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Vendor Forced Me To Exchange - Help

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  • Georgedunn
    Georgedunn Posts: 27 Forumite
    edited 14 May 2018 at 7:56AM
    Thank you for all your responses.

    I appreciate I may come across as niave, however this is my first house and need to get it right. Very few 21 year olds are at this stage so probably why I sound niave because no one else my age has been through it.

    I have emailed the manager of Crest, with the below email and will update you on their response as and when:

    Dear Sir,







    I write in reference to the above plot which I have recently exchanged on, 5/04/18.



    I was informed yesterday that my new home will now not be ready until October which has come as huge disappointment to myself as you will appreciate.

    However our main issue is not so much the delay but more importantly it is apparent that you were in full knowledge that this was always going happen. This has been accentuated by your companies tactics in pressurising into exchanging with the only real assurance that the property !!!8220;should!!!8221; be ready for completion in July.



    When I first visited the site in January, I was informed that this property was available and should be ready for completion in May. The reservation fee was duly paid and I proceeded with getting his mortgage approved in principle. Please also consider that this is my first home and as young 21 man, a huge commitment to purchase a £570,000 property.

    Solicitors were instructed and his mortgage was approved with his offer expiring mid-August. At this point I was notified that the property was more likely to be ready in early July.



    Towards the end of March, I was being pressurised to exchange with no firm guaranteed completion and it was simply !!!8220;exchange by the 6th April or will remarket the property!!!8221; My fathers advice to myself at that point was delay as much as possible until your are given a guaranteed completion date also baring in mind your mortgage offer expires in August as a consideration. I exchanged as I really didn!!!8217;t want to lose the property.



    Last week I enquired how was the property progress and he received the attached email still telling him it !!!8220;should!!!8221; be ready for July still and would I like to look round and build progress. In reality no further work has been carried out on it since he exchanged.

    So it has come as a huge shock and disappointment to be told this week, !!!8220;apologies its going to be delayed until October, sorry!!!8221;.



    We are aware of the reason why the house has been delayed, not because it can!!!8217;t be completed on schedule but due to the adjacent properties under construction needing to be completed before I can move in.

    As a company you will have build programs to work to, the build programs will be updated weekly as this will need to reported so you would have fully aware at the point of exchanging that i wouldn!!!8217;t be taking possession in July but you still pushed hard to exchange in that knowledge. Of course this would have been solely to ensure sales targets were met rather than honesty with the customer.



    I would appreciate a prompt response and some thought given how you could make myself happier in this situation.



    Best regards,
  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,468
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    Shame you sent it before asking for advice on here. Lots in that you should've left out in my opinion.
    2023 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • WibblyGirly
    WibblyGirly Posts: 470 Forumite
    Remove your email addresses from the bottom of your post.
  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,468
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    Remove your email addresses from the bottom of your post.


    And the plot details, your name (having it as a user name ain't a great idea anyway) and any other identifying info.
    2023 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546
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    Georgedunn wrote: »
    Of course this would have been solely to ensure sales targets were met rather than honesty with the customer.

    A statement that does little to aid your cause. Just because you work in that type of environment doesn't mean everyone else does.
  • steampowered
    steampowered Posts: 6,176
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    edited 13 May 2018 at 8:39PM
    The email looks fair enough to me. If you don't ask don't get!

    Though to be fair I doubt it will achieve much.

    You are still in the position of being legally committed to buy this property, but without a commitment from your lender to provide a mortgage.

    The key thing will be to extend your mortgage offer, or get a new mortgage offer from a different lender. You should do this ASAP. An independent broker should know which lenders are most willing to take into account commission when assessing your affordability.

    If you don't get a mortgage offer to cover completion, the unlikely (but not impossible) worst case scenario is that - if you are unable to complete - the housebuilder sells the house to someone else for less. And chases you to make up the difference - making you bankrupt if you don't pay.

