to pull out of this house purchase

[hillfort]

We had an offer accepted on a property in late April. We are beginning to think the vendor is not serious about selling, and/or doesn't want to leave. We have sold our flat and have to be out in a few weeks, with our 2 year old.

The place we are trying to buy has a 61 year lease and the EA said the vendor would renew it at her own expense. She needs cash from the house sale to fund the lease renewal.

She had offered £35k to the freeholder, but the vendor wanted £50k. This went on for a while then she issued a Section 42 notice. In an effort to speed things up we offered an extra £10k to help her pay the premium. We were told we'd have to wait until the freeholders gave an answer, and they had up to 2 months. So she never gave a reply to our offer of an extra £10k.

The vendors waited until the end of their statutory 2 month period, and last week we found out that the freeholders have increased their demand to £66k, almost double what the vendor wants to pay.

Our vendor has not given us any reaction, almost a week on. Not even an email to say she's considering her options. She hasn't replied to calls from the estate agent, and her solicitor is not replying to our solicitor.

We never managed to secure a second viewing. We tried twice, and she cancelled both times, at short notice. We noticed her surname has changed now, and we are beginning to think it might be a forced sale due to divorce or something, and she has no intention of leaving.

What can we do? We are getting desperate.

The freeholders sound like wankers, this would put me off much more than the vendor going incommunicado (though that doesn't help).

First, offload your pressure onto the EA because they may suddenly get super-competent if they're going to lose the sale.

If that doesn't work I think if I were you I'd accept that no move was happening at all for a few months, and I really think your DH should rethink renting. I know it's a complete pita but if you move in with MiL it'll feel so obviously temporary and inconvenient that you'll make rushed decisions - and it sounds like she's a fair way away so it'll be much harder to househunt. With a six month lease local to the hunt you can relax a bit and find something else.

Am I right in thinking you are desperate for someone to say yes, hang on in there? everything someone says, you have a yes but... reason why you still want to go ahead.

If you really want the flat regardless all the crap you've been through and the shit to come, then wait, accepting that you'll pay more and have to have a short term move into somewhere else and just hope that it does eventually go through and you're not left trying to find somewhere else in the end anyway.

Personally, I'd walk away now. It'd have to be a gold plated flat with the chipendales as doormen and God Almighty as the next door neighbour to be worth all this hassle so far, let alone all the hassle to come.

Hecsy It'd have to be a gold plated flat with the chipendales as doormen and God Almighty as the next door neighbour to be worth all this hassle so far, let alone all the hassle to come.

madbuslady - yes, we have thought that the freeholders seem awful.
righton - thanks for useful lease advice. Yes, the vendor has a solicitor who appears to be very important and busy and doesn't really like answering calls...

How do you know it could be 6 weeks though. Could just as easily be 6 months. The Landlord will need to instruct a solicitor to draft the documents for the lease extension which will need to be approved by the vendors solicitors and yours. And that's after a price has been agreed...

How is the freeholder able to name his price? Surely if it goes to a tribunal it will be the average of the two valuations end of? Has either party actually had a proper surveyors valuation for the lease extension carried out?

If you really want this flat I would

1. Talk to the estate agents tomorrow and find out if surveyors have been instructed.
2. If they have, ask for evidence that a section 42 has been issued. The freeholder has made an offer ( a ridiculous one). The leaseholder hasn't agreed so the case should be off to tribunal.

The freeholder can unfortunately name his / her price until the tribunal. Based on the fact the vendor wants to move (or maybe she doesn't).

In most cases upon completion of sale the section 42 is turned over to the new owners and whatever price the tribunal comes up with (which will be a much lower price than te one quoted by the freeholder)will be covered by the amount knocked off the asking price My point is that if the vendor was doing this the right way this would not be slowing up the sale. She really shouldn't be personally dealing with the freeholder. A surveyor would have made an estimate of the likely cost and would be using that to negotiate.

Sorry I'm not normally this boring, I am just a bit of a lease expert!

The vendor did commission a survey before the Section 42 was issued, and the freeholders have now done a survey too, hence their demand for £66k. But the vendor's surveyor advised £35k for the premium, which is a huge difference, even given the fact that prices have risen. I think the freeholders are just having a laugh, literally at everyone else's expense.

The vendor is dealing with the freeholder through a solicitor, who doesn't seem to be very efficient. OUr own solicitor reckoned it would just take 6-8 weeks for us to move in after a price has been agreed, but then I suppose our solicitor might want things to drag on, as it's more money for him.

We walked away from a purchase in 2007 (height of housing market). It was the best thing we did.

The house ticked all of the sensible boxes. Nice house, naice village etc... When we made an offer on the house we were already far along in our own sale. The vendors rejected our offer (this was 2007!). We then upped on the condition that we moved by 'x' date. This was accepted and then we rushed through (at added expense) the survey, mortgage etc...

Basically, the vendors did nothing. They used a solicitor/conveyancer in the north east (we're in Herts). No paperwork sent to our solicitor etc etc... It got to the point where we were not able to exchange/complete by the time we had completed on our own house sale. I looked into short term rental. Really expensive. We had to go into normal rental and signed up for 6 months. We asked the vendors to contribute to the rent if they wanted the sale. They didn't, we pulled out.

Best 'lost money' ever. We found our now house a week later. What I'm trying to say there are lots of warning signs here. Be prepared to ask some questions and walk away if the vendor can't deliver.

Oh, and the naice house sold about 18 months later, post bubble for over 150k less. Ha

Sorry, ment to add. A genuine seller may have hold ups, but will always be ready to communicate to you/EA to let you know what's going on.

I dunno about God Almighty as next door neighbour. He'd be a bit judgey, wouldn't He?

Well, maybe. But I was kind of hoping that if you kept on his good side, he'd smite your enemies and make your taps dispense wine.

Love the idea of God next door.
but he'd always be in the right in any neighbour dispute....

Husband has agreed to rent somewhere, so we're making progress...I'll update on lease situation after I've spoken to the estate agent tomorrow.
Thank you all for your advice and good humour.