Simultaneous Exchange & Completion??

claireac

I'm after a bit of advice please.

We have sold our house, and were meant to exchange yesterday or today with completion on 13 June.

I have now discovered, via my ea, that because there are a couple of spelling mistakes on my buyers mortgage offer that we will be doing a simultaneous exchange and completion on 13 June.

I'm not happy at all about this because our mortgage on our puchase fell through on Wednesday, so we have decided to hold on and rent for a while. So we found a rental property yesterday and have started the process for this.

This simultaneous exchange/completion obviously leaves us in a very exposed state. At worst my buyer could pull out and I've got a 6 month rental contract to fulfill!!!

I haven't managed to get hold of solicitor yet, apparently she doesn't start til 10!!

My ea has spoken to the buyer and they assured him there's no problem and they really want the house, have everything booked for the 13th etc etc.

What do you think???

Many thanks
Claire

chickmug

Bad idea. Very very bad idea as the stress levels for you will rise day by day to unbearable levels. Imgaine your getting all packed to go, notifying all parties, booking removals van and it falling apart on or just before that day.

Normally the detailed arrangements would be done once contracts are exchanged and before legal completion. So better perhasp to build in a gap even if the date was to go back a little?

JanCee

Do not sign a 6 month rental contract without exchanging on your own house first. Explain to all parties concerned that this is impossible for you to do. Even if it is only a few days between exchange and completion you must not leave it all to be done on the same day.

This happened to some friends and they were seriously out of pocket when their buyers pulled out at the last minute.

Richard_Webster

Bit silly saying it will be simultaneous when what they really mean is that they can't exchange until a revised mortgage offer comes out, which hopefully will be before 13th June, but might not be until after that date.

As last poster said, better not to commit to rented until exchange and then leave a reasonable gap - a week? When they are ready to exchange you can agree a date for completion at that point based upon your position with your rental at that point.

claireac

Many thanks - you've just reinforced what I was already thinking. Always good to get other peoples point of view.

Will get on to my solicitor (not sure if she's more theirs than mine!!!) and my ea.

Thanks again.

Crashtogether

> Will get on to my solicitor (not sure if she's more theirs than mine!!!) and my ea.

If she is acting for both of you, then she is in breach of solicitors code of conduct - naughty naughty!

claireac

No she's not haha - just wondering sometimes!!

Apparently the whole thing about the mortgage paperwork being incorrect is a load of rubbish, no idea where that's come from!

I'm now being told that because by buyer is renting his property out he doesn't have the money for a deposit, and has a 100% mortgage on the purchase. I'm being told that it's common in cases of 100% mortgages to exchange/complete simultaneously!

So have spoken to my Dad (he's wonderful and knowledgeable!!), and he has suggested we exchange with a nominal amount of say £100 as a deposit. So we have some kind of security to enable to continue with the renting process and be able to keep a roof over the kids heads!!!

Waiting to hear back from the other side now.

Soooo very stressful. I'd love to say I'm never moving again - but I know we will be :rotfl: .

LandyAndy

When you exchange there is a binding committment on the buyer to pay 10%of the price. They don't have to pay it on exchange but are in breach of contract and liable for the amount if they do not complete.

claireac

Thank you for replying.

So legally we would be covered if they failed to complete after the exchange - and we would be covered so that we could rent a house. Which is all I want!

LandyAndy

If they exchange. The problem with simultaneous exchange and completion is that on the day your buyer refuses to exchange. You then have no deal and no come back but have all your costs to pay and, quite possibly, a fully loaded removals van with nowhere to go.

As long as you don't sign the rental agreement before you have completed at least you are spared the possibility of having two properties to finance.

Tell your buyer you want a week between exchange and completion but will accept a smaller deposit paid at exchange but not as low as £100.

LandyAndy

At present your buyer appears not to have two pennies to rub together. This is not the sort of person I would be relying on to come up with the goods on the day. Sorry.

I'd also be quite interested to know where they got a 100% mortgage.

I presume they are remortgaging their current property with a BTL mortgage. Perhaps they could increase this to give you your deposit?

Hmmm. The more I sniff the more I don't like the smell.