Aaaah 2 weeks before completion vendors just announced sale is dependent on their purchase but not found anything yet!

[secretskillrelationships]

Was told by agents that they were happy with a quick sale and would move into the house he has rented to be near to work.

Just got the contract which says that any sale is dependent on their purchase and that they are 'house hunting' at present.

Solicitor has confirmed this with their solicitor and the statement we have received suggests that they are still looking. Also, that they had no knowledge of the suggested completion date.

I had notified both agent and solicitor of my preferred move date and had been assured that this was okay shortly after a price had been agreed.

So, on this basis I have had a survey done and all legal stuff none of which I would have done if I had known they were not proceedable. I will have spent something in the order of £1400 on a purchase that could happen never, money that I would never have spent had I known the situation.

Add to this the fact that I am still in a house I rented with my H who left me after 21 years together last summer. I've been trying to move for 10 months. I really wanted things to be sorted before DS started new school in Sept too. God, poor kids have had enough to deal with without this, they were all so excited as was I. I'd been so careful to manage expectations but I really thought it was all systems go.

Nothing really that anyone can say but really needed to vent.

Have organised viewings on 2 properties tomorrow (both chain free, according to the agents) but this is really just clutching at straws.

Do they know you would pull out if they can't meet the completion date? In the present market you are in a far stronger negotiating position than they are. I would be insisting that they go into rented or lose the sale. I would imagine their EA would then be pushing them into rented rather than risking the sale falling through (and them losing commission).

Agree with spiral queen. Phone the EA first thing tomorrow morning and say you've had the contract and don't think you'll be proceeding because you're not willing to wait while they find something.

House prices have dropped this month and they'd be looking at trying to start again in September - not much point before then. The EA will put a serious rocket up them.

Have already phoned the agent but he won't discuss it until he's spoken to the vendors. I called him at 9 this morning and, when I heard from the solicitor later, I rang him again. He still hadn't heard back from the vendors. Obviously, I'll chase again tomorrow but realistically it is unlikely they can move in 2 weeks if they really didn't know about my suggested completion date. Amazingly, prices here appear to have risen in the last few months.

Obviously, if this is the situation, I will be suspending my offer as it is pointless proceeding in such an open-ended purchase. However, I am still very out of pocket and left picking up the pieces with my disappointed DCs.

Luckily I headed my mum's advice and didn't give notice on the property we're renting otherwise, on top of everything else, I would be finding myself homeless in a matter of weeks with absolutely nothing available to rent locally.

I feel very let down by both the agent and my solicitor as neither appears to have told vendors about suggested date. I know enough about the process not to have proceeded if I'd known the true situation. Years ago, in a similar situation I would not let our buyers have a survey done as we hadn't found anything to buy and didn't want them to waste their money. Sensible, as it turned out as we didn't sell.

I had this happen at the last minute on our recent move. I threatened to pull out and our sellers did move into rented. I also had school issues - push hard on that point. They may well not want to lose their sale.

Agent has still not come back to me. Have formally withdrawn my offer and made it very clear that I am not happy with the estate agent's behaviour. I guess it could be the vendors playing silly buggers but my guess is it's the agent.

I could have dealt with the situation IF I had known about it. We like the house and there is very little available. BUT I wouldn't have had the survey done or searches. There's no knowing how long it might take them to find a house given little will come onto the market in the next 6 weeks and therefore some of the searches will need to be repeated.

Have struggled to do this all by myself, look at houses, make decisions for me and my DCs, try to work out how we are going to survive financially, negotiate, find surveyors, solicitors, builders etc etc. My role at work has changed signficantly too so that is a bit of a challenge at the moment.

I feel exhausted and defeated, really. Can't face going through this all again, can't stay where we are as it's more that I actually earn, nothing else suitable available to rent.

secretskillrelationships - I am so sorry that this is happening. We recently bought a property and had a similar problem with the completion dates except in our case it was the vendors rather than the agents causing problems. We couldn't get any information out of their solicitor and in the end our solicitor suggested contacting the vendors directly and working something out with them - is that worth a try?If they are keen to sell they might be able to arrange a quick move to rented accomodation. Okay probably not within 2 weeks but presumable you have to give a months notice on your rented place anyway and it will still be quicker than finding somewhere else. In the end we didn't contact them (we withdrew our offer and they changed their minds and accepted our completion date and moved to rented accom within 4 weeks) but we did contact the vendors when we bought our first house and it moved things along much more quickly than speaking to the solicitors or agents.

