How hard to push for our purchase?

[Scoogle]

Hello

We are buying a house at the moment that was agreed in January.

We are in rented and our seller is buying a new build. When we put our offer in, the Estate Agent said that the seller was looking at two new build developments. One that was completing in Spring and one completing in June by the absolute latest. We said that was fine, as we weren't in a massive rush. Ever since then I feel like our seller has been delaying the whole thing.

we didn't get draft contracts until mid March as the seller wanted to wait until she had decided what new build she was buying and still haven't exchanged. When we said we were in no rush we said we wanted to exchange as soon as possible with a set completion date. Since that point there has been no updates from seller sol and even the agents have admitted they are struggling to get a response from seller.

We have said again that although waiting until June isn't ideal, as long as we can exchange and get under contract, we will be happy. We are being totally ignored by the seller.

After chasing the Estate Agent last week we were finally told that completion may not be in June and that in fact our seller has booked a three week holiday covering end of June until July and it may be after that.

We both feel really messed about

Sorry posted early.

Basically, we really want the house and it's ideal for us. Would we be reasonable in setting an exchange deadline. We don't want to lose it , but the seller has no regard for us or our timescales at all.

The seller is behaving pretty poorly in not keeping you informed - but probably can't exchange until he/she can exchange on the new-build. You'll then have the same completion timings as the developer gives your seller which is likely to be about 2-3 weeks' notice. If the seller won't speak to you though, it sounds as though he is not sure what to buy so I'd say that if he doesn't give you a proper update, you're pulling out.

We moved recently to a house that had been on and off the market for a few years (overpriced for much of that time).

The woman selling mentioned that they had thought about moving into rented to get a sale and I seized upon that, told our solicitor and their agent that that was what had been said, said that we had to move by Easter if we were buying that house.

It happened, they wanted the sale more enough for the inconvenience of moving into a temporary home until their own purchase completed.

I think the thing is. From my experience of new builds. They tend to exchange quite quickly after they are agreed and if she wants to stick a date in of, say, 30th of June or earlier by agreement , then that's fine. But she's going to have to bite the bullet and do that with a risk that if the new build isn't ready then she will have to move into rented. We can't exchange on a long stop date for our part of the transaction .

It's more the holiday that's annoyed me tbf and the whole stalling of every stage so far.

Time to draw a line in the sand then. Tell the EA that your patience is wearing thin - especially now you understand the vendor will be away when you were hoping to complete. Ask for another viewing - that'll grab her attention - make it look as though you're having second thoughts.

oooh I never thought of that. We may just do it. Thanks for your wise advice . I think we will start stomping our feet this week.

Ugh, I feel your pain. The first house I bought took 11 months to complete. 😕

Definitely definitely definitely book in another viewing. Loads of houses come up for sale this time of year so let your seller start to panic that you're considering your options. Maybe look less impressed with the house this time and point out some faults. I think sellers take keen buyers for granted after a while.

Prices are also falling at the moment, so is the price you agreed on almost 5 months ago still a fair amount?

Oh sorry, one other thing: before we bought that house, we looked at a gorgeous place. That seller was planning to buy a new build and the EA warned us that completion dates could be moved around a lot by the builders, if the development fell behind schedule, etc.

Could that be s reason..? I can see why you're annoyed about the holiday. You're biting your nails wanting to get your life started, while your seller breezes around like nothing's actually happening! Infuriating.

I think that is the reason. Although the Estate Agent told me this week that they are still supposed to be complete by June at the moment. I think we're going to go again and then maybe firm email from us

Our vendors starting dragging their feet and just wouldn't commit to completion just before Easter, which suited everyone else in the chain. DP got our EA to push home that the FTBs at the beginning of the chain were kicking up stink because our buyers couldn't complete by Easter and that provided the kick they needed. We didn't complete by Easter, but we did exchange by then and completed a couple of weeks after instead.

Have a look what else on the market you might be interested in too - make noises that's it's been going on so long you're begining to think it might never go through so you need a contingency plan, but first of all you want to see if you still like the house as much.

When on onward purchase fell through our buyers were understandably a bit worried. We exchanged and set a completion deadline of 2 months later that could be brought forward by us if we found a house sooner. Luckily we did! I think maybe ask to exchange with a max deadline of mid July. If they refuse let them know you're going house shopping again.