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House sale taking forever, stuck at the bottom of a chain - what now?

4 replies

rubydoobydoo · 13/02/2013 20:33

Hi, hoping someone can advise!

We're in the process of buying our first home (renting at the moment) - we had our offer accepted in mid November with a view to moving in January.

Despite a lot of dithering from our vendor (she's been through 3 lots of solicitors!) everything is ready to go from our side and we've signed the contract today.

the problem is we are at the bottom of a chain. Our vendor is ALSO ready to complete but has yet to sign the contract - so we have been unable to set an estimated date of completion or exchange contracts.

the vendors of the house SHE is buying have only just initiated THEIR searches (it turns out she told them APRIL at the same time as agreeing January with us....)

Our mortgage offer will expire in March - so we are anxious to get things moving - I am also unable to book time off for the move at short notice so have been booking and cancelling leave when we've been EXPECTING to move, and I don't want my boss's patience to wear as thin as mine!

Our landlord is very understanding and has agreed to let us pay her weekly, but there will come a point when her patience will start to wear thin too.

As it stands at the moment we have the estate agent pushing our vendor and/or her vendors to break the chain and move out. Our solicitor is also going to contact the other solicitors to push for the same thing.

Is there anything else we can do? DP wants to issue a final ultimatum, but I'm anxious we may lose the house all together - which neither of us want as it's our dream home. He just thinks we're being taken for mugs now, and it's all getting really stressful - we just want to move and get it over with!

[puling hair out smiley]

OP posts:
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LittleChimneyDroppings · 13/02/2013 21:43

I dont suppose they want the chain to collapse either. I'd issue the ultimatum and see what they come up with.

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nocake · 14/02/2013 07:30

There are very few first time buyers in the market at the moment so I would threaten to pull out. There are other houses out there you could buy but the vendor will find it hard to get another buyer.

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KatieMiddleton · 14/02/2013 07:51

You could suggest exchanging with a longer completion time, on the understanding that should things move more quickly you will complete sooner.

So, you and vendor pick a date (eg 22nd March) as latest completion and put that in the contract. You all exchange now so you secure the house and vendor has her buyer confirmed. Should vendor manage to get things moving with her new place you mutually agree to move completion to say, 28th Feb. If vendor doesn't manage to sort herself out by 22nd March that's her tough luck - she still has to move.

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specialsubject · 14/02/2013 11:33

issue the ultimatum, the expiry of your mortgage offer is a very good reason. Losing a buyer is far less of a pain than having to move in with the family for a few weeks and putting stuff in storage.

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