Selling my house and buyer delaying

Mash01

Hi, I am selling my house and the buyer and their solicitor are taking forever.  It has been over 10 months since we accepted the offer and there is no end in sight of the sale completing.  I have spoken to our estate agent and they are lovely but wont chase anything up.  I threatened to pull out of the sale and take the house off the market but the estate agent have said that we would be charged a fee if we do this now.  What can we do. I really want to pull out of the sale and use another estate agent but feel I am stuck as it will have to be the buyer who pulls out to avoid us paying any fees.

swingaloo

Tell your agent to put it back on the market asap.

user1977

Mash01 said:

I threatened to pull out of the sale and take the house off the market but the estate agent have said that we would be charged a fee if we do this now. 

Does your contract say you'd be charged a fee?

Albermarle

 I have spoken to our estate agent and they are lovely but wont chase anything up. 

That is unusual, they are usually keen to get things moving. A family member just bought a house and the agents had a specific person in the branch whose job it was to keep chasing everybody along, sorting out minor disputes, questions etc.

Maybe you need to go higher up in the hierarchy at the EA.

Herzlos

user1977 said:

Mash01 said:

I threatened to pull out of the sale and take the house off the market but the estate agent have said that we would be charged a fee if we do this now. 

Does your contract say you'd be charged a fee?

There's usually a fee if the seller pulls out after a proceedable offer, because the EA has in essence done their job of selling the house. 

Normally an EA would be happy to push a bit and find out what's happening. Is your buyer part of a chain? It could be that they are waiting on someone else to proceed and are just as frustrated. 

Mash01

Thanks everyone, yes the EA contract does say there would be a fee but it seems crazy that the sale can keep plodding on with no end in sight.  I was really hoping that there might be a clause where after a certain amount of time it would become null and void.  I'm just fed up that it has taken so long.

DE_612183

Put it back on the market with the same agent - they should not charge a fee for that.

Tabieth

Do you still want to sell? If so, give the buyer a deadline after which you’ll put it back on the market (with the same EA) if you haven’t exchanged. 

user1977

Herzlos said:

user1977 said:

Mash01 said:

I threatened to pull out of the sale and take the house off the market but the estate agent have said that we would be charged a fee if we do this now. 

Does your contract say you'd be charged a fee?

There's usually a fee if the seller pulls out after a proceedable offer, because the EA has in essence done their job of selling the house. 

But this obviously isn't a "ready, willing and able" buyer, because they would have bought by now...

Hoenir

What's causing the delay? 

itsthelittlethings

You’ll have to pay the solicitor for all the work they have done as well presumably.