First time buyer; stressed with process

[Hjb2410]

I posted a thread back in September however the house situation is stressing me out and feel I need to speak about it.

myself and my husband are currently renting we were informed by our landlady that she wasn’t selling the property until December 2018. However a short time after she informed us of this she then informed us that she had had an offer accepted on a property which would mean she would have to sell the property. We found out the next day by looking on Rightmove that the property we were in had been put on the market. I had a phone call two days later informing me that they had someone who was willing to offer the asking price who wanted to view it in less than two hours notice. We agreed to him viewing despite lack of notice. We witnessed the gentlemen who viewed it making a phone call directly in front of our house phoning the estate agents to put an offer in to which was accepted however we weren’t informed (I know we aren’t key and need to know but it would have been nice to know where we stood)

Anyway our tenancy runs out on the 17th December which the letting agents have been trying to get us to leave early so our landlady makes sale can go through!

Myself and my husband after viewing 26 houses found the house of our dreams and put an asking price offer in on a property on the 6th October. We then got led into a price war to which thankfully we were the highest bidder.

We informed the estate agents of our situation and stressed we wanted to complete before the 17th December. We were informed that the sellers of the house we wanted had found a property and it was empty and led us to believe everything was straight forward. However only a few weeks ago we were informed that the sellers were purchasing a property which was owned by the church and so was a delay trying to work out ownership of the property.
Does anyone have any experience of church properties?

We were left sat on the fence for weeks as to not knowing whether our house sale would complete before Christmas or would we be homeless however I found out yesterday that it has been confirmed it won’t go through this side of Christmas which I’m gutted about but it’s a weight off my mind knowing where I stand.

Myself and my husband are now in a race against time to clear out the house so we are out by 17 when our tenancy ends. We each have to move back to each separate parent where we will live separately until the sale goes through. It will be nice to spend Christmas at home with my dad and family however Christmas is a very difficult time for us as my mum passed away very suddenly on the 23rd December at home and it will be the third anniversary this year.

I’m sorry for rambling I just felt like I wanted to speak about it and get it off my chest as it’s been making me so ill and stressed.

If anyone has any advice or experience that could help I would be very grateful.
Thank you in advance.

[BubblesBuddy]

Is there any reason why you have to live in separate houses? Surely a double bed in a bedroom could be organised in one parental house or the other?

I do not know about Church property. Others may. However, what stopped you renting a small flat for 3 months say and not moving home? It could be difficult now, so just get your stuff into storage and sit tight. I don’t see why you cannot live together though.

[Hjb2410]

@BubblesBuddy thank you for your message
Unfortunately at my parents house and my husbands parents house there is only a spare room which is a box room so does only fit a single bed. So unfortunately there is no where that can house us both.

We have also looked at renting short term however there are no properties available for short term rent otherwise we would have done that.

[wowfudge]

Have you looked at Airbnb or holiday lets? If it's out of season you may be able to do a deal on a longer-than-a-holiday stay?

[Hjb2410]

Hi @wowfudge thank you for your message.

We have looked at both of those and as we are unsure of when the sale will go through we are struggling with commiting to dates/ how long we will be there and they are working out very expensive but we keep looking regularly

[butterfly56]

I think you have picked the best option given the timescale you have been given to vacate your rented property.

Being in separate houses for a couple of months may just give you a bit of time to recuperate from all the stress that has been going on with the move.
Also it will give you both time to save a bit extra money that will come in handy for your new home.

Try not to stress too much about this situation as things will work out ok in the end.

[QueenStromba]

You can just stay in your rental - legally you don't actually have to leave until the landlord gets a court order which would take months. It sounds like they've dicked you around so I wouldn't feel too guilty about it.

[Partyfops]

Yes, if you don't leave on the 17th the landlord had to apply to court for them to evict you. That can take months. Will not impact on credit history etc. That's what I would do.

[Hjb2410]

@butterfly56 @QueenStromba @Partyfops

Thank you for your messages

We did considered staying in the property past the 17th December as this was suggested by one of our neighbours who was disgusted with how we had been treated.

However we have decided we will be moving out of the property as we are both sick of the messing about we have experienced and just want done with the property.

We are still no nearer to finding out how far the sellers are with sorting the church ownership issue, no matter how much chasing and updates we requested we don’t appear to be getting anywhere.

Any tips with how to deal with estates agents and solicitors?