To insist on a certain completion date?

[packingthekitchensink]

Name changed as this is possibly outing....

Our offer was accepted back in March, only us and them in the chain (they are going into a new build, we rent).

First completion date was end of May then end of June as their house isn't ready.

Which brings us to now. I'm tired of changing our plans to suit them and have said we complete by a certain date or I'm pulling out of the sale.

My solicitor is very supportive in this (as she would be as I'm paying her I guess) but I've had a phone call today from the estate agent telling me I'm 'being ridiculous' and I'm effectively making the other family homeless.

Times ticking on our rental as I've handed in my notice and my landlord has a new tenant lined up.

So, go on... AIBU? I can certainly see it from their point of view but until we exchange contracts and set a date my family and I are in limbo.

YANBU - they gave you a date and you are working to it. Our Exchange to completion date was a week, not enough time to get a rental termination in.

They need to be putting pressure on their developer to get the house finished on time. Before anyone says it could be a myriad of things causing the delay eg service connection, building control sign off, poor weather et al - they should all be programmed into the build period. They are not unknown delays. If they cannot be bothered pressuring their developer / making poor decisions about the completion date then they need to be the ones inconvenienced.

Floopy - as do I and it does make a difference in the current market. Sites are built to demand at the moment. there are no reported supply delays and the trades are well supplied. Build rates have slowed but it due to consumer confidence not restrictions in pipeline. This may change when / if we leave the EU.

@Floopyandtired just out of interest is it usual that a new build is pushed back over 2 months? When would a builder normally exchange contracts?

At the beginning of the process our vendors were encouraging us to move fast as they didn't want to lose out on their new house.

We've rented for over 5 years so if they had said originally September for example then that would've been fine, it was never about being in for a certain month.

It's because exchange / completion dates have been suggested then changed multiple times and never agreed which is frustrating.

I'm in a rented property about to buy a house. FTB.

No way was I going to hand in my notice until we exchanged.

Good thing too, as 3 months down the line the arsehole buyer pulled out.

You really REALLY shouldn't have handed your notice in.

You have made yourselves homeless.

(A.H buyer pulled out of the house I'm selling, to clarify)

The point really OP isn’t about reasonable or unreasonable, it’s about negotiation. If you are prepared to follow through and walk away from the sale, find somewhere new and start again, then by all means say that. But if you’re not, then seriously what’s the point? It’s frustrating but these things move at the speed they move... we’ve bought and sold more times than I like to remember and the bottom line is you work together to complete the deal, or if you’re not happy and think you can do better you pull out and walk away. Your choice. But threats and histrionics gets no one anywhere.

@packingthekitchensink it’s very common unfortunately. I can’t say much as it could be outing but one of our sites was once delayed by 18 months; although that was an extreme case, it’s really normal for completion to be pushed back, at the last minute too. 2 months would be considered fairly standard.

A lot depends on their developer. The big builders such as persimmon, TW, Barratt etc will often face bigger delays. Smaller builders tend to be more reliable. The uk is facing a real labour shortage with all the brexit uncertainty which is making it very hard to give exact completion dates.

RE exchanging, again it varies. But often once a reservation fee is paid the customer has 4-6 weeks to exchange. Completion can then be a few weeks or several months depending on what build stage they reserved at. Some of my customers completing this month reserved a year ago, some only a couple of months ago.

It’s a nightmare industry to be involved with so you have my sympathies. I would never buy a new build!

Try and find out when their property is having the NHBC inspection. Once that’s passed notice for completion is often given, which is usually 2 weeks. That might give you a bit more of an idea.

I made an offer contingent upon exchange by a certain date (I was moving several hundred miles across the country for a new job with a fixed start date). They agreed to this. As the date loomed they tried to put the date back. I informed them that I had made the offer clearly contingent upon the date from the beginning, and that with accommodation and storage fees I would no longer be able to pay as much for the house if they delayed, so if they weren't out they would have to either accept a lower price, or find a new buyer. They moved out in the nick of time. God, it was stressful.

And of course I had handed my notice in. I couldn't commute a couple of hundred miles to a job where I am obliged to live within 20 minutes. Do people assume everyone is just moving down the road?

Sorry I’m just brain dumping now, but it’s very common that developers won’t let you reserve a property until your house is sold. That’s probably why they were pushing you at the beginning, because they’d found a house they wanted to buy but couldn’t reserve until they’d accepted an offer on their existing property.

OP, I can see it is frustrating to have the date changed so much.

It seems unlikely that you would be able to push a new purchase through any fast though, which leave two possibilities - that the vendors find somewhere else to live in the meantime and the sale goes through when you need it to, or you have to find somewhere else to live (assuming that the new tenant will not wait for your rental property). A tough negotiation ahead either way!

I hope it works out for you, OP.

You’re not being unreasonable but you may want to think about your tactics.

It is really common to get messed about and have this problem when the top of chain is a new build. Ideally the timing should be negotiated as part of the offer. If you don’t, then when you exchange, the builder will demand that the buyer and everyone below them in the chain (ie you) agree to complete on something like 4 weeks notice. You will be told this is standard. Do not sign it! I know someone who exchanged and was then kept waiting for EIGHTEEN months for the new build to be finished so they could complete. Paying London rent while they waited...

