to want to delay completion on my house sale (and purchase)

[PlasticLentilWeaver]

We are selling my first house, which we have been renting out ever since we had kids as we couldn't all fit in. We are renting another place locally, and decided that the time had come to sell and get a family home.

Offer was received and accepted in mid-January, and the buyers were supposedly first time buyers, no chain, wanted to complete mid-March. So, we gave our tenants their notice, they found somewhere to move to very quickly, and we decided not to hold them to the full notice period [naive emoticon].

Purchasers then delayed completing paperwork and sorting mortgage offers, turned out they aren't first time buyers, and are re-mortgaging elsewhere to buy, which takes time to sort out etc. They announce that they don't want to complete until end of May, as they can't afford to pay rent and the mortgage at the same time. I pointed out that this was exactly what I am now doing if they delay. I suggested the compromise of late April. Purchasers then piss off on a long haul holiday for 3 weeks over Easter (so much for can't afford the rent/mortgage combo , having supposedly sent all the paperwork to their solicitor. But, surprise, surprise, something is missing so we can't exchange contracts in their absence.

In the mean time, we had found a house, and were pushing through to get it completed by the end of our fixed tenancy period in mid-May, which suited the rest of the chain. We weren't sure it was all going to go through, so reluctantly our landlord agreed we could stay on a month's periodic tenancy.

Purchasers have now decided that they might as well not complete until late May (the end of their tenancy). We will therefore have about 3 weeks of paying both the rent on this place, and the mortgage on the new house, having been doing this for nearly 3 months on the old house.

I am really, really tempted to say no, it now doesn't suit us to complete until early June, so that they have to find somewhere else to live for a week, or persuade their landlord to let them stay another month and have some idea of the financial piss taking and stress they have caused me.

Would that be completely unreasonable?

Alternatively, can you think of some brilliant and creative (legal) revenge? I've already stopped going round to mow the garden and keep it clean so they'll have a untidy jungle and a grubby house on day one. I was going to clear the junk out of the shed (old paint left by tenants etc), but I'm now not going to do that.

You'd be surprised how quickly they would shift their arses if you told them to stuff it and you were putting the house back on the market (if you've got the courage to play hard and dirty!!).

No, just get rid, and move on.

tango I said I was going to do that if they weren't in a position to exchange before they went on holiday. So they sent everything off the day before they left, except they forgot to sign something I think it was. Which I was then no told about quickly enough to put it back on the market before they got back and then it was all getting too close for our onward purchase. I'd love to do it, but we can't get out of this shoebox until we have sold it, so for the sake of gritting our teeth and putting up with it, its not really worth it. quote is right really, I just need to move on and be the bigger person. I am just staggered by their complete lack of compromise. I had never really got why people found house buying so stressful, and it probably isn't if you're the arrogant fucker who is messing with everyone else's finances while you swan off on holiday. We haven't had a holiday in years, saving to be able to move etc.

I've just got the complete rage with them and would love to be able to really piss them off in some way.

very tempting to say you will complete on a friday when their tenancy is up but forget or go out for the day so they have to book into a hotel for the weekend

Egg is a bugger to clean up if you drop some and don't get it all up before it dries. Just saying.......

When my purchasers were pissing me off and demanding I be out of the house by noon (despite me pointing out that I was not going to leave the house till we had completed) my estate agent said he would probably be in meetings and therefore unable to pass on the message that we had completed for a couple of hours and then possibly forget to pass on the keys for a bit.

NotKathy what did you do to piss off the people you were buying from for them to do that?! Unfortunately, it is the same agent as we used for letting, so they already have keys. I guess I could ask for them back. But, the agents are open until about 10pm and on Saturdays so it might be tricky to swing.

helen if you delay completion after the date is agreed on exchange, you can be held legally liable for any costs incurred, and I am not risking paying for them to have a nice relaxing weekend in a hotel!

northernlurker you're on my wavelength. I don't want to do any genuine damage, just to annoy them a bit, and take a bit of the shine off their day. Maybe I could start taking my dog round there to crap in the garden and not clean it up? The tenants had a dog, so they might not realise it is fresher then 3 months old.

