Our seller has decided to 'slow things down'. What do we do?

[BlackCoffeeExtraStrong]

Hi,

So firstly, I get that so many people are being affected by what's going on right now and a lot of house sales are falling through as a result. I get that and I was/am certainly looking at the bigger picture and so initially, tbh, we were expecting someone to pull out, given we are in a chain of 5. We had kind if made our peace with that.

However, when the lockdown was first announced, everyone in our chain made it clear that they wanted to proceed and move as soon as was physically possible, under the circumstances.

This has been the case until the last few days, when our sellers EA has said that they now want to sit tight and see how things go. They are buying a long term house, neither have lost their jobs etc, but of course nobody knows what's going on behind closed doors and so if they want to pull out, as gutted as we would be, we would understand.

As it stands, they sound like they just expect everyone else in the chain to just dangle for a few months, to see what the economy is doing, but everyone else is very keen to exchange. One in particular, who is getting very impatient.

The bottom of the chain is our buyer (BTL investors) and we sold to them at the beginning of December. They aren't being pushy, which is good, but do still want to go ahead. I don't know if that will be the case if our sellers pull out and we then have to look at other properties.....which we can't actually physically do for the foreseeable.

How much pressure should we apply, if any? I told their EA that we just need them to be completely honest with us. If they know that they now have no intention of moving until all this has settled, then they need to tell us, so we can hopefully keep our buyer and move on. Things won't be settled for, well.....how long is a piece of string?! So we can't hang on indefinitely.

I am already enquiring about other properties, but obviously we can't view them yet.

I suppose we should just be honest with our buyers?...Ask how long they'd be prepared to wait if we needed to look for something else?

WWYD? Really appreciate some advice.

@Black

I think I might have made a breakthrough with DP! Not to stay here, but rent somewhere else, assuming we can find a landlord willing to take on dogs.

Op. Suggest you have a look at the rental market then before you go down that route. A lot of landlords will not accept dogs. I know as we rent properties out and we refuse point blank as do many other LL I know. Unfortunately for you dogs tend to wreck properties, make them smell and require complete redecoration and carpet deep cleaning after rental so just isn't worth while for us.

Do not compromise your own sale. That is your priority. Selling is going to be much harder than buying in the coming times - get the cash now.

It's taken you 2 years to get to this point.

It could take you a hell of a lot longer if this falls through. Absolutely get your sale sorted, I suspect your buyer will be able to find a way to accommodate you renting your own house back from them. If you did this you also wouldn't have to pay the associated costs of moving!

People talking about cleaning fees etc. That is all immaterial. Op will just walk out of the house if she rented it straight from selling. No inventory could take place. I’m a ll and I can see this could work as a solution, but tbh, I’m not sure I’d want to do this myself if I bought the property.

If you want to sell and go into rental op. That’s fine. But even if house prices dip, you’ll be paying rent and not paying off a mortgage plus you'll have the unknown of what the mortgage market will be once you do want to buy a property. Tbh your best bet right now if your buyers are getting antsy is to give the vendors a deadline and mean it.

Bottom line, if house prices go down by 10%, how much will you gain in a rental for 6 months after factoring in rental payments and double moving costs? What about 12 months? Then when you move out, you’ll have cleaning costs. Even if you clean the house yourself, there will be carpets. And what about damage? Pets can cause damage, which can be recouped up to the deposit amount (unless you pay 1 week rent non reimbursed insurance deposit scheme). That figure would also need to be factored in. These all add up.

I think which ever route we go down, they'll be risk. We don't want to rent again and under normal circumstances, we would probably just play the long game, but yes, keeping our buyers is our number one priority.

We are likely going to lose money whatever happens, but my MH needs to come into this too and the thought of staying where we are for another year...or two....or three, fills me with absolute dread.

Saying all that, I have done a bit of research into rental properties and finding anywhere which would consider pets, is proving very difficult. I suppose it's still worth approaching to see if they'd reconsider.

Decide what you want but realise you are now contractually committed to the purchase. Withdraw, you loose your deposit I and become liable for any other costs the seller has got.

However, it sounds want to pull out as that new document gives them pretty much carte blanch to do that without the reverse happening to them if you had pulled out. DO NOT sign it without hard legal advice as it pretty much removes any rights you have from signing the exchange be contract.

@MarieG10, no, we haven't exchanged yet.

Ok. Well ideally still selling and moving to rental..but unfortunately as I said earlier you have what every landlord hates....dogs so start the hunt for accommodation early if you rent.

I don’t see much downside in asking your buyers whether you can rent from them. Surely that’s win win? The rent wouldn’t be the full potential as they haven’t renovated yet; but it’s the most they could hope to achieve in this climate.

The only risk I see is the small risk of hyperinflation with our economy with your money being in cash not properly if you sell but don’t buy; but there is also the risk of housing market crash; there are lots of unknowns.

Sounds like the house you were due to buy may not be your ideal house though...