Seller keeps changing goal posts

Trandy76

Hi everyone. This is a long read so apologies. 

We put an offer in on a house with the (obviously non legal) proviso that we needed to complete quickly as our landlord has given us notice on the house we’re renting to move his mother in. We said we’d like to complete by the 12th June. 

The seller said that wouldn’t be a problem as they are moving into a vacant property and can move quickly. 

We appointed our conveyancer who pretty much got us ready to move within 4 weeks. He was just waiting for one more document from the seller’s solicitor. This is when the seller’s solicitor went quiet. 

As we were getting close to the deadline we’d need to exchange our solicitor kept asking for this document. On the last possible day we would need to be exchanging contracts their solicitor told us they’d never agreed to the date. (They acknowledged they knew the date but didn’t actually tell us this wouldn’t be possible). 

Then they went silent again. The 12th passed without any word at all from their solicitor. Our conveyancer advised us to get the estate agent involved. The estate agent came back to us saying the sellers were keen to get everything moving and would hopefully exchange very soon and complete in June. 

Our tenancy runs out on the 24th June (5 days time) and our landlord won’t extend. We booked a storage unit and organised accommodation for a week in a caravan park hoping that the completion would still happen in June. 

No contact from the sellers solicitor despite the promise we’d be completing as quickly as possible. 

The estate agent contacted the seller stating the urgency of our situation and they came up with a plan that our sellers would move out on the 30th June and we could ‘rent’ the house until the legal could be sorted. Not an ideal solution but workable. 

Today the estate agent has called my husband saying the wife of the couple doesn’t agree to this and won’t move out and won’t complete until the 25th July. Over a month after the initial ‘agreed’ date. 

Our solicitor is trying to contact the sellers solicitor daily now and the estate agent has been trying to contact them but they are not responding to him either. 

We are effectively homeless soon. We are considering threatening to pull out but we know that they could call our bluff. 

We are first time buyers. Is this normal? For a solicitor to just completely ignore all correspondence? Why don’t they just talk to us and tell us what’s going on? Any advice will be gratefully received. 

theartfullodger

Landlord can't end tenancy, only a court can force that.  Has landlord served any formal notice?  E.g. section 21 or form 6a.

Which country e.g. NI, Wales....?

DE_612183

If you wanted an agreed date you should have got your solicitors to exchange contracts that stated a date - without that there is nothing binding on either parties.

Either you wait til 25th July or pull out.

Just because your tenancy runs out on 25th of June doesn't mean you have to move out - you should then go onto a default AST and if the LL wants you out would have to serve a section 21 and then eventually get a court order - many months in the future.

If I was you - I'd get contracts exchanged based on 25th July and stay where you are until then.

LoopyLoops

Did your landlord issue a section 21?  With all the paperwork being correct. Did you have a tenancy agreement?  If that is ending you just go on to rolling contract, you don’t have to leave.  Obviously best to work with the landlord, but he can’t just say you have to leave.  He needs to issue a section 21, then go to court.  Not sure what the lead times are with court dates (hopefully enough time to complete on a house).  Also best to avoid an eviction order as you likely end up with landlords costs. But you don’t have to just leave because the landlord said so.  

As to the house buying it can be complicated and long winded.  Sadly sellers (and buyers) can say anything, verbal conversations unfortunately can just be ignored, or they may just say anything to get the sale moving and hope you will just put up with it.  Or maybe something ch aged for them.  Are they in a chain?   Have you looked at anything else on the market?  Any other houses you like?  Threatening to pull out is an option, but only do it if you mean it.  Certainly where we are the market has slowed down for sellers, if your area is similar you may be able to use it to your advantage. 

saajan_12

Ultimately before you exchange, it is just a target, and proving that someone "agreed" something non-binding is meaningless. Could be genuine unexpected delays, could be someone not on the ball, could be intentional stalling.. you'll never know, and hence its never advisable to make plans based on a completion date that isn't binding. 

Trandy76 said:

We put an offer in on a house with the (obviously non legal) proviso that we needed to complete quickly as our landlord has given us notice on the house we’re renting to move his mother in. We said we’d like to complete by the 12th June. 

..

Our tenancy runs out on the 24th June (5 days time) and our landlord won’t extend. We booked a storage unit and organised accommodation for a week in a caravan park hoping that the completion would still  

What exactly is the status of your rental? If its just the fixed term ending, that's immaterial. Its not up to the LL to extend or not, the tenancy would just continue on a rolling basis. If they've served S21 notice then you can still stay past the date, just you'd incur some court costs if the LL proceeds to eviction. As long as you pay any rent and costs on time, there's no "black marks" on your record as a result. This is generally a couple of hundred, ie less than the cost of an extra move. It you've served notice, then that's more problematic and you'd be better off abiding by your own notice. 

Unfortunately the storage etc was likely premature, and depending on the answer to the above, I'd probably suggest just staying put (and continuing to pay rent). 

