breach of contract

maninthestreet

He's already sold the house to the OP, and you can make him move out - he's a squatter, but you would probably need to get a court order to evict him.

macaque_2

jging wrote: »

papers had been signed but no deposit had been transfered. solicitor rang yesterday to inform me that the current owner has ten days to leave so this takes me upto monday if he hasnt budged he will have to pay compensation to me whether id get this is another matter as he hasnt played by the rules so far. it also came to light on friday that the house was due to be repossesed last monday but the current owner has an extention-shouldnt my solicitor of found this out before now?

I would be careful. Your solicitor will explain your rights in law but the law and the real world are often different. Getting posession of the property is top priority. If you go after compensation though, it sounds like you will probably be chasing a dry well. If the previous owner is having his house reposessed, it seems unlikely that he will have the money to pay you.

If it was me, I would instruct my lawyer on the basis that I was going to have to pick up the bills. I would treat compensation as a bonus.

jging

thanks everyone, today is the last day and he still hasnt moved out. we had signed contracts but hadnt transfered deposit as we were using the telegraphic transfer system which takes a few seconds to transfer deposit as soon as vendor hands in the keys to the estate agent. might as well forget about it and move on, its one big mess. makes my head hurt!

Debt_Free_Chick

jging wrote: »

thanks everyone, today is the last day and he still hasnt moved out. we had signed contracts but hadnt transfered deposit as we were using the telegraphic transfer system which takes a few seconds to transfer deposit as soon as vendor hands in the keys to the estate agent. might as well forget about it and move on, its one big mess. makes my head hurt!

Do check with your solicitor as I don't think you can simply "move on". You've committed to buying this property ... I'm not sure you can back out from that one.

maninthestreet

jging wrote: »

thanks everyone, today is the last day and he still hasnt moved out. we had signed contracts but hadnt transfered deposit as we were using the telegraphic transfer system which takes a few seconds to transfer deposit as soon as vendor hands in the keys to the estate agent. might as well forget about it and move on, its one big mess. makes my head hurt!

A deposit is paid to the vendor by the buyer at contract exchange, not at contract completion. The outstanding balance is then paid at completion, when the vendor must vacate the property. The vendor does not have to vacate the property until completion.
It sounds like you haven't even exchanged contracts - signing the contract is not the same as contract exchange, though you may have paid the deposit to your solicitor at the time you signed the contract.
Are you confusing paying the deposit with paying the outstanding balance?
Were you exchanging contracts AND completing on the same day?

chappers

Jging so you haven't paid your deposit yet ?So you haven't exchanged contracts yet either.
You pay your deposit and exchange contracts, within this contracxt will be a date set for the completion, (this is when you/your mortgage company will pay the remainder of the house price , the samp duty and all your solicitors costs). Whenthis happens on completion day then the vendor must move out.
If your soilcitor is telling you he is in breach of contract are you sure you haven't paid a deposit and already exchanged contracts. or as has been said are you exchanging and completing on the same day.Either way he doesn't have to move out until the transaction is complete, if you are exchanging and completing on the same day then there is no contract for him to be in breach of and he can pull out of the deal at any time.

mystic_trev

chappers wrote: »

Jging so you haven't paid your deposit yet ?So you haven't exchanged contracts yet either.
You pay your deposit and exchange contracts, within this contracxt will be a date set for the completion, (this is when you/your mortgage company will pay the remainder of the house price , the samp duty and all your solicitors costs). Whenthis happens on completion day then the vendor must move out.
If your soilcitor is telling you he is in breach of contract are you sure you haven't paid a deposit and already exchanged contracts. or as has been said are you exchanging and completing on the same day.Either way he doesn't have to move out until the transaction is complete, if you are exchanging and completing on the same day then there is no contract for him to be in breach of and he can pull out of the deal at any time.

That's the way I was reading it too, looks like the OP might be a bit confused Anyway OP now for the good news? It looks like the property is being repossessed, which means you could well pick up a bargain in the future, probably with the many others comming up at Auction at the moment!

jging

after today i am no longer legally bound to the house as it has now been ten days. i could now sue the owner for breach of contract as they had sighned legally binding contracts agreeing to the sale going through on 1st feb and would legally be entitled to 10% of the property value but i dont think i want to go down that route it could be a long drawn out process.

jging

(signed even)

maninthestreet

jging wrote: »

after today i am no longer legally bound to the house as it has now been ten days. i could now sue the owner for breach of contract as they had sighned legally binding contracts agreeing to the sale going through on 1st feb and would legally be entitled to 10% of the property value but i dont think i want to go down that route it could be a long drawn out process.

It's when the signed contracts are exchanged that the contract exists between the buyer and the vendor, not at the time they are actually signed, as people have been at pains to point out to you. We are still not clear whether you have even exchanged contracts at all, but as you state haven't paid any deposit, it's extremely unlikely that exchange did take place, so there has been no breach of contract.