Selling. Signing contracts but havent found a rental yet.

[Yafilthyanimal]

Hi,

We are supposed to be signing contracts today.

No date for exchange as we havent found anywhere to rent at the moment. We are renting to break the chain for FTB.

Are we ok to sign today and then just hope a rental comes on the market?

We have stipulated to the solicitor and EA that we have not found anywhere yet and we are in the middle of a national lockdown so things are slow.

Help please!
I am scared we will be homeless

It’s very normal for vendors in particular to sign contracts very early. It doesn’t mean you need to exchange yet, don’t panic!

If you exchange and then don’t complete by the due date then you risk penalty, it’s very high, about ten percent of purchase price.

However I don’t know what you mean by signing contracts? Normally it’s exchange and then complete, and the date to complete is in the exchange docs.

Where are you?

@lastqueenofscotland

It’s very normal for vendors in particular to sign contracts very early. It doesn’t mean you need to exchange yet, don’t panic!

Is it? Where?

Signing just means your solicitor has everything in place ready to exchange when the time comes. They won't exchange without your say so.

That said, you need to be more proactive about somewhere to rent. Contact all the letting agents in areas you are considering living in. Ask around via friends and family. See whether anyone with a holiday let will consider letting it to you for a minimum 6 months. They'll likely have had no income from the place due to lockdowns.

I have literally looked on every website.

Nothing has come up in the last week.
There is only one property in the are we need to be and it is on a main road, double yellows with no parking.

Solicitor said we are signing just to get everything ready. No need to worry about an exchange date yet.

We have been stuck because until we had a rough date of signing etc we couldn't really apply for anything to rent !

I really appreciate all of your replies

I looked at an air b n b and it was astronomically priced!!

@Bluntness100 I used to be a conveyancer we would send out vendor contracts for signing to get paperwork ready super early so we had it on file for when we were ready...
everyone else I know in the industry used to do the same.

[quote lastqueenofscotland]@Bluntness100 I used to be a conveyancer we would send out vendor contracts for signing to get paperwork ready super early so we had it on file for when we were ready...
everyone else I know in the industry used to do the same.[/quote]
So it’s a contract with the solicitor?

No, it's the contract which will be exchanged when the time is right.

Yes what Martha said, it is the contract that will be exchange with the other side when they are ready. Signing it early is a complete non issue as we can’t do anything with it until we have authority.

That's a tricky one - you could contact your local authority and see if there was any social housing available on a temporary basis - my friend did that it was only a 2 bed and quite small, they had to put stuff into storage but the rent was fairly cheap and they were only there 4-5 months and there wasn't a huge notice period with the housing association they were very flexible
If you have children definately worth contacting them and mention about being near the schools and in the area etc etc...

Yes, this has been the case with every property purchase I've been involved in - you sign the contracts then the solicitor holds onto them until everyone is ready to exchange.

Yes sign in preparation

Re Airbnb. I have a fiend who lets her house this way. Most are people in your position or while their home is having work done - so a few months. They negotiate a price, it’s not the nightly or weekly fee posted.

She prefers this as she doesn’t need to clean while people are in (otherwise it’s this enhanced clean between guests) and less time for her as she’s not having to deal with multiple short term letting.

So approach an Airbnb about rental for a few months and negotiate the price

Yes it will be more than an empty house rental but you’ll have more flexibility to leave when you need so can be a good short term solution.

OP - forget websites and call the letting agents and tell them your position.

first, get your solicitor (who does property transactions every day) to explain to you (who doesn't) exactly what is going on. That's part of what you pay them for.

second - if you haven't found anywhere yet then the six months of a normal AST will be fine. That said, new landlord legislation means landlords are less and less keen on short lets. so grab what you can. If it is only for six months, live with the inconvenience/busy road.

read how to rent on gov.uk to make sure you don't get shafted by a dodgy landlord or agent, happens a lot to those on here who aren't clued up.

OP - forget websites and call the letting agents and tell them your position

This - with bells on. In my very recent experience agents will know some time in advance when they’ve got things that will be coming on to their books; so get in early and don’t wait for the website to be updated!

In my also very recent experience your solicitor will not allow you to exchange until you have signed a rental agreement or have confirmed you have somewhere to move into. They will not allow a situation to arise where you will be made “homeless” by the competition of your home.

We’ve just moved in the last couple of months and we were waiting, all ready to exchange, but couldn’t find a rental property. Our solicitor couldn’t/ wouldn’t allow us to exchange until we had a date to move into a rental. A bit embarrassing but that is what delayed things!

Yes to ringing agents, many properties will not make it to websites. We got our last rental because I rang them daily about a particular property so I knew as soon as prospective tenants pulled out.

Or put something on your local town or village Facebook
Some holiday lets May consider you as
Nobody is going on holiday!!