Seller still hasn't found anywhere.. nerves are setting in

[ldnirish]

Accepted an offer on our property in September (no chain that end).
Got an offer accepted on a property in October. They have viewed numerous places now and still haven't found anywhere they like.

They have been on the market since February so I would think they'd know what they're looking for by now. They are also looking in an area where the market isn't slowing down at all so lots of choice.

We decided to go ahead with survey etc so as not to cause further delays our end, as we really need to move before stamp duty holiday ends. Wondering now if this was a mistake.

Anyone had any experience of being in a chain like this/is in a chain like this currently? 1

Can you ask for some confirmation that they will be out before March? We are selling but don’t have anywhere to go because we are moving to Scotland but not allowed to go and view. We have agreed to move into rental if we can’t find anywhere and be in my end of March.

Before spending money on survey I'd ask that you can exchange before a particular date and complete by a certain date and get an undertaking from them. Otherwise you're throwing the money away if they decide to pull out.

We’re in a similar situation however we only agreed offers on our house and with the vendor this month so quite recent. My concern is that there aren’t many new properties coming up in the area the seller is looking to move so we might be stuck for a while. I only hope our buyer doesn’t get too impatient. Can you set a deadline as PP suggested and also maybe keep an eye on Rightmove in case something comes up potentially chain free in case there’s no movement from your seller?

No good advice but sympathy as I'm in a similar position. I'm being bought out by stbx but trying to time his remortgage /transfer of equity and my purchase. My offer accepted abiut 3 weeks ago but vendor still not found anywhere despite their house being on market for months. Think they wanted sale agreed before properly looking. I have this morning requested the survey, I don't have to pay until they do it and there is a couple of weeks wait for survey anyway so just keeping everything crossed that they find somewhere before then. The thought of starting from scratch is depressing, I also want to complete before stamp duty holiday ends and get out of this relentless situation at home so I can move on with life! It's all very stressful isn't it

Bear in mind that many sellers of popular properties / locations are not even letting people view unless the buyer has had an offer accepted on their own house.

Do you know their full back story? Have they really been doing nothing since February or have they had a purchase fall through or have they made offers that weren't accepted?

For example we put ours on in March, accepted an offer then had an offer accepted on one we wanted to buy after lockdown. We lost our first buyer in July, sold again, that one fell through too and we lost the house we wanted. We now have a new buyer as of 2 weeks ago, put an offer on a house on Friday but lost in a bidding war.

Just now got a chance to sit down, thanks all for your replies!

We did say to the estate agent that the offer was subject to surveyor and completion by March, but put nothing 'official' in writing from solicitor. Should we do that?

Unfortunately we've already spent money on the survey and it's done. The plus side of this is that we are now in a much better to move forward once they do find somewhere, as everything on our side is complete.

@hooletthedogsout and @subtleknife, best of luck with your house moves! Hope everything goes smoothly and there are no bumps in the road from now on

@irispurple, I don't know the full backstory really. Only that the seller had a few offers a while back that he declined as too low, then we came along and put in a similar offer which was accepted. I might investigate with the estate agent and see if there is anything else I should know about. Sorry to hear of all the trouble you're having, I hope you find something soon!