WIBU to ask seller to break property chain

[charmingbat]

We have had a really hard year and now face moving house with two babies in tow. When we offered we were told there was no chain beyond our seller as she was moving into an empty retirement flat. We offered asking price, didn't haggle and sold our property very quickly to ftb. We also said we wanted to be out by mid August. Only after all of this was sorted did we get told that the seller of the flat was actually purchasing another property and that there is now an extra layer of the chain. We are in limbo.
Would we be unreasonable to insist on our completion date and ask our seller to move out early if necessary, even if her flat isn't ready?
Our argument would be that somewhere along the line we have been misled, we are a family with 2 babies and we offered what we did on the basis of a promised quick move.

At what point in the process did you find out?

Before exchange presumably?

You can ask but you can't demand. She can say no and it's a seller's market at the moment so be mindful of not shooting yourself in the foot.

YABU in regards to your expectations around timescales though. 8 weeks is nothing, you should have allowed much longer than this especially at the moment. It's not really anyone elses problem that you decided to buy a house just after having two babies.

It's completely normal and common for cash purchasers to proceed without searches and providing the solicitor has confirmed that they would always advise you to carry out searches, it is not negligent for them to take your instructions and proceed without them.

I'd say most cash buyers I've ever worked with choose not to get searches.

The fact that you have two babies is relevant only to you. They don't care about your family circumstances & TBH neither should they. The relevant issue is that they lied to you / substantially changed their plans, knowing you'd offered full AP to get a quick turnaround.

Can you find somewhere else suitable that can proceed more quickly?

Firstly 8 weeks is no time at all, especially when you consider, solicitors have been working flat out to get sales through before the SDLT ended. You can pose the question, but expect a no, due to the lack of rentals available. Depends how much you want the property you may piss off of the vendor and they could decide to re-market the property. Your person circumstances are your own business, everyone in the chain has reasons personal circumstances why they have chosen to move. Yours do not trump theirs. I hope your move goes well. Good luck.

Are you in England?

Unfortunately people's circumstances change all the time, and she may have thought when she accepted your offer that she could move quickly, but things have changed, and there is no reason for anyone to put your needs above their own in a business transaction. Not really your seller's problem that you have two young children - lots of people move with kids. You can ask them, but maybe your best bet is to pull out of the sale if this is a deal breaker for you, but you have no guarantee that this wouldn't happen again with a different property.

Did she mislead you or did her circumstances change, because there is a big difference?

You can ask her to break the chain but you have to accept she can just as easily say no and is under no obligation to be agreeable. She can also change her mind and not sell to you, assuming you are in England, so bear that in mind before you try being demanding without a genuine excuse (and a chain or two children isn’t one).