Should we pull out/start looking again

[OneStepOneStumble]

Hi all, DH and I are FTB and had an offer accepted just after lockdown eased on the housing market. Sellers haven't been great at keeping us updated but we've got things sorted from our end (mortgage agreed and arranging a survey). They've now contacted us to ask if we can delay a survey because they haven't found anywhere to move to yet, and they aren't willing to move out and rent anywhere. I.e. we have to sit tight and wait for them to find their perfect place for however long it takes.

Just looking for advice - how long is too long to wait? Are they being unreasonable?

Although the developers will be fairly motivated to get them signed up and exchanged fairly soon I imagine. Can you see what the problem is with renting? For example we would have considered it except for our cats who would probably not be welcome in a rented place but are very much a part of our family. Something like that is hard to overcome, although they will encounter similar problems with other buyers. When is your mortgage offer due to expire?

@TW2013 as far as i know, they don't have any pets. The impression we got from the agent was that the last time they rented in between places they "wasted lots of money waiting for the chain to complete" (a bit like we're doing now really) so they don't want to bother again.

@TW2013 sorry just reread - out mortgage offer expires in December, so not much leeway

Big builders mostly know exactly how long it will take to build a house, certainly if it's not the first one on the development and basic groundworks are sorted. I assume lockdown delayed a fair few, especially in Scotland but there are usually penalty clauses on the building contractors if a house is delayed.

Just have both solicitors agree that exchange and completion on you buying theirs will happen on X November. It's then up to the sellers to push their builders / move into a rental while their new home is being finished.

If you can exchange now and then complete in November, then I don't see what the issue is assuming you can wait until then in your current situation? It's now mid July, so like has been said above, that's only about 4-5 months which is standard. Fewer completions tend to happen over the summer (in chains) as people are invariably away for two weeks at different times. In the situation I described above, there was one date in the entire 6 weeks holiday that worked for all parties and even then our FTBs were actually on holiday and we'd returned the day before.

If you can build an overlap of dates into your plans (we planned on about 2 weeks the first time around) then that should give you more flexibility. If the house still finished by the agreed completion date then they can either move out of theirs and into rented, or pay for you to do the same.

Have you got a mortgage in principle or your actual mortgage arranged? If it's the former then assuming your circumstances haven't changed, it's easy to get it renewed for a further few months.

I would be cautious, our new build was delayed by 3 months. The new build developers won't commit contractually to a date until exchange and even then IME its pretty woolly.

If you're prepared to wait until November, I would be seeking guarantees they'll move out then irrespective of when their new build is ready.

OP, you're obviously eager and excited to get moved. You need to bare in mind that buying a house is a protracted stressful experience and nothing is certain until you've exchanged. If you pass on this house you may well end up in a longer chain and not be in a different house any quicker. I also don't think it's unreasonable of the owners to not want to move into rented accommodation, it would be a pain moving twice for the sake of a few weeks extra wait and it would push their costs up.

Personally I would pull out and search for houses with no chain.

Okay, thank you again for all your advice - it's very new territory for us. Also for everyone saying I still sound impatient - I am not saying I want to pull out because we can't move in next week, it's that we are willing to wait a while if we have a definite date, but the goalposts keep moving.

I think we wil seek assurances that they will move out even if the house isn't completed. We do know someone who's new build has unfortunately been delayed for over 6 months, and I can't see how a seller can expect people to hang around for that due to their reluctance to rent.