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Original poster

House Purchase

17 replies

elay5 · 15/02/2017 08:25

My wife and I had an offer accepted on a property about late October, it was taken of market and tentative dates for completion were late January/early Feb.

Along the way we were told that the vendor had found a property and there was no chain etc. We had our mortgage approved on the 10th Feb and informed the agent that we would like to agree a date asap. The agent came back and suggested the 10th March, we thought that was way too far and said we wanted a date in Feb as our lease runs out, although its actually March but we need 6 weeks to do some work at the premises.

Then the agent informed us that the vendor is waiting on proceeds from a sale of a property in Croatia, first time we heard of that, presumably her plan is to add those proceeds to ours and pay for her new house, we felt like as if they have not been straight forward with us, worst case scenario the Croatia sale has a hiccup and we are stuck, although the agent says the vendor is expecting the proceeds this week, I do feel a bit unsure about them now

What options do we have, can we give a final date and try and reduce the price post Feb, any ideas people on how we should go forward

OP posts:
LIZS · 15/02/2017 08:33

Until exchange you have no rights as such to insist. Your lease situation is not the vendors' responsibility. You may ah e to revise the work you hope to do before moving in and try to negotiate. Or walk away.

PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2017 08:33

A similar thing happened to us (without the Croatia aspect). You can try giving them a final date but they're not obligated to accept it. It's a bit like a high stakes game of chicken in that if you haven't exchanged contracts you've got no actual leverage other than pulling out. If you threaten to pull out you have to do it if they don't meet your terms.

March 10th isn't that far away-will your lease last until then? If you exchange contracts now with a completion date of March 10th they'll have to move out then (or there are serious financial penalties).

Original poster
elay5 · 15/02/2017 08:38

The thing is we would really like to take possession as soon as so we can do some work and move in by end of march, they have come back now with 3rd of March but we really want to bring that into Feb.

I did read that if you give an ultimatum re pulling out you really do need to be ready to pull out if they cant meet the ultimatum

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2017 08:43

To be fair, the 3rd of march is only just over two weeks away. That's not all that long to wait if they're prepared to exchange now.

PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2017 08:46

If this your first house purchase?

Original poster
elay5 · 15/02/2017 08:50

In England, yes

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2017 08:58

I think you might have slightly unrealistic expectations about how cooperative sellers have to be. Unless you're going to walk away, there really isn't much you can do other than keep putting forward February dates and hoping they agree to one.

Original poster
elay5 · 15/02/2017 09:15

Thanks will try and see what happens

OP posts:
DelphiniumBlue · 15/02/2017 09:23

How has it taken so long to get your mortgage? Can I point out that you were not in a position to exchange or complete within the agreed timeframe, but you are now complaining about having to wait a week for the vendors to sort themselves out?
There's no point in agreeing a completion date until everyone is ready to exchange. But realistically, if you exchange next week, then 10 March is only a few weeks after that.

Notanotherpawpatrol · 15/02/2017 09:30

The 3rd of march really isn't that far away, and if the vendors can't go anywhere, they can't go anywhere! They are probably as frustrated as you and want to get moving too. 3rd march is 2 weeks away and it all sound like a perfectly reasonable time frame to me.

PurpleDaisies · 15/02/2017 09:34

To be honest, if they are prepared to exchange now with a completion date of March 3rd I'd definitely do that. The longer you hold out for an earlier date, the more chance something else could go wrong. It's three days into March. Is it really worth the hassle if your lease means you've still got somewhere to live?

JoJoSM2 · 15/02/2017 11:12

I think you're being unreasonable. As pointed out, you were usable to proceed in the agreed time frame yourselves. Besides, chains take time and 10/03 is only a month after your mortgage being approved - pretty swift. I'd just double check that the Croatia money has been received and things will move forward.

Beachedwh4le · 15/02/2017 12:53

Agree with others, you need to revise your expectations somewhat since you've taken so long to get your own mortgage sorted out you can't now demand the vendors jump

Herschellmum · 15/02/2017 17:53

Hugs, it's seriously stressful isn't it. I'd wait it out, rather than push and be in a situation like me, where we are due to complete this Friday and haven't exchanged yet (it's a company and apparently they exchange and complete on the same day) ... it's a hellish situation to be in and with hindsight I would rather have held out but they pushed us to move quickly and we organised that for a verbally agreed timescale and now stuck.

Massive hugs. Wait it out, it sucks that's for sure, but your better to be in a safe position than in a situation like me.

Original poster
elay5 · 16/02/2017 09:02

They have not come back with the 24th March, I guess a waiting game

OP posts:
Spickle · 16/02/2017 11:03

You do know that any dates "agreed" are always tentative. Every single person in the chain needs to be ready before an exchange can take place and a completion date agreed. Many factors contribute to whether or not everyone is ready. It took you three months to secure a mortgage following acceptance of your offer. Your vendors hope to get the proceeds from the sale of the Croatian property imminently so it would seem they are motivated to sell and yet you are not happy at the possible delay. I agree with other posters that you need to be patient. Unfortunately, while it may suit you to complete before your lease runs out, it may not be feasible if there are still outstanding points to be dealt with and setting a deadline in this situation would not be advisable.

Herschellmum · 22/02/2017 16:25

You can of course express your want for it to happen sooner, you never know, it may be possible for them but I think you need to be flexible and accept you may have to wait a bit longer.

With us, we moved last Friday without exchanging prior, at 4:10pm we discovered we still hadn't changed and it was all bated breath sitting in the new house trying to get insurance cover but thankfully all went though at 4:30. It could have been a disaster. I wouldn't take those types of risks again but we were sort of forced into it.

Wait to exchange, but that doesn't stop you expressing your desire to bring the date forward but accept that it just might not be possible too.

So sorry for how frustrating it is. There is a reason they say it's one of the most stressful experiences, it will be worth it though.

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