Actually, I've just remembered that DH broke the back door key when we went round a couple of weeks back, and there isn't a spare

Just thinking evil thoughts is helping me, even if I can't act on any of them.

Just sell and move on with your life, there will always be those with petty minds and you definitely don't want to hang around with them. Besides its a buyers market and prices heading south so cash in and move on with your life.

Our sellers hadn't packed. having delayed completion for EIGHT WEEKS so they could pack, they then hadn't and were still collecting their shit over a week later. I had to pay my removal men for four extra hours while we waited for them to get their crap out of the house. We had our offer accepted when I was five months pregnant. DD was four months old when we moved. Fuckers. We've since found all of their wonderful DIY is basically lethal and the illegal wiring nearly killed us all a few weeks ago when the garage caught fire.

Take out all the lightbulbs. That's what our seller did as well. If you are committed to paying the rent until June, refuse to complete until June. That'll larn em.

Sorry, but I think your need to piss them off, or in some way get your revenge, is petty and childish.

House moves are ALWAYS complicated. There's very often a period of crossover where you are renting and buying at the same time - can you imagine the hassle there would be if everyone in the chain was wanting to move on exactly the same date? Your removal van arriving before they've fully moved out? Yes it'll cost you more, but it gives time for a more orderly and less stressful actual move.

it is a noses and faces situation to pull out on these buggers. You also can't leave the shed full of rubbish as you will be committed to vacant possession. Those who delay key handover and don't get their stuff out of the house can be sued - these people sound manipulative enough to do just that.

main thing is to get exchange to ensure there is no more financial messing about.

the legal revenge that I liked is to plant bulbs in the lawn in a pattern that spells what you want to say to them. The bulbs will come up next spring. And don't bother with the 'new home' card and the instructions on how everything works.

Does that mean I could have sued my seller for the garage full of crap she left me which I had to pay someone to take away? Damnit.

The previous owners of our house (we moved a year ago this week!) left detailed instructions for everything, a nice bottle of red wine, card, were out by 10am but the place was disgustingly filthy. They hadn't cleaned anything!
Cupboards, floors, bathrooms ewww it was awful, my home help (I'm disabled) had to do overtime to help me get it into habitable condition, and dh took a few days off as well.
Luckily we knew the move would be hard work as I couldn't do very much to help, so we'd deliberately gone for a 1 month overlap from our rented house. Therefore we still had somewhere to stay while we scraped the place down, redecorated (the neon pink wall in the master bedroom took 3 coats of white emulsion and wallpaper to cover up!) and generally got it looking good. It's a fantastic house now, but that first week getting it sorted was awful!

Yes melanie, there is often an overlap, but I have offered compromise after compromise, been reaonable throughout and still have ended up taking ALL the financial hit for the entire chain. Everyone else had worked hard to get to completion quickly and reduce stress for all except them. Because of the delay if we complete on the intended date, everyone in the chain completes on that date, later than suited everyone else to fit round this one couple, and they WILL all have to move on that date. That will be the only positive, we will be able to move in our own time, get in the house, think properly about where to put things, decorate the boys rooms, move in, do the minor repairs to our rental etc.

Yes it's petty and childish, or would be if I actually did anything. There is no harm in dreaming and scheming and not actually acting on it though. I did say that just thinking about it was making me feel better about it.

special I like that idea a lot. Front lawn would be perfect, as I could drive past in the spring to see the effect.

ok the house has to be ready on completion, so shit in the toilet and dont flush, lightbulbs out, cress seeds well watered in the bedroom carpet, nail a fish somewhere that will take weeks to find, dog shit in the garden and loving the bulbs idea so next spring a lovely floral arsehole or twats springs up