity scheme with Persimmon - they lent me 25% of the value for the deposit and now the time is up to pay it back. Due to me being on my own now and with bad credit I can’t get another mortgage to borrow this money so have to sell. Once Persimmon get their share I won’t be left with much so don’t want to be moving in somewhere temporarily first. I haven’t sold before so wasn’t sure of the right way to do things hence asking for advice on here. I’ve just asked to view a couple of properties but they said first available is next week so I think being ready in 3 weeks is pushing it

Which if you strip out the irrelevant (to the buyer) background detail, it is exactly what I said, that this "depends on how adverse to paying for short term accommodation the OP is, this is the basis of this negotiation" and your answer is that you are completely against it - "don’t want to be moving in somewhere temporarily first".

I also think it's pretty obvious that your mind is already made up from the estate agents initial recommendation of 4 weeks, so you may as well save the commentors in this thread the time of continuing this disingenuous discussion and just inform the buyer that you are only willing to complete 4 weeks after exchange.

It will then be a game of chicken as you said earlier: "My buyers are saying they want to move in in 3 weeks and aren’t waiting 4 weeks".

Do you have a guarantor? I expect with bad credit many may require one (my parents did even with a guaranteed retirement income...).

DE_612183

HouseMartin567 said:

You have risk at both ends here. You insist on 4 weeks between exchange and completion and the buyer could pull out, or you agree to 3 weeks and then don’t find a rental in time. I guess you need to decide which of these is the worst situation for you and work from there.

Thats wrong - once you've gone past exchange the buyer can't pull out - unless they want to lose a lot of money.

At exchange they are contractually locked in to buy the property at a price on a date - if they break that contract they can get sued.

Exodi

DE_612183 said:

HouseMartin567 said:

You have risk at both ends here. You insist on 4 weeks between exchange and completion and the buyer could pull out, or you agree to 3 weeks and then don’t find a rental in time. I guess you need to decide which of these is the worst situation for you and work from there.

Thats wrong - once you've gone past exchange the buyer can't pull out - unless they want to lose a lot of money.

At exchange they are contractually locked in to buy the property at a price on a date - if they break that contract they can get sued.

I think you've misinterpreted what @HouseMartin567 has said.

My interpretation is that the OP could remain steadfast in their insistence for 4 weeks between exchange and completion - and the buyer may respond by pulling out (before ever getting to the stage of signing or exchanging contracts).

Or the OP agrees to the buyers request of a 3 week period between exchange and completion.

Neither party will sign contracts and exchange until they reach agreement on this detail beforehand.

DE_612183

Exodi said:

DE_612183 said:

HouseMartin567 said:

You have risk at both ends here. You insist on 4 weeks between exchange and completion and the buyer could pull out, or you agree to 3 weeks and then don’t find a rental in time. I guess you need to decide which of these is the worst situation for you and work from there.

Thats wrong - once you've gone past exchange the buyer can't pull out - unless they want to lose a lot of money.

At exchange they are contractually locked in to buy the property at a price on a date - if they break that contract they can get sued.

I think you've misinterpreted what @HouseMartin567 has said.

My interpretation is that the OP could remain steadfast in their insistence for 4 weeks between exchange and completion - and the buyer may respond by pulling out (before ever getting to the stage of signing or exchanging contracts).

Or the OP meets the buyers demands of a 3 week period between exchange and completion.

Neither party will sign contracts and exchange until they reach agreement on this detail.

Ah, I see - yes that makes sense!

saajan_12

angel3130 said:

The reason I am having to sell is because I bought the house under a shared equity scheme with Persimmon - they lent me 25% of the value for the deposit and now the time is up to pay it back. Due to me being on my own now and with bad credit I can’t get another mortgage to borrow this money so have to sell. Once Persimmon get their share I won’t be left with much so don’t want to be moving in somewhere temporarily first. I haven’t sold before so wasn’t sure of the right way to do things hence asking for advice on here. I’ve just asked to view a couple of properties but they said first available is next week so I think being ready in 3 weeks is pushing it

If you really can't move somewhere temporarily, then what's your plan if the 4 weeks turns out to be insufficient as well? Why not ask for 8 weeks to be more comfortable (1-2 weeks to get through viewings and find one that'll accept your offer, 1-2 weeks for reference checks, unknown weeks for the current tenants to leave and any repairs / refurb to be completed). 4 isn't a magic number. 

BungalowBel

angel3130 said:

From what I understand the house sale can fall through before completion without any penalties on their side 

Not once contracts have been exchanged.

angel3130

I’m not stuck on 4 weeks, I don’t know how long the whole requesting a viewing and being accepted as a tenant will be. I was recommended 4 weeks so I thought that would be a reasonable amount of time. I came on here for advice, not to be patronised. This whole thing is making me lose sleep and feel poorly and as I don’t have anyone to ask for advice I thought I would get it here 

DE_612183

angel3130 said:

I’m not stuck on 4 weeks, I don’t know how long the whole requesting a viewing and being accepted as a tenant will be. I was recommended 4 weeks so I thought that would be a reasonable amount of time. I came on here for advice, not to be patronised. This whole thing is making me lose sleep and feel poorly and as I don’t have anyone to ask for advice I thought I would get it here 

The advice is ask for 4 - if they are stuck on 3 and won't budge, then either go with that or risk losing the sale.

If you can't get sorted in 3 weeks - have you got an alternative for a week or two? Storage and Air BNB perhaps?

You could of course go back to the buyer and say - ok - 3 weeks but it's an extra £500 to cover my storage and accommodation - see what they say.

It's all about negotiation - only you know how strongly you feel about this.

DE_612183

My daughter recently went through the rental process for a flat - she was through the door within 7 days of viewing the property - that was fast and she had all her stuff sorted and had little moving to do ( back of a transit ).