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Original poster

House purchase vendor nightmare

30 replies

OnlyWantsOne · 15/01/2015 17:09

Arghhhhhh

Made an offer on a house 13th October. Was accepted straight away.

Searches and contracts all done (to the tune of 1k)

Chain all looked good then 2 weeks before Christmas the vendor of the house we are buying pulls out of her onward purchase (for a really trivial reason - some thing she KNEW before she made an offer on it)

Now they have still not found a house to purchase.

Our buyers are getting really pissed off and our land Lords (we are renting a house, the one we live in - and selling one we own) have given us notice to leave.

What the actual fuck. House buying in this country is a shambles!!!!

OP posts:
YackityUnderTheMistletoe · 15/01/2015 17:11

Hang on, you're renting a house and selling yours. WHY exactly are your buyers affected by this?!

Not that you shouldn't be upset by your seller's behaviour, I just can't see why you've joined up the buying and selling together, when you are actually renting a house.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 15/01/2015 17:13

Hang on, you're renting a house and selling yours. WHY exactly are your buyers affected by this?!

This^ Also, if contracts are exchanged what makes you think your purchase is not still going ahead?

Original poster
OnlyWantsOne · 15/01/2015 17:14

We rent a house because our house, which we are selling - is too small for us. We rent it out, and rent a bigger house.

We are selling our house to fund the purchase of the new house.

OP posts:
Original poster
OnlyWantsOne · 15/01/2015 17:15

Contracts not exchanged. She pulled out of her purchase the week we were all due to exchange

OP posts:
yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:17

Still no idea why you can't still sell your house. No need at all to delay that so I can see why your buyers are fucked off.

What do the contacts say regarding completion dates? I'd speak to your solicitor tbh

yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:17

Cross posted but still no reason not to sell your house

MirandaGoshawk · 15/01/2015 17:20

Can you ask the vendors to rent instead and still sell to you? We paid an extra £2.5k and the vendors moved into rented.

whattodoowiththeleftoverturkey · 15/01/2015 17:20

Proceed with the sale of your house. Makes things a bit simpler regarding your purchase,

CalamitouslyWrong · 15/01/2015 17:25

The problem seems to be with the OP's vendor for the house she's buying though, who is holding things up because she's pulled out of her purchase. So the buyers are affected because the chain is in trouble. And the OP's landlord has served her with notice so she'll have to rent somewhere else (probably on a 6 month contract) unless the chain completes in time.

Is the vendor going to go into rented to preserve the chain, or is she expecting you all to wait til she find somewhere else?

Th best thing to do might be to sell your house to your buyers. Rent somewhere for 6-12 months and buy a different house yourself.

magpieginglebells · 15/01/2015 17:25

We did this last year. Sold my flat I wasn't living in, rented another place and bought a house. We did not link the sales as it's much easier to do without a chain.

I don't understand why this would affect the buyers, why not just proceed?

specialsubject · 15/01/2015 17:32

this is a pain because the OP will have to move twice. She has to leave her current place as has been given notice, and now has to start again with a hunt for a new house.

I agree - reduce the damage by continuing with the sale, and start looking for another property. Tell your vendor that if they want you to buy their house, they need to go into rented.

one of you is going to need to do so.

yes, not good - but destroying the chain you have just makes it worse.

Original poster
OnlyWantsOne · 15/01/2015 17:37

Our buyers are cash buyers - they have agreed to wait another 2 months for the chain to pick up again.

Our vendor however has gone from saying she needed to move by March to some time in April... she's "actively looking"

There aren't any other houses suitable in the area in budget, I have small kids and am setting up a new business as well as work, moving twice will cost us a fortune not to mention the stress.

Bloody vendor is a night mare, single retired woman down sizing but won't move to rental and apparently is really fussy and unwilling to compromise -according to EA

OP posts:
Bowlersarm · 15/01/2015 17:43

Why can't you sell the house you own if you aren't living there?