Good Luck.

Sorry to hear about this. Sounds as if you haven't exchanged? I'm superstitious/paranoid so never assume anything before exchange as it's at that point that the sellers are really committed. Doesn't help with survey and legal costs though. Stupid house buying system.

Think secret could be right about contacting the vendors yourself.

I agree, definitely contact the Vendors yourself so that you know they know the full picture & not what the EA has/hasn't told them. I am sorry you are going through this on top of everything & hope it all works out for you & your children

No, not exchanged otherwise they wouldn't be able to spring this on us. I know about not assuming until exchange but this really looked so straightforward. He's got a job elsewhere, they'd just dropped their price after about 6 weeks on the market so were certainly acting as if they wanted a quick sale. Also, the reality is that you can't wait to do surveys etc until after exchange so you do have to take a lot on faith.

You also have to get to a point where you commit to buying white goods, provisionally booking removal firms etc. Know from last time that we almost didn't manage to move as the 3 firms who'd quoted couldn't do the day we finally agreed on less than a week before completion. I managed to hold my nerve because I knew there were 2 of us to deal with the fall out. Now it's all down to me, I have to do more earlier as there are simply not enough hours in the day.

Obviously, with hindsight I should have got their phone number direct from agents. BUT really didn't see any need, not least because it usually takes a bit of a fight before the agent will release numbers IME! Discussed completion date with both agent and solicitor. My solicitor raised it with theirs etc etc. At no point did anyone suggest there was an issue with the date or that they needed to buy in order to complete the sale.

And, while this should have been a relatively quick process (8 weeks from start to finish), it is 6 weeks since they accepted my offer.

Are they still living in the house? I'd send a letter if I were you, just to see if it's the agent playing silly buggers. (My parents got stung once - turned out the agent was putting buyers off because he wanted to sell to a mate in the same agency.)

Are they not in the phone book?

Have CC'd them in on the terse letter I dropped into the agent this morning and will hand deliver leter when I go to see a house nearby. With a very nice covering letter saying I am assuming that no-one is talking to them!

But, to be honest, I'm feeling pretty negative about the whole thing. Agent still not come back to me surprise surprise.

No, not in the phone book! And he's working away anyway. Get the impression it's his house rather than theirs.

It does sound really stressful but you can't take anything for granted until exchange. You may have lost £1,400 however, house prices in many areas are expected to fall so you may not have lost out financially at all. As you are on your own it must be just so stressful, I really hope it leads to a good conclusion for you.

It's just against a background of paying out a fortune in rent which is simply eating my capital.

Emotionally I need to move from a house which I shared with my not so D H who left almost exactly a year ago. Have been actively looking since Nov and there really is nothing around, nothing to buy and nothing to rent. Even if I upped my budget by £200,000 it would make little difference.

Anyway, have seen 2 houses this afternoon. One over £100,000 more than the one I've lost. It has been completely done up but not quite my taste. Owners are separating and my solicitor told me not to touch it with a barge pole if I'm looking for an easy purchase! But really much, much more than I want to spend.

Other much more reasonable and empty, just on the market, i was the first person to view. But just too small. Really can't see how I could squeeze us all in.

Have decided that, as I obviously now can't move in the summer holidays, I will wait and see what happens in September. I will keep an eye on the market, but realistically very little likely to change until mid Sept.

Have always been very philosophical where houses are concerned just resent the money spent completely and utterly unnecessarily. The vendors will have had their own costs, obviously, but they can at least negotiate their commission downwards which is what I'd do in their position.

Also feel bad for myself and especially the DCs - we all desperately need the new start that this would represent. We all feel in limbo. Can't change enough about this house to make it ours (as in our new family ours).

What a complete nightmare for you - I'm sorry. Could you widen the geographical area of your search and accept extra travel to school/work etc? Would it be worth it just to get yourselves sorted quicker?

Have stretched as far as I can financially and geographically. Unfortunately didn't think about school runs when planning DCs and, from Sept will have all 3 at different schools ending at different times. Ideally, would like to be close to school but absolutely nothing on the market in walking distance. Not just nothing of the right size/price but literally nothing.

