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Original poster

Completion date agreed without consulting us, is this normal?

16 replies

SheWouldNever · 13/02/2021 12:24

Been a bit thrown by our EA today. We are in a chain of 4 comprising of: buyers buyer, buyer, us, seller of our onward property.

EA has emailed to say that our buyers have exchanged on the sale of their property to their buyers, and the completion date has been set for 25th March, meaning the whole chain is locked into that date or after that date (assuming our buyers are happy to vacate their place and wait for us to complete later).

This is the first anyone else in the chain has heard of this. Last week our buyers were requesting completion before the end of Feb, and our onward purchase property had mentioned 5th of March being good for them, but no concrete dates were agreed and we are still in the process of some structural enquiries on our purchase house so not yet ready to talk dates just yet. So this news of our buyers completion date has come completely out of the blue.

Am I right to feel cross at our EA AB’s their communication on this, or is this quite standard to have a completion date set for you in this way with no prior discussion?

OP posts:
Mumdiva99 · 13/02/2021 12:30

Ea doesn't seem the completion date. You need to speak to your solicitor. If you want it different then be forceful. (But you might not need to be, it might be easy to agree.)

Are the rest of you in a position to exchange?
You can complete anytime after exchange including the same day. But funds will have to have been requested in time

LIZS · 13/02/2021 12:37

Your ea is supposed to work for you. Ask your solicitor what they have heard officially. Normally exchanges and completions are synchronised.

murbblurb · 13/02/2021 12:37

no. Solicitors control completion, and should call you before agreeing dates for both exchange and completion, and again before exchange for 100% confirm.

tell EA that and that you will be speaking to your solicitor on Monday.

I call bullshit from the EA!

onlyk · 13/02/2021 12:41

As above, the exchange and completion dates can only be agreed by you and your solicitor. The estate agent can let you know what others in the chain would like / are planning towards but they can’t dictate it.

user85963842 · 13/02/2021 12:41

Nothing has been agreed if solicitors haven't consulted you.

Original poster
SheWouldNever · 13/02/2021 12:43

It’s not a completion date on our house we are selling though. It’s a completion date for our buyers house selling to their buyers. So technically they are breaking the chain and completing their sale without us.

OP posts:
LittleOverwhelmed · 13/02/2021 12:48

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

LIZS · 13/02/2021 12:48

But that is too late to meet your and vendor's timeframe. Ask if they plan to get a bridging loan to buy yours earlier Hmm

CallmeAngelina · 13/02/2021 12:49

Well they've given themselves a problem then, haven't they? If they have to be out on the 25th March and your purchase is not complete?
Or are you saying you want earlier then end of March?
Anyway, this sounds like estate agent bullshit to me. I bet they haven't set a date at all, but are just putting out feelers.

BentBastard · 13/02/2021 12:49

@LittleOverwhelmed

It is the chain below you?

That is fine, but they can’t make you complete on the same day. If you want a later completion, they have to move into an Airbnb or similar and get their removals to store there things for a few days / weeks,

Get your solicitors to sort it out.

Personally I think that is very risky. What - if for some reason - you can’t or decide not to go through with exchange (and therefore completion)?

No but I only the issue is OP wanted to complete sooner but now pretty much impossible

LittleOverwhelmed · 13/02/2021 12:50

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

user85963842 · 13/02/2021 12:50

@SheWouldNever it's only breaking the chain if they don't buy yours simultaneously with their sale. Are they wanting to keep the chain in tact for simultaneous purchase and sale? If so their solicitor will likely be in touch with yours, it's not really anything to do with the EA, it's just talk until the solicitors sign off on it and they will speak to you.

user85963842 · 13/02/2021 12:52

Sorry ignore my comment I see what the issue is, it's later than you planned, go back and say it's too late and ask why they've gone so late (to see what the issue is)

LittleOverwhelmed · 13/02/2021 12:52

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Original poster
SheWouldNever · 13/02/2021 13:26

@user85963842 yeah I have gone back to the EA to ask why the sudden development without consulting us and that it’s later than any of the prospective dates we’ve been talking about up until this point.

Everything else is in place to exchange in the next few weeks across the chain. Searches are back etc. As we are investigating structural issues on our purchase property and at the moment it is 50/50 as to whether our mortgage lenders will give us the green light, I think it’s v risky that the buyers have exchanged already. I don’t think our EA has been communicated this to them, and it has worried me for a while now that they might not be fully informed and have now committed to the sale of their house, but it’s their decision not mine, I just hope they’ve been fully informed and not painted an unrealistic picture by the EAs.

OP posts:
Candleabra · 14/02/2021 18:00

Call your solicitor tomorrow. They control exchange and completion. Estate agent may be trying to hurry things along. Mine did this last week by telling me everyone else in the chain was ready to go....(I spoke the my solicitor - they categorically were not)

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