Seller has shifted completion date leaving us homeless - do we have any redress??

[runningLou]

We were due to complete on 14th - our offer was accepted on the house in a sealed bid process and from the start we specified the 14th as our moving date as we need to be out of our rented house. Landlord has sold the house and given us notice.
We have been ready to exchange since last week, then heard from our solicitor today that the seller has decided to take out a mortgage on onward purchase (not previously mentioned), and completion is end of next week (22nd) at very earliest.
We're now looking at having to put our furniture in storage and camp out, with 2 DC, with my mum - the house would be overcrowded and unbearable.
Do we have any redress, or any compensation for storage / second removal fees - second as in we'll now have to move twice, into storage and out?? Or do we just have to suck it up as we're the buyers ....

When does your landlord exchange/complete? I expect he hasn't exchanged yet as many people won't exchange on rented properties until they are empty. Has he served you with any notice. It's bad form but he can't just kick you out.

I'm assuming you're in England? Unfortunately nothing about a property transaction is binding until you actually exchange contracts. Until you exchange, the seller has no obligation to sell to you at all, let alone on a specific date.

It would definitely be worth speaking to your landlord, and checking whether you could stay on later.

it is not relevant whether you are buyers or sellers.

What is relevant is that if you are in England or Wales, no contract exists until contracts have been exchanged. Until that point either party is entitled to pull out of the deal, or to try to change the price or the date or anything else.

The other party has the choice of telling them to f off, or accepting the attempt, or trying to negotiate something else.

If your vendor is tiresome, mention that you are looking at other houses but are still willing to continue as previously agreed.

Alternatively could tell him you might consider changing the date at a reduced price.

And DO keep looking at other houses. Until the contracts are exchanged you have nothing

Yep, we're in England, and so I know nothing's final until exchange ... Just so frustrating as I feel seller is messing us and DC around so much while she sits pretty in her comfy home and moves out only when it's convenient for HER, thank you very much.
I don't think she will pull out as her onward purchase is a new build and she has put down a deposit on it. Not sure if we should threaten to pull out either, at this stage, as realistically we never would ...

I would speak to your LL. 14th-22nd isn't long and he may be happy for you to stay (and pay rent obviously). We just did something similar with our LL selling and shifting moving dates. They hadn't exchanged so he was happy to get a few hundred pounds for no extra hassle to him.

i think party is right. We've just bought a house from a LL and our solicitor told us not to exchange contracts until the tenants had already moved out (to avoid the risk of sitting tenants), so I doubt the buyers of your property have exchanged yet and so there should be scope to negotiate staying a bit longer with the LL

it's barely ten days = speak to landlord about paying extra weeks rent.

Thanks for all the advice - contacted rental agency today. They contacted LL. Now crossing fingers while we wait to hear back! Personally don't think we will complete next week either as no one has any info about how far seller has got with her mortgage applic.