Advice please - chain collapsed 3 days from exchange

[Tulipsandsunshine]

I need some objective advice. We are attempting to move out of London to a town in the North West. It has been a mammoth project of course and we put the house on the market in late October we got a buyer in November and thought agents had vetted them properly, they had a flat to sell and their first buyer fell through in January and we were advised/pressured by agents to wait for them. I didn’t mind giving them breathing space but did ask agents to check and reassure me that they were solid buyers and to check out reasons for the sale failure, we were told it was cold feet on behalf of their buyer. Then they got a cash buyer quickly so All was ok. We found a brilliant property and all has been progressing until last week, 3 days before exchange, their buyer pulled out. My agents didn’t tell me, they were slow to respond and the agent of my vendor did just before she put the house back onto rightmove (no breathing space for us). Apparently the sale fell through due to the same problem as before which we now know about. Without a doubt there was some withholding of information from their buyers agent but I don’t feel that my agent has pushed or done her job properly. I have said this and since then we have had the manager marketing our property and we had 4 viewings over the weekend and another yesterday all from people in a position to progress but no offers yet. No other viewings lined up.

I’m feeling really worried and don’t know what to do. Our house is lovely and I know it will sell eventually but we are going to struggle if we have to wait for a long time as I have given notice on my job and got a school place lined up for my daughter which we could lose. Losing the house we wanted to buy would be awful but not as awful as not being able to move.

I’m not impressed by our agents, I’ve had to chase and direct throughout the process and they’re slow to return calls but they do have the house on the market of course with good pictures done and everything. I am tempted to change agents but just don’t know if it’s the right thing to do - hang on for a few more weeks and hope they come through for us or start the whole process again with a new agent? Would really appreciate some advice.

How about renting out your property and renting up north? That could give you six months breathing space, and also time to decide where you want to settle.
I relocated last year from London to the North West message me if want any advice on the move.

Thanks Nursery - did think of that but worried about timing of everything. Large mortgage here and if we had a gap might struggle to pay mortgage if we’ve moved and also needed to pay rent. Perhaps you’re right though, should just take the plunge it all just feels so complicated and risky.

This happened to me, on the day of exchange, which was 2 days before completion.

It is awful. We had given jobs up (I had to give 6 weeks notice, partner a month) Packed. I had left the gym. Had had a farewell lunch even!

My solution was to remortgage our house, rent it out and buy in our new location. But that wouldn't work with a large mortgage.

I'm just sympathizing really as I know how awful it is.

Are you still in contract with the agent? Whilst written particulars take a wee while to do, agents can start doing viewings pretty much instantly you've agreed a contract with them, so I'd be tempted to get a new agent rather than wait a few more weeks. In my experience London agents are particularly proactive.

Would you be happy to share where you are?

Just to give you hope we moved out and up north on the weekend, and got the offer on the following Tuesday....

Check your contract with the agents - some of them have clauses that you pay their fees even if another agent actually finds your buyer, so you end up paying both sets of fees.

Hagueblue what a unhelpful response to someone in distress, you’ve upset me further so perhaps stop saying that to other people in the same situation. Of course it simply wasn’t possible not to give notice on my job - I have a 3 month notice period - or I would have been in the position of needing to commute to London from the northwest. We had agreed exchange dates across the chain so it was 3 days from exchange even though of course I know how the (stupid) system works. I am a senior teacher and school are going to try to help or I will do supply work so we won’t be destitute but of course it’s a complete nightmare and we have given up gym, clubs etc I rarely post messages but just thought someone might have a bright idea as feeling rather desperate.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions about checking agent contracts - will do that and also decided to drop the price of our house slightly.

Ioveka - thank you for posting- glad you managed to sort your move in the end.

Hagueblue we’re just normal people, not rich - a teacher and a charity manager, both senior - a lot of the reason we’re moving is because we seem to work constantly and can’t manage to save much in London. We do have a little contingency money, we’re not people who don’t plan things carefully, but that wasn’t what I came on here to ask about. I didn’t ask for you to pull apart my post and give me a lesson about the system. This does happen often but there isn’t much you can do to avoid it is there or we would have. It’s not helpful to get pedantic over whether you can plan for exchange. We still have to pay fees for all of the work completed to get us to exchange which had been agreed by all parties. Yes, our buyers lied, we are the victims of a system which relies on people having some decency and compassion for others. I was asking for help, you were not helpful and made me feel worse.

Tulips,
We had our buyer pull out 2 days before exchange. They had been dragging their feet and their solicitor hadn't read any information they'd been sent by ours.
We ended up letting our existing house and buying the new one. It's an expensive option as there is added Stamp Duty (but this can be claimed back if you sell within a certain period) We only did this as we wanted to buy the house we were buying and we would have lost it. If this hadn't been the case we would have rented and remarketed the original house. The system sucks.
I'd be having a frank discussion with your agent. Ours contributed to our situation. I asked to use our photos for the letting agency and this was agreed for a small photographer's fee which definitely helped our let. You could negotiate for dual agents making sure contractually that only the agent that finds the buyer gets paid.
Get your mortgage adviser to look at all the options including payable stamp duty and bear in mind 2 lots of council tax and see what you can afford.
Good luck.

Our solicitor also charged us for the purchase but reduced their fees on the sale and charged only for work done it was significantly less than it should have been. It also means we'll use them when we do sell because of the good will.