Start looking again, and possibly for a house to rent in for 6 months if you have to move out of your current accommodation, you may have no choice but to do that.

yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:43

Your vendor is being a nightmare I'll give you that.

But, with respect, you're also being a nightmare to your buyers. And they are cash buyers which takes so much of the stress out of it. You will still need to move twice, whether or not you complete on the sale of your house, if your vendor continues to mess about. Unless you'd keep your house if your purchase doesn't go through, and I don't know why you'd do that if it's not big enough, the is nothing to gain by not progressing your sale.

Sell your house putting you in a strong bargaining position as a buyer. Start looking for another house yourself, from a new rental property of necessary. If you find somewhere else pull out of your purchase. Otherwise it may well all worth put for you. More of a pain than you wanted for sure. But no need to fuck up the sale of your house too or you won't be able to buy anywhere!

JennieR60 · 15/01/2015 17:44

Our vendors did this to us. We were living with FIL while our flat in London sold (relocated up north). We still sold our flat as it made life easier. We were expecting our second child I was 37 weeks pregnant and it was Christmas so we said either we complete this week or we aren't moving until after the baby has been born and we are settled. The vendors choose to move into short term accommodation. I would threaten to pull out of your purchase still sell your house though as otherwise u might loose your buyers x

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 15/01/2015 17:46

Sell your house.
Threaten to pull out of your purchase (and mean it).
If you have to move into another rental then obviously that's not ideal, but I don't understand why you're holding on to a house you don't live in. Sell it and then you are in a stronger position to walk away from your vendor if you need to. No chain, no ties, liquidity etc etc.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 15/01/2015 17:47

Oh and there's probably another thread somewhere on the web advising your buyers to walk away too! Crack on and get it sold.

Summerisle1 · 15/01/2015 17:47

I wouldn't risk pissing off cash buyers by attempting to pull off a complicated and not entirely necessary chain. Just sell the house. If necessary continue the purchase from another rented property. I do feel your pain about fussy, indecisive, downsizing vendors (been there) but you'd be in a better position to call her bluff without the potential stress of trying to link this chain with your sale.

BrucieTheShark · 15/01/2015 17:48

If it's because you're porting a mortgage from the house you're selling to the one you're buying, our lender says they will refund the early redemption fee provided we buy and port the mortgage within 4 months. So you could in theory let your house be sold and you have a little time if that's the situ.

yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:50

We moved twice in two months with 2 preschool children. Once into rented to ensure we didn't lose the sale of our house to a couple who needed to move quickly. Then into our new build which hadn't been ready. It was fine. We just made sure we only unpacked the stuff we really needed in the interim and left most of it in boxes.

Not what you wanted, not ideal, but it's happening so get your head round it and start to think of ways to make it as easy as possible.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. I really do feel for you but this is something you have no control over so the sooner you accept that and start to look into ways around it the sooner it will become easier to manage. Good luck

yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:51

Cross posted with Brucie - we ported our mortgage like that too

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 15/01/2015 17:52

Not sure why the OP hasn't answered the question, but could it be that she wants to port her mortgage and therefore needs to sell/buy at the same time?

yellowdinosauragain · 15/01/2015 17:52

I wouldn't risk pissing off cash buyers by attempting to pull off a complicated and not entirely necessary chain. Just sell the house

This with bells on

slithytove · 15/01/2015 18:14

Sell your house.

Threaten to pull out of your purchase / say you want the price reducing by your additional costs.

Original poster
OnlyWantsOne · 15/01/2015 18:29

Our buyers aren't moving into the house - they are going to buy it as a rental house and are keeping our lovely tenant. Hesse why they are relaxed (to a point)

I've told the EA the situation and she gives me the same crap about the vendor looking really hard etc "she's scouring the Internet every day"

Will talk to DP tonight. I think we should sell the house and tell the EA that unless the vendor will agree to exchange within 4 weeks we are pulling out. She's a nightmare. Feel sad to let the house go. It's perfect for us :(

OP posts: