Can we delay completion by a few weeks?

[Homeoswheretheheartis]

First house purchase. Chain free therefore things have moved at a swift pace. Mortgage in place, searches and full survey done. We want this house yet we've yet to talk with our landlord about our current rental agreement and the possibility of cutting it short. We can afford to pay both the mortgage and rent on our current place but were wondering what the etiquette is once we've exchanged contracts. Is it ok to ask for a completion date, say 6-8 weeks after exchange or is that just going to rub the vendor up the wrong way? It's been four weeks since we put our offer in and it looks like the contracts are ready to go out.

Okay - what is your current rental agreement term? If you are outside the original term and on a rolling contract (statutory periodic tenancy) then you will usually need to give one month's notice. If that is the case then you could ask for a completion date one month after exchange to coincide with your rent payment period.

If you can afford both rent and mortgage - usually the first mortgage payment is paid in arrears - then once you have exchanged (and barring something going really wrong) give notice to your landlord.

If you are, say, four months into a 12 month tenancy then clarify the likely purchase timescale with your solicitor now. Then speak to you landlord and see if you can negotiate an early release from the tenancy. This will usually require a new tenant to be signed up. If you offer to be flexible re: viewings, etc it will probably help.

Consider an overlap of a couple of weeks to make life easier when moving. This will also mean you can go back to the rental place and clean properly once it is empty.

Contracts get sent out relatively early in the process - they are signed, witnesses and held by the respective solicitors ready to exchange. There can be weeks between these two steps.

Most house purchases take about three months anyway, so if you are only four weeks in it's going at breakneck speed! But if that's what your vendors were looking for, then they may not be amenable to extending the period between exchange and completion - it's worth asking though. Where are you with your current rental agreement?

Thanks for your swift replies. We are currently 16 months into a 24 month rental agreement,so due to end in August
We reay want this house. Advice much appreciated x

We can pay both the mortgage and rent until August but it will be a killer. Ideally we'd have an overlap of a couple of months but I'm a bit stuck on how to approach/word this with both vendor and current landlord.

So you are committed to paying rent for another 8 months if they won't break the agreement but you offered on a house before speaking to the landlord?! You need to speak to the landlord to see what they are willing to do before sorting out the completion date really.

Yep. Pretty dumb eh? We can do it but would obviously prefer to negotiate an early release. And wondering if there is room to negotiate a short period between exchange and completion.

It may be possible that your landlord will release you from your obligation, if they find another tenant in that period. Probably best to clarify your landlords position prior to contacting the vendors.

Is it through an agent? Most agents will let you have an early release with a break clause, but in my experience they make you pay the "costs" of marketing (they charged me £500) and will only release you once a new tenant is found.

You need to speak to your landlord about getting an early release from the tenancy. Have a read of the tenancy agreement to see if there is a break clause though.

Your solicitor is likely to be the best placed person to advise how long it may take to get to exchange so have that information before you have the conversation with the landlord.

Unless the vendor thinks that because you are renting they can get a quick sale and they want to complete by Christmas (you'd know if that was the case) then you are probably looking at February to complete because nothing happens over Christmas and New Year.

you define completion date when you exchange so you need to sort this before exchange.

talk to your landlord; you'll be leaving anyway at some point so discuss. Minimum legal notice from you is a month.

If the vendor is also needing to sell to move on they won't be too chuffed to wait and could decide to remarket it. Prices could well increase in that period. Speak to your ll to see what flexibility they might give you , they may agree to curtail if another tenant is found sooner, but you should be prepared to lose the house purchase or pay for both.

Just be honest with the vendor- you've said you're prepared to pay both the mortgage and rent if necessary but that's worst case scenario.

Let the vendors know you'll exchange ASAP (which secures the purchase price) and, in an ideal world you'd like to delay the completion.

It might actually suit them too but if it doesn't then say, no problem, we can complete at a date to suit.

Then you try your landlord and see if he'll let you out of your lease early.

If not, worst case scenario, you pay rent and a mortgage but there's 2 options that might work out before it gets to that.