Completion date cancelled due to no signed contract from vender

DullGreyGuy

NikkiHawk said:

I'm trying to understand a few things:

1. If the contract wasn’t signed and received before the completion date, how could the lawyers have requested the mortgage funds?
2. How can they not inform us that they planned to exchange and complete on the same day and inform us of the risk involved in doing so.

We’ve heard that we are not eligible for compensation since the contracts weren’t signed, but we're already out of pocket with extra fees and missed work days due to the delay.

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

1) Contracts aren't required for funds to be given to the conveyancer 

2) There are bigger questions of how you went from knowing exchange had failed on 2nd Oct to 30 Oct without realising you hadn't exchanged yet and its potential consequence? Were other exchange dates discussed/agreed? Were they equally missed without anything other than the vendor having not signed yet? 

Until you have exchanged there is no commitment to the sale and so no compensation due from anyone for anything. 

Its more fundamentally concerning that no messages have been received from the vendor,  now if it was agreed to go for same day exchange/complete when the 2nd failed its bad news but not terrible news. If instead there's been a whole host of other dates attempted that all also failed then it is terrible news. There is clearly a reason why the seller isn't wanting to be bound into selling, maybe thinking of not selling or maybe as a different buyer lined up but doesn't want to cancel before they've exchanged with them. 

molerat

Have you exchanged contracts with your buyer ?  That would be a more worrying and possibly costly concern

NikkiHawk

DullGreyGuy said:

NikkiHawk said:

I'm trying to understand a few things:

1. If the contract wasn’t signed and received before the completion date, how could the lawyers have requested the mortgage funds?
2. How can they not inform us that they planned to exchange and complete on the same day and inform us of the risk involved in doing so.

We’ve heard that we are not eligible for compensation since the contracts weren’t signed, but we're already out of pocket with extra fees and missed work days due to the delay.

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

1) Contracts aren't required for funds to be given to the conveyancer 

2) There are bigger questions of how you went from knowing exchange had failed on 2nd Oct to 30 Oct without realising you hadn't exchanged yet and its potential consequence? Were other exchange dates discussed/agreed? Were they equally missed without anything other than the vendor having not signed yet? 

Until you have exchanged there is no commitment to the sale and so no compensation due from anyone for anything. 

Its more fundamentally concerning that no messages have been received from the vendor,  now if it was agreed to go for same day exchange/complete when the 2nd failed its bad news but not terrible news. If instead there's been a whole host of other dates attempted that all also failed then it is terrible news. There is clearly a reason why the seller isn't wanting to be bound into selling, maybe thinking of not selling or maybe as a different buyer lined up but doesn't want to cancel before they've exchanged with them. 

My reference to 2nd October is the date the completion date of 28th October was agreed by all - So on 2nd October all parties agreed that the completion date on both properties would be Monday 28th October.

At no point did the solicitor inform us that a signed contract from the vendor was outstanding.

user1977

NikkiHawk said:

DullGreyGuy said:

NikkiHawk said:

I'm trying to understand a few things:

1. If the contract wasn’t signed and received before the completion date, how could the lawyers have requested the mortgage funds?
2. How can they not inform us that they planned to exchange and complete on the same day and inform us of the risk involved in doing so.

We’ve heard that we are not eligible for compensation since the contracts weren’t signed, but we're already out of pocket with extra fees and missed work days due to the delay.

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

1) Contracts aren't required for funds to be given to the conveyancer 

2) There are bigger questions of how you went from knowing exchange had failed on 2nd Oct to 30 Oct without realising you hadn't exchanged yet and its potential consequence? Were other exchange dates discussed/agreed? Were they equally missed without anything other than the vendor having not signed yet? 

Until you have exchanged there is no commitment to the sale and so no compensation due from anyone for anything. 

Its more fundamentally concerning that no messages have been received from the vendor,  now if it was agreed to go for same day exchange/complete when the 2nd failed its bad news but not terrible news. If instead there's been a whole host of other dates attempted that all also failed then it is terrible news. There is clearly a reason why the seller isn't wanting to be bound into selling, maybe thinking of not selling or maybe as a different buyer lined up but doesn't want to cancel before they've exchanged with them. 

At no point did the solicitor inform us that a signed contract from the vendor was outstanding.

But (presumably) at no point did your solicitor inform you that you had exchanged contracts? So you knew that was still outstanding irrespective of the reason why?

EssexHebridean

You need to forget about "the date everyone agreed completion" - that date is largely irrelevant until contracts have been exchanged - until then, it's simply a desire on the part of all parties, nothing more. 

