14 day isolation - two days from completion!

[stickygotstuck]

We are supposed to be enchanging and completing on Friday.

This morning my solicitor forwards an email from the vendor's solicitor to say that they've just got back from holiday and need to isolate for 14 days .

They want to know are we happy to postpone two weeks? What do they think?

Our issues:
Furious with vendor. WTF were they thinking of going on holiday now? (And yes, there is the slimmest of slim chances that wherever they went has been put on the list after they left. Not sure there is anywhere currently not in 'that' list though).

Furious with both solicitors. It seems from the email that they both know they were on holiday.

We have booked removals van and tradespeople, so have our buyers have as well. All is in place, we are in a chain, vendor is not. One of us has taken time off that cannot be rebooked, the other has rejected self-employed contracts to be able to concentrate on decorating, moving stuff, etc. as of Friday.

We wrote to our solicitor to say it was not acceptable for all above reaons. We also asked why can't we proceed as we understand the house we are buying is now empty and no contact in person is necessary.

(Surely the vendor hasn't gone back to the house from holiday two days before having to vacate it, have they??)

Helpfully, radio silence from our useless solicitor since this morning.

What can we do? Has anybody moved recently and done all the legal stuff remotely? Did you have to physically see anyone on the day?

I hope something better comes along very soon. I know it's terribly cheesy but these things happen for a reason and considering you didn't love the house I'd say it'll end up being the vendors loss rather than yours

Thank you jeff, let's hope so.

I don't know how people live with themselves. Fancy going through life knowing you've disrupted everyone's lives like that.

I'm so sorry, what an expensive stressful infuriating experience. I hope karma means one day the vendors garden (but not house) is compulsorily purchased for a stinky sewage works and he is stuck with a shitty smelling house he can never ever sell.

Glad your tenants have somewhere to live. Keep being your honourable self, don't let the terrible system drag you down. At some point you will look back at this and be glad it turned out this way, though it doesn't feel like that now.

pikcle, I know!

Thank you, Moira.
The sewage works made me laugh, now that would be something!

Hello! Remember this?

I am reviving this old thread because I had unexpected news yesterday and I'm feeling VERY weird about it!

Since this saga last October, we had been looking for another house. Lockdown and stamp duty holiday meant that houses were in short supply, getting snapped up for way over the asking price, and prices have gone up astronomically. This meant that to find something equivalent (difficult here) we'd have to shell out an extra 25k on average compared to last March when our offer was accepted in this original car-crash of a house purchase.

So, we get to this March and we finally have an offer accepted. This house is a 'mere' 12 k more expensive and we can count ourselves lucky, since we are not in a position to pay any more than that. In fact, we thought we'd be priced out forever and that was that.

With our history (see this thread), we have stressed to the EA and the new Vendor how keen we are to exchange as soon as possible. This is hard due to the hig volumes of house sales at the moment. Completion is far away as the house is tenanted and they have 6 months to vacate. Vendor understans and has agreed to exchange as soon as it's possible ( at the back of our minds - no guarantees, this is England ).

So forward to yesterday, when THIS HOUSE, the one that fell through back in October, is back on the market!. Here is the kicker - the price is practically the same as it was a year ago, amazingly. And cheaper that the current house we have had an offer accepted for (around 8k, which for us it makes a big difference as we are stretched to the limit as it is).

Of course, there is no way we'd trust the old verdor again after what happened. But at the back of our minds is the fact that it is cheaper, we liked it at the time and all the searches etc are all done, so things should - I stress should - progress much, much quicker than the new house (and therefore with less of a chance of falling through again).

How would you all feel about this? And what would you do in our shoes? Madness to even consider old house? Or throwing the baby with the bathwater if we don't consider it?

The only reason I'd say yes is that the house you're buying is tenanted. If they don't go after those 6 months (which they don't have to), you could have a very long wait. Oh, and you can't exchange until they go either, as the vendor needs to know they've gone and you'll get vacant possession.

Your searches will need doing again on the old house though, as they have a shelf life.

Oh dear what a dreadful dilemma. I replied on this thread when it was all happening for you.

Do you still really like the house? Is it on with the same Estate Agent? Nothing ventured nothing gained and all that. Perhaps have an honest and frank chat with the agent and see what potentially has changed with the vendor. You would be ideal going forward if you can stomach it.

If you were to be reassured that say the vendor was previously going through a divorce or something tangible that had created the last issue and it’s now resolved you may be lucky. But their previous behaviour was bloody awful. Good luck.

Thanks Fluffy

Your searches will need doing again on the old house though, as they have a shelf life . This actually makes me feel better. Our instinct is to walk away from previous house, really.

About the tenants, we understand that exchanging can be done well in advance of completion, even months before. The key issue being that once exchange has been done and the deposit paid, the vendor will have to compensate us if completion doesn't happen (exactly what we'd have liked when old vendor just walked away, but exchanged had not happened yet).

Tenants of new house are family members of the vendor, so I doubt they'd drag their feet too much. Plus we've been told that they have already found an alternative property. The long wait is still a pain though!

Thank you friendlycat! I remember you, you and others who replied helped keep me sane-ish .

We do still like it, although we think we prefer the new house, if only just (neither is perfect). Just deciding that is screwing with our heads already! The issue is the length of time it may take to complete on that one, what with it being tenanted and solicitors being overwhelmed with sales at the moment. Not so much the wait itself, but the chances of it going all wrong again.

But yes, the issue remains that the old vendor's behaviour still sticks in our throats! I have considered that it may have truly been an unfortunate and messy split with his partner, but that does not excuse dragging it as he did for so long whent we asked repeatedly, was everything still OK. Especially when he had been the one rushing us along and threatening to pull out shortly before. He wasn't even answering the phone for a week FFS.

Tenants of new house are family members of the vendor, so I doubt they'd drag their feet too much. Plus we've been told that they have already found an alternative property. The long wait is still a pain though!

That sounds promising. A new landlord isn't going to wait too long, so I'd think they'll be gone soon.

Their solicitor would be negligent, IMO, if they put their client at risk of having to compensate you due to the tenants failing to vacate. Though they could obviously proceed against advice and instruct their solicitor to exchange. As long as the solicitor could prove they'd given the advice and it has been rejected!

Where are you up to with the purchase?

Issue Notice to complete if you have already exchanged. Frankly if you have exchanged and had agreed a date they are in breach of contract and your solicitor should be pushing harder and threatening above with associated penalties and if they pull out loss of deposit etc

I think I would be willing to go for it if it was exactly what I wanted but I would want to know everything was free and clear of other parties or permissions already signed etc. I would want to go for exchange and complete immediately as well

Thank you Fluffy

Unfortunately, we are at the very early stages. Tentans were only given official notice in March. We are still waiting for the searches and the valuation to be done (joined the queue about 4 weeks ago).

Thanks RB68. No, we haven't exchanged on the new property. It's really very early days yet.

As an aside, I am still amazed that vendors are not liable to compensate buyers (and viceversa) from moment an offer is accepted. That would really concentrate the mind and stop unecessary waste of time. I know someone's word means nothing at all, but that's not the way it should be.

RB68 - I think I would be willing to go for it if it was exactly what I wanted but I would want to know everything was free and clear of other parties or permissions already signed etc. I would want to go for exchange and complete immediately as well

You mean you'd for the previous house?

Trouble is there is no legally binding way of making sure things are sped up or secured - that's what's doing our heads in. You've got to love this system .