Problems with our move - sellers partner has put a legal hold on the house sale!!!

simonkirkland

Hi all,

As some might be aware I was nearing the end of my first house purchase.

We signed the contract (solicitor holding until we're 100% happy) on Friday and we were going for a move date of the 18th August. I had to give 1 months notice from the 1st of a month for my current rental property which I handed in this morning.

Then disaster struck!!!!

My solicitor rings me saying he's had a fax from the sellers solicitor saying that they can not currently sell the house as the sellers partner (not wife) has just put a legal hold on the house as they have a dispute about who's getting what during the split... B*llocks!!!

Luckily I have managed to put a hold on the rental notice til 4pm today, so we won't be homeless...

I've rang the estate agent to get them to earn some money and find out what's going on. They rang back confirming what I knew and telling me that she thinks we'll be able to get the hold lifted if the guy pays a bit more to the woman which the EA thinks he will if he knows we want to move in the next 2/3 weeks..

I'll be p*ssed off if this takes any longer...

Simon

hopefulfooluk

Good luck Simon - not what you wanted to hear but I hope it all works out for you.

Chris

GDB2222

simonkirkland wrote:

We signed the contract (solicitor holding until we're 100% happy) on Friday
Simon

Does that mean that you signed your half of the contract but the vendors have not signed theirs? In that case, they have messed you around royally. They **must** have known there was a problem much earlier, but they strung you along.

You have three choices, as I see it:-

1. Just hang around whilst they sort out their divorce, however long it takes

2. Walk away now

3. Tell them they have say 5 days to exchange contracts or you will walk away.

You might also take the opportunity to gazunder them.

I would go for option 3 myself. Whilst they are farting around, go and look at as many other houses as you have strength to view. Prices generally have dropped over the last couple of months and the market is weaker. You are in a strong position to proceed quickly, so you may find a real bargain out there, not some couple who are fighting with each other and being less than honest with you.

Good luck.

Doozergirl

House buying is never easy, there's always something! Sorry to hear this Simon. You have enough to worry about wth a house purchase without getting caught up in someone elses domestic! I hope it all gets sorted out quickly.

Conrad

simonkirkland wrote:

Hi all,

As some might be aware I was nearing the end of my first house purchase.

We signed the contract (solicitor holding until we're 100% happy) on Friday and we were going for a move date of the 18th August. I had to give 1 months notice from the 1st of a month for my current rental property which I handed in this morning.

Then disaster struck!!!!

My solicitor rings me saying he's had a fax from the sellers solicitor saying that they can not currently sell the house as the sellers partner (not wife) has just put a legal hold on the house as they have a dispute about who's getting what during the split... B*llocks!!!

Luckily I have managed to put a hold on the rental notice til 4pm today, so we won't be homeless...

I've rang the estate agent to get them to earn some money and find out what's going on. They rang back confirming what I knew and telling me that she thinks we'll be able to get the hold lifted if the guy pays a bit more to the woman which the EA thinks he will if he knows we want to move in the next 2/3 weeks..

I'll be p*ssed off if this takes any longer...

Simon

Such situations can take months to resolve. I would advise you give them say 2 days or 'the contract will be withdrawn'. Do this in writing to your Solicitor. I would also write - 'given that the market has dropped it is resonable to suppose the property may sell for less'. This may sound blunt but I find it is better to cut to the chase now rather than enter a protracted negotiation.

Effectively you will be calling the 'partners' bluff ('do I hold out for more dosh or let it go now and bank the cash on the table now'?).

simonkirkland

Just to make things worse they all seem to be talking via mail now so things are going to take ages... Apparently the partner has had a death in the family to now so things are getting worse...

The EA has said we should know what's gogin to happen within the next few days so I am now going to talk to the rental agents and see if they will be flexible with the months notice (not make it from the 1st of a month)...

Thanks for everyones help/advice. I will see what happens in the next couple of days and if it's not progressing I'lll be going for something like GDB2222's option 3...

This house is a good price so I WILL have it... put I'm not waiting or paying any more...

Simon

Doozergirl

Simon,

Have you got this property at a good price? If so, stand firm. The market in our part of the world is not dropping presently. I would think that trying to gazunder may not be succesful and could maybe cause more problems if they are already in a bad mood with each other?

river_kwai

Sorry to hear about your problem Simon. I hope things would work out for you. Keep all of us informed.

Bossyboots

I haven't read all this so apologies if it has been said.

The obvious answer is that the house is sold and the proceeds held by the seller's solicitor until the parties agree on who gets what. The solicitor can deposit the money into an interest bearing account while they fight it out. There is absolutely no need to hold up the sale.

This won't work of course if the seller was planning to use the proceeds for another purchase but if she is not, then this is what they should be doing. An undertaking by the seller's solicitors to hold the money is sufficient guarantee that the seller will not be paid out ahead of agreement being reached.

bunking_off

You have my sympathy Simon....been there, got the T-shirt.

I agree with a lot of what Conrad said. My advice would be to give them an ultimatum to sort it out, with a date - given the bereavement complication perhaps allow a couple of weeks. In the meantime, try to put your solicitor's expenditure on hold, and start looking for other properties. I wouldn't advocate a threat to drop the price/gazunder, because, well, it's just plain against my principles.

Ultimately, as others have said, this could drag on for months. Don't get sucked into a view that it's always going to be resolved next week : set a deadline and stick to it.

Unfortunately, ultimately, I had to walk away in similar circumstances.

GDB2222

There's another post on this forum from a seller in a similar position. I have sympathy with the sellers, too. However, it's one thing for them to fall out over accepting an offer. In your case, they have accepted your offer, let you go through all the costs, and at the last minute pulled the plug on the deal. Totally unfair. The only mitigation is the bereavement.

So, give them a few more days, even a couple of weeks, but spend the time looking at other houses because there is a very good chance that this one will not come your way.

Good luck to you, and I hope your sellers sort their differences out as amicably as possible.