AIBU- house buyers

[Fishingforhapiness]

We put out house on the market mid September and accepted a slightly under value offer early October. Our buyers were "sold" to us as first time buyers without a chain who had a 2 month notice on their flat, but could move in with their parents locally until we found. We found our house quickly, that has no chain. We are ready to move early Jan. Our buyers came round to measure up last week and mentioned they still haven't handed in their rental notice. I asked when they would consider doing this, "after all surveys are complete"... then they mention that they haven't chased their solicitor and have no idea when these will be completed. Im furious and worried we may miss our stamp duty window. I'm also 15 weeks pregnant and know moving will be more stressful the bigger i am. Is this normal? Or AIBU?

I wouldn't expect them to give notice on their property until they were sure everything was okay. Usually solicitors will advise this not happen until you've exchanged contracts so you don't end up in a situation where the matter falls through but your rental notice is about to expire.

Also, what do you mean by all the surveys are complete? They can chase solicitors all they like about a survey but they won't get very far, solicitors don't have anything to do with surveys.

Quite normal. Imagine if it all went wrong prior to exchange. Their solicitor will advise them not to hand in their notice yet. For us we handed ours in when we exchanged and sucked up the cost of a crossover. You all have to agree on the completion date on exchange anyway, they don’t get to solely dictate it

I assume that they meant local authority searches. Lots are taking ages at the moment but there’s nothing anyone can do to make them happen quicker. The local authority will provide the information when they do

I came to say the same as @IGetIt , that the survey is nothing to do with the solicitor ans is something you commission yourself if you want it done.

We have just moved and it was a five week wait for the surveyor- then a month after that our buyers then decided they were having one (was fuming- why did they wait so long argh) - three week wait.

If they are referring to property searches (enviro, water, local, coal if applicable) these are taking a considerable time at the moment due to Covid. Some local authorities in my area are taking over 50 (!!) working days to get local searches back, which is the longest I have ever seen it take. And they won't have been submitted the minute the offer were accepted, so more likely middle/end Oct.

If they are still waiting for these I think it's reasonable that they don't want to give their notice in yet.

They may well want to keep both places for the two months so that they can decorate etc.

Normally have 2-3 weeks between exchange and complete anyway to allow the arrangements of physically moving to happen.

The only thing that you can do is get your solicitor to chase theirs and ask for an exchange date in early January

Also, just because they have to give two months to their landlords doesn't mean they can't take ownership of your house before this. They might negotiate a shorter notice if they are happy to do viewings for instance, or might overlap the properties if they want to replace carpets or decorate, as it's much easier to do those things before you move in if you get a chance.

I moved house recently and I can tell you that a combination of COVID and the stamp duty thing has meant that everyone involved in buying, selling and building houses is rushed off their feet. I had to wait five weeks for a building survey. My solicitor told me he was dealing with more than 80 clients. The Christmas break is not going to speed things up.

Agree with PPs as well, see if they are able to do a crossover.

We did this when we bought our first house. We gave notice and completed before it had expired to give us time to move things between the houses.

Obviously they have to be in a position to afford this financially but it may well be what they plan on doing. Or alternatively, negotiating a shorter notice with their landlord perhaps.

I'd ask the agent to discuss it with them. But they will likely be under advice from their solicitor not to just hand in their notice with no assurance of exchange. You could walk away from the sale 2 days before their notice expired if you hadn't exchanged.

We didn't hand in rental notice until we exchanged - I don't think it's unreasonable in case things fall through!

There's no way I'd be handing my rental notice in before everything's sorted. House sales fall through all the time.

And just to add that even in normal times 12 weeks- early October to early January ( including Christmas holidays) would be very very speedy.

Average in normal times is more like five months

@FangsForTheMemory

I moved house recently and I can tell you that a combination of COVID and the stamp duty thing has meant that everyone involved in buying, selling and building houses is rushed off their feet. I had to wait five weeks for a building survey. My solicitor told me he was dealing with more than 80 clients. The Christmas break is not going to speed things up.

And this...^^ surveyors, mortgage lenders, local authorities and solicitors (im a conveyancer) are all absolutely swamped.

Every man and his dog wants to be in before Christmas or the SD holiday ends. Add to that the long wait times for things like searches, surveys and just generally getting hold of anyone at the lenders etc... It's a nightmare at the moment.

This week alone I have been on hold for over 4 hours to the Help to Buy office, and regularly over an hour and a half just to talk to someone at the lenders office.

We didn’t hand in our rental notice until we were very close to the end- and it was advised by our solicitor to do this.

But they don't need to have handed notice in to exchange or complete with you? I think that's a bit of a red herring. As long as the searches etc are proceeded - chase your solicitor to find out - then you can proceed as normal. It's their burden to pay rent and mortgage if they want to wait.

If you were in a hurry so as to not miss the Stamp Duty window, you should've told them this in advance. They're not mind readers.

And speaking as someone who lives in a rented place, no way would I give notice to move out until the surveys were done. So YABU. What if one of the survey results came up with something awful or unexpected that needed to be dealt with, or even put them off buying the house? There was a thread a few weeks ago where someone was about to buy a house, and then found out there was a sewage pipe running underneath their garden and they'd have to give permission for it to be dug up if necessary. Imagine if something else like that turned up when they'd already given notice on their rented place.

If there's nobody below them in the chain then they won't have the same urgency as you. YABU to expect other people to have the same priorities in life as you, and YABVVVVVU to expect them to know something that you never told them.

Yes, I agree with the PP that if you didn’t clearly communicate your preferred timescale then YABU. Perfectly reasonable for the buyers not to serve notice until they are satisfied that the sale will go ahead - it’s a huge risk for them otherwise

No way would I give notice on a rental property until contracts had been exchanged, even if it meant paying rent and a mortgage at the same time (assuming I could afford to do so). Until then you could pull out at any point with minimum repercussions. They’re being sensible

There was a thread a few weeks ago where someone was about to buy a house, and then found out there was a sewage pipe running underneath their garden and they'd have to give permission for it to be dug up if necessary

I'm a bit confused by this. It's extremely common to have public sewers running through gardens.

Providing they haven't been built over, in which case you'd need a build over agreement with the board, it isn't an automatic cause for concern. I've never had someone withdraw from a purchase because of it.

Yes you have to allow access for repairs if necessary but in all my years doing conveyancing I've never had anyone have to do this (it gets asked if a pipe in the boundaries is discovered on searches).

My DD has just bought a house. She is a FTB and the offer was accepted mid June, completed last week, so just short of six months.
The vendors were buying an empty house so no chain, this just seems to be how long things are taking.
She gave notice on her tenancy a week before completion, any sooner could have left her with nowhere to live. As it is she didn't have to move all on one day.

The whole process takes ages. Especially at the moment. I'm not surprised they haven't handed in their notice yet.

It's really frustrating. They should have the surveys booked.

I didn’t hand in my rental notice until exchange, I didn’t want to risk having to move from one rental to another if the sale fell through. I know it can still happen after exchange, but it is far less likely.

We handed our notice in when we exchanged. No way were we risking being left homeless with a young baby.

They should have got the solicitor to get the searches going straight away and booked the surveyor ASAP. Unless they had the impression that you were in no rush, I see no reason for any delays. One thing (giving notice to landlord) and surveys and searches are not related. Plus two months notice is not the norm, but may be in their case. Did you tell them you expected them to be ready to proceed?
Get on to your solicitor and estate agent. Don't assume anything: give them a timeline and ask if it is possible to meet it.

We handed in notice before exchanging but many people don't, we overlapped the properties by 2.5 weeks