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Original poster

Seller refusing to move

105 replies

Tash72 · 21/03/2021 07:35

Really looking for some advice from anyone with a similar experience. Due to exchange on a house last Friday, only to discover that the top of the chain (4 of us) aren’t willing to move. They’re not pulling out of their sale but not willing to move into a rental and have not found a house to buy. They were going to buy a new build when we made our offer and then pulled out, but we only found this out a month ago and we’re then told the EA was helping them to find a rental to bridge the gap. They have now said that they will not rent! Our solicitor and our vendors’ solicitor and their vendors’ solicitor were completely unaware of the situation hence the phone call to say exchange Friday afternoon. We actually had to make the call to our solicitor to say that this wouldn’t be able to go ahead. We have been ready to exchange since beginning of Feb and have been very patient. We are in a rented house, only five mins from where we used to live and five mins to where we’re supposedly buying having sold in a year ago. We rent a farm cottage but have to be out end of April. There is no chance of extending, no family close enough, 4 dogs, hens, an older teenage son who gets to work on his bike and a younger one at school 20 mins away, husband cycles to the office when not in lockdown and we have one car. I cannot believe how anyone can leave it until this point to announce they are not ready and willing to move and expect us all to hang on indefinitely. There doesn’t seem to be any consequence or financial penalty for them at all because they have not officially pulled out so no incentive to move. We had our offer on the property accepted in October, and have had to extend our mortgage offer. These people want to sell but want to move when it suits but have no plan or timescale and did not make the chain aware of this until we are all committed, searches and surveys completed and of course now we don’t have time to find something else as we will be without somewhere to live in five weeks. Our vendors, who seem very nice and decent people are in their 70s and all packed and ready to go after 25 years in their house and need something easier for them to live in now due to mobility etc. Feel so sorry for them too. Do we pull out to make those at the top realise the consequences but let people further down the chain know that we’re back in if someone is willing to budge?

OP posts:

toomuchfaster · 21/03/2021 07:38

Is it your vendor? Or further up the chain? Your buy/sell can still happen but the people you are buying from (if I read it correctly) can rent and argue it out later.

Random63638 · 21/03/2021 07:41

I'd think that's all you can do. Saying you're going to pull out might spur one of the others into compromise. If you are in England, afaik there are no consequences as such for pulling out before exchange. Stupid system.

custardbear · 21/03/2021 07:43

I can't believe there's no financial obligation for someone doing this so far down the line - we have a rubbish system in England

NoWordForFluffy · 21/03/2021 07:43

I'd be asking what intention the person buying their house now has (i.e. are they prepared to rent to save the rest of the chain). I imagine they're having fun conversations over the weekend about what is best for them to do as well.

If they aren't prepared to save the chain, see what your vendor will do to save their sale.

There are still options available, depending on the others in the chain. The agent(s) will have to have a few conversations tomorrow about salvaging the situation given your deadline.

Kroptopbelly · 21/03/2021 07:44

OMG I am Andy shocked that this can actually happen!
It never occurred to me that people can or would do this!

Are there really no consequences to the people causing so much disruption, stress, worry and actual homelessness to other people?
Nothing?
Nothing at all?
How on earth can this be?

Whenthesunshines · 21/03/2021 07:47

If you back out will the chain collapse?
If so I would make it very clear that if they don’t move you will do just that.

insancerre · 21/03/2021 07:49

That’s terrible but it is salvageable
If you go ahead with your house sale and find somewhere to rent, then you will be in a much better position to buy

Ahbahbahbah · 21/03/2021 07:51

There’s no legal obligation to sell until you’ve exchanged, so yes people can pull out at literally anytime before exchange, and you have no way to recoup your costs of surveys, legal work etc, never mind all the emotion, stress and time. It’s a rubbish system.

We’ve bought many times (we own rental properties) and after being burnt too many times we now have a strict rule that if anything the vendor does seems shady/unreliable we will walk immediately and not waste more time.

Honestly I would not try to make this chain work with those sellers at the top. The vendors are totally unreasonable, and won’t care how much they mess you all around. Look for another solution - probably that the people who were meant to be buying that top property go into rented. They may ask the others in the chain to contribute to their costs of moving into rented, your call whether that’s worth it to you.

We did once pay somebody’s rent for one month to make a chain work but that was better than it collapsing and losing all the costs to date!

WeatherwaxLives · 21/03/2021 07:51

I don't understand why you're not exchanging?

Surely the whole point of exchanging is you then have a contract to complete the sale on a specific date.

If, for whatever reason, the person you are buying form does not exchange on that date then there are financial penalties for breaking the contract.

Have the sellers that are refusing to rent exchanged? It seems odd that your sellers would be willing to exchange before their sellers had, but if they are, that's their problem not yours. Your sellers or theirs can rent - it doesn't have to be the top of the chain that does that.

Ahbahbahbah · 21/03/2021 07:54

The sellers at the top have refused to exchange, so nobody lower down the chain can exchange until a solution is found.

MahMahMahMahCorona · 21/03/2021 07:56

Are you at the bottom of the chain @Tash72? (I presume so as you're already in rented?) If so the first 3 exchanges could happen if the penultimate party would consider going into rented...