Having been told that exchange wasn't happening on the original intended date, what happened then? Was it a case of it just creeping later and later towards the "desired" completion date? If so, and if everyone involved was still adamant that the desired completion date had to be stuck to, then it reaches a point where at some stage those waiting for funds have to request them without exchange having happened first as is more usual - this isn't particularly uncommon. 

Your solicitor may not have known that it was a signed contract from the vendor that was missing if the vendors solicitor hadn't told them that. 

Tiglet2

NikkiHawk said:

DullGreyGuy said:

NikkiHawk said:

I'm trying to understand a few things:

1. If the contract wasn’t signed and received before the completion date, how could the lawyers have requested the mortgage funds?
2. How can they not inform us that they planned to exchange and complete on the same day and inform us of the risk involved in doing so.

We’ve heard that we are not eligible for compensation since the contracts weren’t signed, but we're already out of pocket with extra fees and missed work days due to the delay.

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

1) Contracts aren't required for funds to be given to the conveyancer 

2) There are bigger questions of how you went from knowing exchange had failed on 2nd Oct to 30 Oct without realising you hadn't exchanged yet and its potential consequence? Were other exchange dates discussed/agreed? Were they equally missed without anything other than the vendor having not signed yet? 

Until you have exchanged there is no commitment to the sale and so no compensation due from anyone for anything. 

Its more fundamentally concerning that no messages have been received from the vendor,  now if it was agreed to go for same day exchange/complete when the 2nd failed its bad news but not terrible news. If instead there's been a whole host of other dates attempted that all also failed then it is terrible news. There is clearly a reason why the seller isn't wanting to be bound into selling, maybe thinking of not selling or maybe as a different buyer lined up but doesn't want to cancel before they've exchanged with them. 

My reference to 2nd October is the date the completion date of 28th October was agreed by all - So on 2nd October all parties agreed that the completion date on both properties would be Monday 28th October.

At no point did the solicitor inform us that a signed contract from the vendor was outstanding.

The 2nd October is the date that all parties (did that include all solicitors?) agreed on a 28th October completion date.  However, that is not set in stone, unless exchange actually takes place.  Exchange can only take place when all the paperwork is returned and everyone has confirmed that they are ready to proceed.

From 2nd October to 28th October, exchange didn't take place, so I am surprised you didn't query this earlier because, without entering into a legal contract on exchange, nothing is final including that formerly agreed completion date.  Without an exchange no-one is liable for anything, which is why solicitors advise not to book removals, give notice on a rental etc before that exchange has happened.

SkylineExplorer

It sounds like a truly frustrating and exhausting experience, especially with the added challenge of three kids and all your belongings packed up. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, without an exchange of contracts, you’re not legally protected or entitled to compensation for any out-of-pocket expenses. It’s definitely worth pressing your solicitor for more proactive communication and clarity on the situation – even if it means dropping by their office in person if they're local.

Also, in cases like this, some people find it helpful to have the estate agent keep pressure on the vendor to speed things along. While it's a difficult spot, hopefully, a bit more persistence with all parties involved can get things moving soon. 

Sending all the best for a quick resolution!

annetheman

That sounds really stressful. I totally understand your pain (similar happened to me in August) but as I was told then - until you exchange, there is no 'completion date'.

Until exchange, any 'completion date' is a wish/dream/maybe/not confirmed and anyone can pull out and collapse the whole thing with no penalties until that point. The ambition should always be to get past 'exchange', with the completion date a complete 'nice to aim for' until then. Obviously the completion date is set on exchange.

It is very ill advised to ever book anything like movers or give notice, or pull kids out of schools etc etc until after exchange, which is why to someone else's point above, having a gap between the 2 dates is so beneficial. I also don't understand why in the world anyone would agree to same-day exchange completion and I would urge you to consider asking your solicitor not to do it (if you can!)

But if it's too late for that, fingers crossed it can happen tomorrow or Friday latest. Hang in there and good luck!

sheramber

From my reading  exchange was due go ahead  after agreement on 2 October with completion on 28 October.

however the OP’s vendor’s  signed contract of exchange has gone astray in the post.

OP’ s solicitor advised her that as long as signed contract was received before 28 th completion could go ahead on that date.

It seems it was assumed the contract would turn up before 28 th but it didn’t. 

A second one has now been posted. 

EssexHebridean

That seems highly implausible to me - at the first hint of a signed contract having gone astray in that way, any solicitor or conveyancer worth their salt would have done the “belt and braces” thing of telling the client to sign a second one and post that as back up. The thought that anyone would just sit around hoping it might turn up is really unlikely!