AIBU to give an ultimatum to vendor?

[PatCliftonspostbag]

We sold our house back in April and began the process of looking for a new home. Two houses in the same area and very similar in style came up in the same week and we viewed both.

One house was £10000 dearer than the other but the EA showing us round informed us that there was no onward chain as the vendors were moving in with parents. This clinched the deal for us and we put in an offer which was accepted.

Weeks later on receiving the legal and contents pack, we noticed that the vendors had ticked the box that stated that they were purchasing a property dependant on the sale of this on the same day. We queried this with the EA who was absolutely adamant there was no onward chain, he explained to us that our vendors were moving in with parents who were also selling their house and all were planning to pool their money together to buy a house. He told us not to worry as our vendors would move in with parents.

Fast forward to now, we have been pushing for a completion date only to find our vendor is in the middle of buying a property with parents in Wales. They are refusing to complete until everything is ready to go on their end. Apparently there is a delay in Wales and they don't expect searches back until end of August. We have now gone from being in a chain of three that ended with them to a chain of god knows how many that also goes sideways to involve the parents property and their chain!

Are we being unreasonable to give them a deadline of say 2 weeks to complete given we were initially told they would move into parents of they sold first?

We had a similar sort of situation. We said we would pull out if they didn’t complete within 2 weeks (bearing in mind we’d packed everything so we’d be ready to go as soon as the green light was given and had been the perfect buyers for them) and told them they would just have to break the chain and move in with their parents, as they originally promised they would do anyway. They weren’t happy and were still incredibly disorganised (they didn’t bother packing half their house and just left it for us to sort - luckily it was really nice stuff!) but they did leave…in the end.

@queenadreena were you totally prepared to pull out then or was it a case of calling their bluff?

We had already agreed between us that we would be prepared to wait for another month, at an absolute maximum. But we told them two weeks to put a rocket up them, basically. We were really pissed off by then because when there were a couple of really minor hold ups with searches etc. earlier on in the process with our solicitors (and I’m talking things that literally only took a few extra days, not weeks or months), they got arsey about it, saying that they didn’t want to be held up. So we just turned all that bullshit around on them. We completed 1 week and 5 days later, however it also involved my husband and our solicitor both repeatedly calling and badgering their solicitor into action.

We found out a couple of months later from our lovely new neighbours that the people we bought from had also gone from being chain free to deciding to enter a chain and were instructing their solicitor to hold things up to suit them as they didn’t want to live with Mummy and Daddy for too long. Wankers.

I vote do it but would you follow through? They are lying CF’s so may attempt more lying. First house l bought then the sellers claimed they were chain free, a month or so into it we found out they weren’t

This exact same situation happened to me!!! There was nothing to be done!

Only threaten to walk away if you are willing to do it.

Personally since you paid an extra £10k for the fact there was no chain I think you should at least reduce your offer by that amount if they won't complete by a certain date.

I agree with PP but I think 2 weeks is a short deadline

I would outline that you paid over the odds due to no onward chain so the vendors either complete within 4 weeks and move in with parents or reduce the price by £10k

But as others have said, you need to be prepared to walk away

I'd also never trust what the EA says. Did they really tell him they were chain free? Our EA spun a whole web of lies to us about our vendors and it was only after completion when we talked that we realised how manipulative they'd been

My parents have sold two properties recently. One in Devon completed before the stamp duty deadline. The one in Wales (Cardiff area) hasn't completed yet because of a delay on the searches. My folks were told there was nothing they could do to speed it up.

It's wrong for the EA to bend the truth though and as a rule I tend to take anything they say with a pinch of salt.

Not unreasonable to try and impose deadlines though.

Same happened to me. Ultimatums are no good unless you’re actually going to walk.

And do follow through on bluff and find a rental for you to complete your sale

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice.

The vendors are so far refusing to budge. It does feel like we can bluster and bluff all we like but they have us over a barrel really.

I suppose the other house isn't still on the market is it?
How much do you want this house? Especially now? Ideally ask for the £10k reduction as that was on the basis of no chain, and complete within 2 weeks or it completely goes.