(You shouldn’t have given notice, that was naive, I’m surprised your solicitor didn’t tell you that. Before speaking to agents etc, speak to your own landlord and try to cancel your notice.)

What you can do, and it worked for us, is point out that someone is going to be paying rent while waiting for the new build to be finished. Since the seller chose to buy a new build, it is unreasonable for them to expect it to be you who has to pay rent indefinitely. Explain that you are not and never have been willing to be kept waiting indefinitely. Say that your offer is now conditional on exchange by X date and that in the contract you require completion within 4 weeks of exchange. Everyone will refuse and you’ll be told this is outrageous. In my case after some gentle and polite negotiation from me the seller eventually agreed to exchange on that basis and put pressure on the builder to finish. The builder just want your deposit and then you’re not a priority, but if they see the sale beginning to fall through then they may become more helpful. If the builder isn’t helpful the seller still has the option to move into a short term let. If they won’t consider these options then you may have to walk away.

Good luck, the system is ridiculous. Just try to be friendly and calm with the seller’s agent, even if you actually loathe them!

Has completion on notice been mentioned ie you would exchange with no fixed completion date but rather you’ll be given a certain number of days notice that you will be completing (10 days for example)? If it is completion on notice, then there will probably be a long stop date which is the longest you can be exchanged without completing...usually 6 months. Just mentioning it because you may well exchange but not actually know a definite date for completion when you do. You will then be in limbo until you’re given your notice and may find yourself having to move within 10/15 days.

Agree with others that you shouldn’t have handed in your notice until you had exchanged and that your solicitor shouldn’t have ad used you to do so.

Developers tend to be a law unto themselves so threats etc will be water off a duck’s back.

I work for developers selling plots, usually off plan.

We usually exchange with completion on notice and if there is a chain it will need to be mirrored down the chain.

The developer will not commit to a date unless they know the house is ready as they will be in breach of contract. One warranty provider recently took 5 weeks to issue the certificate required for completion.

You've had bad advice from your solicitor to serve notice before you've exchange. The advise is always don't hand your notice in until you've exchanged and the completion date/mechanics shift to work with that timescale.on occasion the developer will pay the overlap of rent/mortgage but these things need to be raised and negotiated properly.

Believe me as well developers don't just want your deposit! They want the hold sold and part of the mortgage paid off or the money in their account.

Usually they can't even get their hands on the deposit so it's wrong to think they're not bothered about completions.

If there are problems at the buyers end (delayed finish of the new build?) - why should you take the hit?

If the sellers wanted to sell, they would move into rental whilst the new build was being completed / finish purchase agreements. Then the sellers would have a chunk of cash sitting in their account with the surety of having sold.

If there are major problems with the developer, then this could drag on for some time.

Can you re-negotiate with your LL?

I work for a house builder too and guarantee your deadline won’t make any difference to the builder. You’ll just be asking them to move into rented instead.

If I were you I would totally do this, but expect the sale to collapse and find something new. The vendors can’t really do much about their new build not being ready

We weren't in a new build chain but we had this issue. Our vendors agree to move in with family so the chain below didn't break. We moved in and then they completed on theirs two weeks later

Your EA should be talking to your vendors to discuss them moving out so you can complete on your sale.

I don’t think YABU to expect the sellers to rent temporarily. I think it’s for them to be inconvienced and not you.

They could equally move into short term rental if necessary, rather than you to continue to rent.

Personally I’d speak to my landlord and see what wriggle room there is on the end of tenancy.
But also speak to the seller via their solicitor and get a date ready with the view to pull out if needed.

Neither you nor your vendor is being unreasonable, it's just 'how things are'. Your vendor can't move because their newbuild isn't ready, and you aren't being unreasonable to want to try to set a date. You have the choice of waiting, or trying to force them to move into a rental. Whether they would be prepared to do that - who knows.

When I was a FTB we were a chain of 3 and my vendor's vendor (a couple divorcing) kept putting off the date when we got close to exchange. I said I had to leave my current property and couldn't wait, and my vendor immediately offered to stay with a friend for a few weeks and put her stuff in storage. But if she hadn't been prepared to do that, I would just have waited. So you can try to shake things up and see what happens.

Start looking for other homes. Either to buy or to rent.

Until you've exchanged contracts, anything you look at is just a potential home. You can't believe anything people tell you.

Your vendors are aware that you might pull out. Maybe they haven't taken it seriously, maybe they have. They don't want a short rental any more than you do. If and when you pull out they might take it more seriously, but by then it might be too late.

Threaten to pull out. If they don’t complete when you want to. It’s a buyers market and if they want there new home they will have to agree or go back to square 1 and start the process all over again

It’s harder to sell a house than buy one. Our latest we got in auction all done and duetted within a month. None of this waiting around.

I did this but there were more people in the chain and we were in danger of loosing our buyers. Our house had taken nearly two years to sell so wasn't going to let that happe . The people whose house we were buying kept making offers on new houses then changing there mind. I told their estate agent they had to move into rented or loose their sale.