Have considered changing schools but again seems tough on DCs who have been through a lot this year and are all happy and settled where they are.

I too think prices will fall but in this area lack of supply is pushing prices ever upwards. A house I viewed 6 months ago is being valued by mouseprice at £37,000 more now than it was then, which is an almost 10% rise! At that rate, it will hit the exhorbitant price it's being marketed at in another 3 months or so. I offered £10,000 more than I thought it was worth at the time and the owners turned me down. It has been on the market since 2008 .

To be honest, I'm not really worried about what house prices will do as am really looking to buy for the next 10 years or so. Need to feel settled and secure for all our sakes.

I am aware that the house isn't yours until you exchange just resent the fact that I've spent money on a house that isn't actually available yet and may not be for some considerable time.

I'm so sorry to hear that you have been messed about like this. All I can say is 'grrrrr' on your behalf - if that makes sense!!

Thanks NoseyNooNoo. I think it is the pointlessness of it that upsets me most. If I'd known the true situation, my offer would have been provisional on them finding something before I found something else. I would have held off on the survey and the legal stuff as absolutely no point when someone in the chain is unable to proceed.

Oh yes, and still haven't heard back from the agents (so that's 48 hours and counting!).

Quick update. Surprise surprise, agent had lied all round. Result, everyone upset and out of pocket, vendors rethinking their move and me back at square one.

Interestingly, offered on another property. Bearing in mind it has been on the market for over a year at the same price, they will reduce the price by £10,000 but only if I agree to their terms. So not really for sale is it?

Good heavens, some vendors are absolutely in cloud cuckoo land, aren't they???

secretskillrelationships I reckon you could win after all in the long-run - my guess is prices are going to fall after September. Then your useless EAs and recalcitrant in-denial only-accepting £10,000 off (my eye) sellers will be scuppered. OOOOh, I know schadenfreude's not a noble emotion but it feels so good!!

I agree about prices but there is simply nothing coming on to the market.

Unfortunately, the in-denial vendors are separating and he's in the family home with the DCs. My guess is that it suits him to stay as he'll just have to move into rented, hence pushing for an unobtainable price. The agent had told me they were close to agreeing a price with another buyer quite close to what I offered.

Ideally, I'd wait until the New Year as I think things could change significantly then but round here, at least, no-one actually seems to need to move. But I really want to move out of a rented property which is eating up capital at a rather scary rate!

Secret, we're in your position. We sold our house last year and divorcing vendor decided to pull out on day of exchange. We had to move into rented and have been here for 18 months now. I hate it, just want to have my own house.

My brother's house sale has just fallen through due to lying agents. It seems common practice to lie to all parties hoping that, by the time Everybody finds out true situation everyone will be too committed to back out.

It's all bloody wrong.

Not much help I realise but I feel you pain.

Oh, how awful! At least we had somewhere to live as my mum persuaded me not to give notice on our rented accommodation! But we moved into rented as there was nothing available and that was 2 years ago! Now my budget's halved it doesn't help!

Roll on September. I'm just hoping that people will start to see that things may actually be about to get worse and decide to sell now rather than later. But doesn't feel like a good place to be, would much rather the economy looked stable.

I second that secret, I'm hoping September bring some more motivated sellers.

We have asked our landlord to buy our house (it feels like home now ) but he wants a ridiculous price for it. At the moment he has no impetus to sell as our rent must more than cover his mortgage but I'm hoping that a couple more months of gloomy headlines will encourage him to cut his losses.

At the moment, it seems to be jut death and divorce making people sell.

Secrets something like this happened to us when purchasing our current house. The vendors started playing silly buggers and trying to delay the exchange date on the pretext that their grown up children (who lived there) had to find new accomodation. We threatened to pull out if they didn't exchange by 12 noon on the date we had previously agreed. They did exchange, at 11.30am.

After we moved into our house, several neighbours informed us that the vendors had delayed as another potential buyer was trying to gazump us and the vendors were frantically negotiating a higher price with the gazumpers! . Luckily our bullish threat worked or we would have been completely stiched up

Is there any way you can claim the costs back on the basis of the vendors/their solicitors renaging on what was previously agreed? A long shot, but it may be worth seeing if they change their tune, if they thought they might have to stomp upt £1,400

Best of luck