My MIL is trying to buy a property that is in a chain. She was given a series of target dates in the memorandum of sale from the estate agents which she complied with and hence was ready to exchange and complete to that timetable. However, when her solicitor tried to confirm exchange and completion dates with the seller's solicitor things went rather quiet so we started to suspect something might be wrong. Then MIL received a call from the estate agent advising her that there was a delay to the exchange and completion dates. MIL asked for the explanation by email. On reading the email we learned that the seller had had to 'change the property they were buying'. However, it seems from that email and further enquiries that they have found a new property but are just near the beginning of the purchase process so would not be in a position to exchange and complete for a couple of months at the earliest.
We were eventually told that their first purchase had fallen through because planning restrictions meant they would not be able to extend it as they had wanted to. Fair enough, except I can't help wondering how long the estate agents, sellers and seller's solicitor must have known about this. The seller had already found another property and started the purchase process when MIL was told. It seems likely the seller would have needed to look for a while before finding another property that ticked all their boxes so I am wondering if it is usual for the estate agent/seller's solicitor to withold such a significant matter (i.e that the seller has pulled out of their purchase)? MIL has continued spending money on solicitor's fees, property search fees and may have incurred a surveyors fee when the seller had already pulled out of the purchase.
I wondered if anyone knows whether the estate agents/seller's solicitors have breached any ethical code by not informing the purchaser/their solicitor of the change when they found out about it? I appreciate chains can collapse for a number of reasons but it's the witholding of information by the so-called professionals for their client's benefit that concerns me (the client seller can obviously negotiate a purchase more easily if they can say they have a buyer who is ready to exchange on their property). Also, I am interested to find out about anyone else's experience of being in a chain that collapsed and whether you were told promptly about the change or did you only find out when you were ready to exchange?
I feel for my MIL who has spent a lot of time and money on this and I feel has been lead down the garden path!