Exchange contracts without completion date?

[oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends]

I know I could ask my solicitor, but the long-winded old fart would take 12 or 18 minutes to answer !

Our offer on our dream home was accepted in April, but our buyers are having a problem.
Our vendors have put it back on the market - not unreasonable.
Is it possible to exchange & omit a completion date?

Or is there any other way I could secure this property?
I did think I could rent it from them for, say, £1k p.w. to be offset against the selling price. They have both moved out, the property is empty.
Thank you.

No. You're exchanging the contracts that specify from when ownership will take place, you can't do that without a date.

There is a Long Stop Completion Date, often used by developers selling new property, where they can’t guarantee when building will be finished. It’s a date by which the completion must occur, but can happen sooner if possible.

But this would be fraught with problems and risk for your vendors (and you) when in the middle of a chain and your purchase depends on funds from your sale.

If your vendors are back on the market they may not be able to act any quicker than if you were to re-market?

What would be the fallback position if the buyer’s difficulties don’t get sorted out so they end up not going ahead at all? Would you still be in a position to carry on renting the sellers house?
Your contract has to have some way of defining the completion date, eg after six months or on 28 days notice by you, whichever is sooner. If there isn’t some way of getting to an agreed completion date then how would it be enforceable?
It may well be that sellers would be prepared to rent to you in the short term, but they will want a completion date however it is defined.
Ive got a feeling ( but can’t fully recall) whether this might be an issue with your mortgage lender, you would need to check that.
It would result in increased legal fees too, as extra documentation would neeed to be drawn up to take account of the details.

Thanks everyone. I realise my rental idea won't work.