    Until that's done, you should consider cutting back spending as much as possible, so that you can provide a bigger deposit if needs must. If you can achieve a 10% deposit you'll be able to get a much cheaper rate on the mortgage.
  • Georgedunn
    Georgedunn Posts: 27 Forumite
    If you don't get a mortgage offer to cover completion, the unlikely (but not impossible) worst case scenario is that - if you are unable to complete - the housebuilder sells the house to someone else for less. And chases you to make up the difference - making you bankrupt if you don't pay.

    Luckily the help to buy protects you here, if I don!!!8217;t complete because of not having a mortgage in place I won!!!8217;t lose my deposit or be chased for the difference in sale price. I have had this confirmed in writing by my solicitor prior to exchanging.
  • bowlhead99
    bowlhead99 Posts: 12,295
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    hazyjo wrote: »
    Shame you sent it before asking for advice on here. Lots in that you should've left out in my opinion.
    Remove your email addresses from the bottom of your post.
    Yes I agree you should have asked for advice on your proposed letter / email before sending it.

    To me it looks like a poorly constructed email, even if it didn't have typos like '...baring in mind...' ; '...as much as possible before your are given...' and '... first home and as young 21 man...'

    It looks like a bodge job that perhaps betrays its origins as something you perhaps had your dad write it for you and it has not been edited cohesively to sound like it's coming from you.

    Some parts are written in the first person: (I have recently exchanged, I was informed, I first visited the site, I was this, I was that) and in other parts you flip it around without explaining who the other person is "I enquired how was the property progress and he received the attached email still telling him", or, " fee was duly paid and I proceeded with getting his mortgage approved in principle"

    Who are all the other people? If 'I' proceeded with getting 'his' mortgage approved, perhaps 'I' is the mortgage broker and 'his' is the poster on this thread. But if 'I' visited the site and then 'I' enquired about the process and 'he' received an email telling 'him'.. then perhaps I means the poster on this thread and he and him refers to a solicitor or broker receiving a status update.

    At other points you are saying "we are aware, our main issue" when you've been telling us you're the sole purchaser.

    It is a mess of sentence construction combined with poor grammar. What it looks like is that your dad wrote it for you in one style and then you decided it should be sent from you and you messed around with it to try to move it from the third person to the first person and screwed it up.

    As the other posters above mentioned, please remove the personal identifying info from the email, including at the bottom not just your email address but your dad who sent you the email for you to forward on. It makes sense to us that as a young man you were asking for advice from your dad, though it doesn't make sense for you to have told the vendor in writing that your father suggested at one point you 'delay as much as possible' to spin it out and try to not exchange yet.

    As an aside, the email address shows your dad to be a property developer and so perhaps that's why you are so keen to get a deal done on a 95% mortgage paid off by lodgers and get yourself into the BTL industry rather than some other path through life.A little colour is useful to help us build up a picture of your situation though we don't need his email address, your email address or the plot number and development name to help us do that.
  • Georgedunn
    Georgedunn Posts: 27 Forumite
    To me it looks like a poorly constructed email, even if it didn't have typos like '...baring in mind...' ; '...as much as possible before your are given...' and '... first home and as young 21 man...

    The e-mail was sent by my father, I just tried to (poorly) change it to first person for the purpose of this forum.
  • NewShadow
    NewShadow Posts: 6,858
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    Georgedunn wrote: »
    Luckily the help to buy protects you here, if I don!!!8217;t complete because of not having a mortgage in place I won!!!8217;t lose my deposit or be chased for the difference in sale price. I have had this confirmed in writing by my solicitor prior to exchanging.

    I'd honestly appreciate if you wouldn't mind sharing the exact wording from your solicitor - and if they reference any of the regulations.

    I understand how your help to buy element would be protected, but I haven't been able to find anything to say the government would force the developer to return your personal deposit contribution because you have failed to secure a mortgage/extension.

    One of the reasons for a deposit is to give security to the developer in such situations.
    That sounds like a classic case of premature extrapolation.

    House Bought July 2020 - 19 years 0 months remaining on term
    Next Step: Bathroom renovation booked for January 2021
    Goal: Keep the bigger picture in mind...
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