Is it possible to get a cash advance from buyer during exchange?

[CatAndHisKit]

My buyer has been messing me around for ages, now at 4.5months (though he's done the searches back in Dec) - when the agent has put the house back on rightmove due to uncertainty, he says he's ready to exchangne and is workung with solicitors to do this ASAP.

BUT his funds are now coming from a different source (he's an investor) and he needs a hugely delayed completion, two minths from now whe orginally we were talking mid-March. I could possibly get a new cash buyer who could complete quicker than this!
Obviously it'd be easier to stick with him but I can't afford to wait till then and he got a good price for the speed, I may get more from someone mew so at least will be compensated if takes same amount of time.

I'm thinking I could stick with him if he indeed can exchange very quickly - if I could get a cash advance of about 5% at exchange to cover for the delay. Is this possible legally?

As the deposit is paid anyway, sounds like it should be ok - but I don't know,.May need to make a decision tomorrow and my solicitor is slow to respond so I thought I'll ask here. TIA

I think you may mean something like a Lock out agreement. (I asked for one as a buyer in a boom market in 1999 after being gazumped a couple of times.)

I'm the seller, so not sure if that's what you meant, Jarstastic - I just mean an advance of cash to the seller out of the deposit that the solicitor holds, purely as buyer is holding me up so much.

Sounds unlikely but sure you just have to phone your solicitor tomorrow. You are paying for her / his professional services.

Just thought about it - and no, I don't think it's possible as the buyer takes a rsk in case seller doeb;t complete. Just read that it's only the buyer who rreally suffers if the can't complete, but the seller only pays their solicitor fees etc - it's still rare but I don't think they'l ltake the risk.

I thought it might be possible as house-buying companies offer this as an incentive (advance of funds) - not sure how they can risk it f anything happens to the seller, but possibly they can afford very occasionally to lose out.

and yes, I can check wit hmine Jjjay but of course it's down to buyer's solicitor to advise against it.

It might be possible to have a non-returnable deposit written into the contract if the buyer fails to exchange.
I think some new builds used to have this.

@CatAndHisKit

I'm the seller, so not sure if that's what you meant, Jarstastic - I just mean an advance of cash to the seller out of the deposit that the solicitor holds, purely as buyer is holding me up so much.

Lock out agreeement - I put down a deposit that the seller would retain if delay in exchange was due to me. the flip side was it locked the seller to selling to me and at a certain price (I didn’t want to be gazumped again).

However, I think the funds would have been held at the solicitors and only released to the vendor if I hadn’t kept my end.

thanks, Jarstatic - I wuldn't mind being locked into it, but it sounds like I couldn't get the cash advance. May be worth considering the lockout just to be sure- how long before exchagne did you sign it?

TwoLeft yes that's standard - I was after cash advance.

Whilst it's technically legally possible there would be no reason for them to agree to this, and I can't see their solicitor advising them to go along with it.

From memory it was pretty sharpish after my offer.