Trandy76 said:

Today the estate agent has called my husband saying the wife of the couple doesn’t agree to this and won’t move out and won’t complete until the 25th July. Over a month after the initial ‘agreed’ date. 

Our solicitor is trying to contact the sellers solicitor daily now and the estate agent has been trying to contact them but they are not responding to him either. 

We are effectively homeless soon. We are considering threatening to pull out but we know that they could call our bluff. 

We are first time buyers. Is this normal? For a solicitor to just completely ignore all correspondence? Why don’t they just talk to us and tell us what’s going on? Any advice will be gratefully received. 

Exactly, it could give them a shock and push them to get a move on, or it might get their backs up and get them to call your bluff. Its a risk and depends if you really like the house and are willing to wait, or the timing is more important. 

TBG01

Nothing is agreed until contracts are exchanged.

Chalk it up as another example of someone saying one thing and their actions saying another (for some reason the solicitor still gets the flack though)

Trandy76

Thanks for all your responses. 

Yes, we have been served a Section 21 and I know we could stay but it would be exceptionally awkward as the landlord lives in the house next door - it maybe weak but I really don’t like confrontations. 

I know nothing was legally binding but I just don’t understand why they took 7 weeks to tell us the 12th wasn’t possible when it was in the paperwork from the start. Why not be upfront and honest? 

TheLastMinute

Trandy76 said:

Why not be upfront and honest? 

I suspect because your sellers (correctly?) deuced that you would have walked away. By saying "oh yes, we'll do our best for completion by 12th June", it's kept you on the hook even through they knew June was unrealistic. 

As I see it, you've got three choices (I'm assuming this is in England, different rules apply elsewhere in UK):

• Stay put where you are beyond the expiry of your Section 21 notice
  
  As others have correctly stated, the tenancy will continue until either you leave voluntarily or the court evicts you at the request of the landlord, which will take some months. There is also a good chance the Section 21 was improperly served by the landlord - many are. Throughout this time, all the normal protections will continue to apply, e.g. the rights to peaceful enjoyment and not to be harassed by the landlord.
  
  Depending on your relationship with the landlord, could there also be room to negotiate? For example, if they want it empty so it can be sold, could you offer to facilitate viewings in return for not taking court action? Could you even buy it yourselves? 
  
  There are a number of other threads on this board from those served with a Section 21. Another good place for advice is the Shelter website.
  
  
• Move to short-term temporary accommodation
  
  Get's round the problem of where to live while waiting for completion. However, it's likely to get quite costly quite quickly. There remains the significant risk that you can't completion in July, or even the whole chain falls apart. Just because there are only three parties doesn't mean it can't go wrong. There could well be unknown legal issues with your vendor's onward purchase, someone could get made redundant etc. If this happened while in temporary accommodation, it could be a nightmare.
  
  
• Pull out of the sale and move to a new letting
  
  This is perhaps the most straightforward. Pull out of the house purchase and move to a new home with a 6 or 12 month letting. When you get towards the end of the fixed term, you can trying purchasing another home but without the pressure of a Section 21 hanging over you. Just make sure the post fixed-term notice period is one month.
  
  

pretamang

all I can say that I've been in the same position, rental extended twice until the landlord (who also lived nextdoor!) couldn't extend any more.

There was a big legal problem with our purchase, which ultimately couldn't be resolved so after two weeks of sofa surfing with friends then back into rental we went for six months to find a new place.

All you can do is give yourself plenty of time to exchange way before the end of tenancy date, don't cut it close. Sorry that's not much help to you now, but walking away and starting over ended up being the best thing for us (it certainly didn't feel like it at the time)

GixerKate

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this, I feel your pain, I had the same done to me - on the day of exchange and completion, after the vans had been loaded up and we had emptied the house our buyer's solicitor told us 'yeah, we agreed to try and work to the date but we didn't formally sign up to it and we definitely can't do it as the monies haven't been submitted and that takes a few days'.  So they knew in advance and still let us carry on anyway.

Sadly until the exchange is done nothing is binding.  Apologies, this doesn't help you but can definitely sympathise.

The way I see it you have two options - stay where you are until the completion date or extend the caravan park booking.  Either way you need to keep pushing for exchange which then locks in the completion date.

What exactly is the hold up?  Is there a reason why they can't move until 25th July?

twopenny

I'd see what some action on your part would do.
Start by asking aan estate agent, yours and if possible theirs, to look at some likely properties.
This will benefit you knowing what is available on the market, both your and their estate agents see their percentage going out the window, the  solicitors too and will give more push to the sellers if they can.

No confrontation needed, be smiling and polite and show genuine interest in other properties.
Costs nothing, you may find somewhere better 😉 

I get the feeling that the sellers feel they have you in the palm of their hands and can do as they wish.
A wake up call that you are not going to take this behaviour is what's needed. 
If the seller has genuine problems to hold it up there is no reason not to tell you. 

Sadly people are ruthless when buying and selling sad though that is.