Didn't complete today - any conveyancers (or knowledgeable equivalent) out there?

[DolorestheNewt]

Jolly good thing we didn't have to make an onward purchase on the same day as completing on our sale, because our buyers' mortgage lender apparently cocked up and cancelled the loan to our buyers, leading to all sorts of dramas. Apparently it's all resolved now, but it appears that we did not complete today as we should have done.
Is this a common thing? Completion just casually knocking on to the next day? The point is, it has actually cost us money, even though we didn't have an onward purchase today - we are in a holiday let currently, as we can't move directly into our new house, so we could have saved ourselves £125 if we'd moved out a day later. Of course I can ask my solicitor, but it's often better to talk to professionals forearmed with info from knowledgeable Mumsnetters - can we claim it from our buyers on the grounds that we moved out a day before we needed to?

*An emendation: actually, it hasn't cost us money. It's prevented an opportunity to spend less money.

It's probably not worth you pursuing it because it may cost more than the money you've spent unnecessarily to do so. Also, do you not have a contract for the holiday let? Even if you hadn't stayed there you may have had to pay for it.

Thanks, Wowfudge. Yes, we booked the holiday let from today a few weeks ago, so it's more that we could have booked it from tomorrow had we known and could thus have saved £125 - which I can see is a quite different animal from their late completion actually costing us money. I think you're right, it's not worth pursuing.

You could ask them to pay as a gesture of goodwill anyway. £125 isn't much compared to how much it could have been due to their failure to complete.

Considering what buyers could end up paying for not completing on the right day, then I think you have a good chance of getting your £125. My solicitor (partner in a firm that specialises in property matters) says that he has only known properties not complete when they are meant to three times in his career (20+ years) so I think you've been unlucky.

MrsPigling, when I contemplate what would have ensued if we'd been all set up to purchase somewhere on the same day, as we originally intended, my blood runs cold!
LaLa On one level, we've been unlucky, on another, I think, we've been extremely fortunate - we intended to sell and buy on the same day, and move from one property to the next with no break, but our chain became too complicated so we broke it by agreeing to go into rented. Good job, given the way events have turned out. I'll have a word with my solicitor and see what she thinks about it. If it has to come out of the buyers' pockets, I wouldn't be so inclined to pursue it as they're first time buyers and it seems rough to penalise them for their mortgage company's cock up. If we can get it from their mortgage company, fair game, say I.

Happened to us last time we moved! Our purchase money didn't land in the vendor's bank account. We didn't get sued - if we had we would have had something to say about the filthy state of the place. Sometimes it's better to just let things go rather than having another source of stress after moving.

Thanks to all of you who responded - if I understand my solicitor correctly, we got £80 interest, so I feel perfectly happy now!

As well as the interest you are also entitled to the £125 as it is foreseeable that if they fail to complete on the completion date that you would spend less on your rental property. Thus I would ask your solicitor to ask them to reimburse this amount too. then if they refuse up to you if you want the hassle of pursuing (I'd ask but probably give up if they don't pay up!)