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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Seller refusing same day exchange and completion but no chain - why could this be?!

129 replies

Sunraying · 13/12/2015 19:34

We are trying to buy a house with no chain on either side. The seller doesn't live in the house and lives somewhere new! We have to exchange and complete on the same day because there's a tiny chance our bank will do another credit check before we actually ask for the mortgage money, and I know our credit score might be a bit different.

DH applied for a loan in between getting the mortgage agreed and now. We haven't taken out a loan but did apply for one. I can see the loan company searches on his experian credit file, so worried now.

We want to exchange and complete on the same day just in case the bank does another credit check and decides not to give us the money, then we don't lose our 10% deposit because the conveyancer already has the money from the bank so we know it's there before actually signing anything.

The seller is dead set against this. I don't know why though, it's not going to take any longer this way around. Why could it be he's digging his heels in about this?

OP posts:
LibrariesgaveusP0wer · 13/12/2015 21:44

6 weeks is no time if it is as expensive as you are making out and not in eg. An area of London with lots of high end buyers.

Original poster
Sunraying · 13/12/2015 21:45

Libraries, exactly that. But he can't sell again too easily in our view. And it would mean starting from scratch again, another 6 weeks plus.

So taking into account he just wants rid of the house, surely he'd just give it a shot and see if we can pull it off?

OP posts:
Original poster
Sunraying · 13/12/2015 21:46

It's in a very very popular part of London. Most properties are under offer in a week or two.

OP posts:
Rdoo · 13/12/2015 21:47

He's not going to sell again and have his new buyers being ready to exchange and complete in 5 days like the op wants to do Libraries.

I could understand his stance if op wanted to exchange and complete after Christmas or something but she seems happy to do it now.

Op, he just sounds like a stubborn so and so. Personally I don't think you've much choice but to call his bluff. Is it Friday you want to exchange and complete then? Have the estate agents tried to speak to him?

LibrariesgaveusP0wer · 13/12/2015 21:49

Again - you are completely discounting the emotional motivation of not wanting to walk into a trap where someone will try and screw you.

You want to behave in a non standard way and he has no idea why. Very fast sales with simultaneous e and c raise all sorts of alarm bells. He doesn't know high might be valid.

It isn't about whether the attempt would work, or hurt him. It's about avoiding that scenario.

TheWildRumpyPumpus · 13/12/2015 21:50

At what stage will the bank release the funds though? I didn't think your solicitor could drawdown the entire mortgage until after you had actually exchanged, thereby defeating the OPs purpose.

Original poster
Sunraying · 13/12/2015 21:51

We'll have to call his bluff because we've got no other choice. We'll exchange and complete the moment the bank have put the money into our solicitor's account.

OP posts:
TheWildRumpyPumpus · 13/12/2015 21:51

Same day exchange/completion seems more for cash purchases from what my solicitor insists when I begged for a faster turnaround!

NoSquirrels · 13/12/2015 21:55

Offer a financial incentive?

He's no reason to trust you and no reason to go for simultaneous. It usually costs me in solicitors fees too. You on the other hand have a lot tp lose - so offer him an incentive. Small cost for your peace of mind.

CFSsucks · 13/12/2015 21:58

If he is so adamant I don't know why you think you can get him to change his mind. All you are doing on here is arguing your point. Ultimately he doesn't want to exchange and complete on the same day so you either go along with it doing it with a gap of hkwever many days or pull out now. And what a waste that would be.

GinIsTheBestChristmasSpirit · 13/12/2015 22:00

We did simultaneous on our empty property and it didn't even occur to me that it could be anything dodgy. I just wanted the bloody house gone so I agreed. It wasn't any hassle. We did meter readings first thing then turned off all gas/electric and left keys with EA. Once it completed estate agent went a checked our readings. We rang them through and job done.

Bonywasawarriorwayayix · 13/12/2015 22:00

You can request funds before exchange. If completion doesn't happen the money is sent back (normally first thing next day) and client may well be charged a day's interest and a bank transfer fee.

Original poster
Sunraying · 13/12/2015 22:04

Can we request funds before exchange Bony? How far before, and don't we need to give the completion date to request funds?

Just thinking how that would work in practise, so we request funds giving a completion date of 6 days' time. Funds arrive in 5 days, and if we don't complete in 48 hours solicitor has to send them back to bank ?

OP posts:
NeedsAsockamnesty · 13/12/2015 22:11

How much do you want the house?

If you called my bluff I would walk away, most people don't like game playing

CalliopeTorres · 13/12/2015 22:17

When was the loan application made in relation to now?

OVienna · 13/12/2015 22:19

.

Original poster
Sunraying · 13/12/2015 22:27

It was made months ago and the searches are on file, we checked.

OP posts:
CalliopeTorres · 13/12/2015 22:32

Yeah but if you haven't taken the loan then your circumstances haven't actually changed. A credit search is not a change in circumstances. If the application was made months ago then if you had taken out the loan then it would have showed up by now. All the mortgage lender is interested in is that the circumstances you declared at application are the same. They are. Also, the loan company may well report it to one CRA and your mortgage co may well use another. Just because it's reported on one doesn't mean it will be on all.

LIZS · 13/12/2015 22:33

But after the mortgage application had gone through? When does the offer expire if it has been ongoing for several months. There is also a risk that if it doesn't all happen on Friday that Christmas holidays will delay any further negotiation. We had a flat sale fall through over one Holiday period. Had a bad vibe from purchaser just before Christmas but no actual communication until just before NY. Lost our purchase as was new build with fixed exchange date deadline.

Dipankrispaneven · 13/12/2015 22:38

OP, if you were to pull out before exchange, the vendor does have something to lose in the shape of the solicitors' and, possibly, estate agents' fees he has incurred to date. Yes, he will lose those anyway if you really dig your heels in about simultaneous exchange and completion - but he may well feel that that's not really that likely given that, as you say, you have much more to lose if you have been paying out for architects' fees etc.

HicDraconis · 13/12/2015 22:38

Honestly, if you were my buyers I would walk away and put the house on the market again. I don't like being pressurised into doing something I am adamant I don't want to do. There are many reasons why he may not want this, from previous bad experience to higher fees to it being riskier than exchange (everything confirmed, can relax a little) then complete once all paperwork done.

I would stop looking at strategies to force his hand or call his bluff and start looking at strategies to reduce your financial concerns.

Fizrim · 14/12/2015 00:02

What hic said.

Shutthatdoor · 14/12/2015 00:09

I agree with hic too.

Flashbangandgone · 14/12/2015 06:18

I'd be inclined to consider being honest with vendor about why you want to do it simultaneously.... That way he knows you're not just being difficult (which is probably what he thinks at the moment, and why he isn't pandering to it out of a sense of pride as much as anything).

Yes, the vendor will recognise there's a risk, but it is a very small one and one where he doesn't lose anything..., much smaller than the risk of starting again.... (Which he'd be doing anyway if pulled out).

hotdog74 · 14/12/2015 06:43

If he is worried about you backing out, why not agree to do exchange/ completion on Tuesday so your solicitor can draw down the funds today? Then he can see that you are serious and might mitigate his worry.

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