Chicchicchicchiclana · 21/03/2021 07:57

I don't understand your position in the chain. Are you at the bottom and buying from the couple in their 70s? Then they are buying from the people who are being stalled by these rental-refusers at the top?

WeatherwaxLives · 21/03/2021 07:57

But OP said They have now said that they will not rent! Our solicitor and our vendors’ solicitor and their vendors’ solicitor were completely unaware of the situation hence the phone call to say exchange Friday afternoon. We actually had to make the call to our solicitor to say that this wouldn’t be able to go ahead.

So if the awkward seller's buyer's solicitor wasn't aware then they can't have refused to exchange?! It sounds like OP has been the one that informed the chain, which is what I don't understand!

Chicchicchicchiclana · 21/03/2021 08:00

@insancerre

That’s terrible but it is salvageable If you go ahead with your house sale and find somewhere to rent, then you will be in a much better position to buy

The OP is already in a rented house and the tenancy expires end of April.

WeatherwaxLives · 21/03/2021 08:02

So if OP had not said anything would her vendors have exchanged and then it would have been their problem or their vendors problem to sort? That's how I'm reading it and why I don't understand why OP has got involved in a sale further up the chain.

Purplewithred · 21/03/2021 08:02

@insancerre OP is already renting, presumably is at the bottom of the chain.

@Tash72 as you are renting I assume there are 2 or 3 above you in the chain before you get to the top who say they won’t exchange? So there is a chance one of the others above you will rent? Unorthodox, but can you up your offer slightly to encourage the people above you to go into rental?

Whatever happens you’re going to have to look for an alternative rental PDQ, you wont find another purchase before the end of April.

House buying and selling is a nightmare.

Original poster

Tash72 · 21/03/2021 08:03

In our chain of four, us at the bottom in rented accommodation, it is the top of the chain who will not budge and it seems weird I agree that solicitors were ready to exchange and complete on 13th April if the top of the chain was ‘t Going to move. His solicitor must have been aware if the EA had become aware. Someone, somewhere is not being truthful.

OP posts:

LadyWithLapdog · 21/03/2021 08:04

What an awful situation but I’m afraid you can’t force them out of their house and there won’t be any penalties for those dickheads. What a nightmare for you as your household is so complex (I’m thinking the 4 dogs and the hens), you can’t just get a cheaply flat whilst looking for something else.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 21/03/2021 08:04

I guess the only solution is if the people buying from these time-wasters at the top are willing to go ahead with the sale and move into rented while they look for another house. That's a lot to ask but they might do it if they are keen to save their sale.

KihoBebiluPute · 21/03/2021 08:05

Exchange is the point of actually being contractually committed to a chain.

If these people haven't yet found their next place and aren't willing to rent then they are not the 'top of the chain' at all - the chain is not even complete yet. If they are buying then all the searches and surveys will still need to be carried out for the property they are buying, and if their vendors are also not terminating the chain then there could be further links to the chain too. So whilst you may feel there "isn't time" to find a different property to buy, that option will not take any longer than waiting for these vendors to get the same processes done, and could be a lot shorter if you find a chain-free alternative place to buy.

Original poster

Tash72 · 21/03/2021 08:14

We will see what happens on Monday. No one wants to rent it seems.our. Endorse say they had thought about it but hey are quite frail and I think it’s probably more than they can really deal with.. I can sort of understand it with the others especially if they are mortgage free and I have no idea what their family circumstances are - may be caring for elderly relatives or have ten children for all I know. If their OP fails then they are stuck with paying rent and will most likely then have to pay stamp duty when they do eventually find somewhere. Anyway I have just had a message from a friend who has recently bought a farm and has a farm workers cottage which is fairly run down but has electricity. It is an hour away from youngest son’s school and eldest would have to leave his job but it is a roof over our heads and having spent years in military housing we can adapt in the short term.

OP posts:

Mummyoflittledragon · 21/03/2021 08:16

Kiho
Very good post.

House buying is a very stressful experience. Either you will have to persuade your vendors or someone up the chair to sell and rent themselves or you will need to find an alternative property to rent or buy.

On a practical level and presuming your on an AST, your ll cannot force you to move on the agreed exit date. They would need a court order to do this.

lockeddownandcrazy · 21/03/2021 08:24

We ended up pulling up in a chain like this after 6 months of waiting. A few up the chain were supposed to rent but then decided it would be a waste of their money so were sitting tight. we decided even if they did find somewhere immediately it would be at least another 2 months before they got all their paperwork done and we didnt want to be sitting there for that length.

NoWordForFluffy · 21/03/2021 08:45

They may have previously said they don't want to rent, but I'm assuming that was before this bombshell / you threatening to collapse the chain?

See what tomorrow brings, as no doubt all remaining members of the chain have discussed options over the weekend, so potentially minds may have changed / could change if the chain will collapse.

Nith · 21/03/2021 08:51

I don't understand why you're not exchanging?

Presumably because both parties need to be willing to exchange and OP's vendors aren't, given that their own vendors are equally unwilling.

Surely the whole point of exchanging is you then have a contract to complete the sale on a specific date

Exactly. No-one in the chain wants to commit themselves to selling till they know that they will be able to move into the house they are buying.

If, for whatever reason, the person you are buying form does not exchange on that date then there are financial penalties for breaking the contract.

No, there aren't. There is no obligation unless and until people exchange.

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