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Original poster

At what point do we pull out of house purchase?

32 replies

Sparrow91 · 15/04/2021 12:55

We’re 11 weeks in to purchasing a house and finding it impossible to get any information as to whether our vendor has had an offer accepted on a house or even whether the chain is now complete.

We have a really lovely buyer of our current home and I’m starting to get worried we’re going to lose him if it turns out our vendor hasn’t actually found anywhere.

Our estate agents have been chasing, we’ve tried contacting the vendor with little or no response and no actual firm answer to our questions. I’m struggling to get in touch with my solicitor due to workload so I’ve no idea if she knows either. I’ve also tried purple bricks who are selling the house, who have similarly tried to contact him, and he has ignored their calls. The last thing any of us heard was about 6-7 weeks ago where he said he had made an offer, but never heard whether this was accepted. Anything else we ask about just seems to get excuses or ‘it’s with my solicitors’.

Me and DP have started to talk about whether we possibly should be looking elsewhere and ultimately pull out of the purchase to save our own house sale. We can’t rent or break the chain ourselves as we’re porting a mortgage.

Anyone had anything similar or any advice as to what else we can do?

OP posts:

womanity · 15/04/2021 12:57

I’d be looking elsewhere.

If, after 7 weeks, you don’t even know your offer has been accepted, even if it were to go ahead, it would be this bad all the way.

DespairingHomeowner · 15/04/2021 12:59

Knock on the door of the house tonight to ask what is going on (if they want to sell to you it won;t hurt, if they dont who cares_... but tbh, I'd be looking elsewhere

Loofah01 · 15/04/2021 13:00

Send the message that you want an answer immediately or you'll pull out but start looking now

Original poster

Sparrow91 · 15/04/2021 13:08

Thanks everyone. I’m glad to know I’m not going crazy.

It’s complicated by the fact I believe the vendor is selling due to separation, so my spidy senses are telling me that this is acrimonious and we’re now going to be playing piggy in the middle if we let this continue.

OP posts:

tinselandlights · 15/04/2021 13:17

I would never normally recommend this, but if your buyer is great, I'd think about moving into rented and breaking the chain.

I moved earlier this year and the stress of being mid-chain caused a massive impact on our marriage as our own buyers pulled out and we let the rest of the chain down twice. I wish we'd just moved out of our own house and given ourselves a bit of breathing room.

sqirrelfriends · 15/04/2021 13:21

I also think you should give them an ultimatum but be prepared to still pull out if they stall.

Just as an example, there is a lovely house on our street that we were interested in and had arranged a viewing for. Our neighbours had an offer accepted on it previously but the vendors obviously just didn't want to sell and were making no moves to buy somewhere else. A few years on and it's been up for sale a few times since and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, and neither will the local estate agent.

Africa2go · 15/04/2021 13:23

Just on the question of whether you can break the chain - when we ported our mortgage once, as long as we bought within 6 months of selling, that was acceptable to our lender. Check the Ts and Cs of your mortgage in terms of porting.

DeeplyMovingExperience · 15/04/2021 13:27

Go and find the Plan B house. This is what I did on my last move and sure enough, we ended up with the Plan B house. In defence of the vendor selling Plan A house, he died, so we had to let him off.

Original poster

Sparrow91 · 15/04/2021 14:10

So I ended up ringing purple bricks again who confirmed he hasn’t called back. Another attempt at calling which again he’s ignored. They then phoned his solicitor directly, and they have said they haven’t been informed of any purchase for him, only selling the house. So no answers!

Going to pester my solicitor until I can get through to her, and hopefully get some information from her in terms of where we are with the purchase of the house itself. I think it’s time to understand how much in fees we might potentially need to pay if we do pull out too.

@Africa2go ooh I’ll call our mortgage consultant and check, this would be the most ideal scenario if need to pull out although very expensive :(

@sqirrelfriends @Loofah01 ultimatum I think will be issued tonight..

OP posts:

Tittie · 15/04/2021 14:14

We found dealing with Purple Bricks to be an absolute nightmare and they seem to recommend a god-awful solicitor to their customers, who were absolutely atrocious too! The reviews on TrustPilot for the solicitor all mirrored our experience. Seriously, because of the solicitors and PB's ineptitude and lack or urgency, our house move took about 3-4 times longer than it needed to.
Never again.

QueenStromba · 15/04/2021 14:15

I'd have pulled out about a month ago!

Pogmaasal · 15/04/2021 14:18

Can you start viewing other houses in the meantime, both to be sure there is something else out there for you and also to get the ball rolling if you do find another house.

MMMarmite · 15/04/2021 14:23

Id start looking at other houses, then if you find one you like, switch to plan B. Given the seller's avoidance of communication, it wouldn't be at all unreasonable.

You might even find somewhere better!

Pupster21 · 15/04/2021 14:25

I’d also have pulled out a month ago

FuglyHouse · 15/04/2021 14:33

I'm not sure it's worth chasing any more. If nobody is getting answers after repeated queries, it doesn't sound like the vendor is particularly motivated to sell.

Also, if you're right, and this is a separation, he could be deliberately stretching this out as long as possible (depending on the circumstances). The vendors of our house had divorced and one partner moved out long before the house was put up for sale, but that didn't stop him from being a monumental pain in the arse just because. It also complicated the legal side slightly as there was another (dog slow and incompetent) solicitor thrown into the mix.....

jackstini · 15/04/2021 14:36

One other possibility if they are splitting up is that they have decided to rent/move in with family or friends before they find somewhere

Completely unacceptable to just ignore you

I would put a deadline in writing to their solicitor and look for another house

TracyHorrobin · 15/04/2021 14:47

Maybe your vendor isn't buying after all. Perhaps he is going into rented or sharing with friends or moving in with family. I would be looking to your Solicitor to start talking dates.

WhatMattersMost · 15/04/2021 14:52

You're buying into the sunken costs fallacy, OP. Cut your losses now, and get to your plan B.

TheFantasticFixit · 15/04/2021 14:53

We expected to have 2 weeks to find a property - honestly, OP, this isn’t going to well. Pull out and move on, I don’t believe you have serious vendors there i’m afraid.

Iamaperiwinkle · 15/04/2021 14:57

Give them 48 hours via the agent and solicitor that if their is no full communication committing to the house sell -, accepted offer and a satisfactory update by vendor. Time line date for exchange etc -then you withdraw your offer.

Do this in writing by email and withdraw by 5pm Monday if nothing appears.

In your situation -go into rented. You have a buyer.

Shellingbynight · 15/04/2021 15:01

@Sparrow91 You say "So no answers!" but actually I think you do have answer. The vendor's solicitor says there is no purchase happening. The vendor refuses to answer anyone's calls. This sounds dead in the water, I would look elsewhere.

Gazelda · 15/04/2021 15:02

I'd advise Purple Bricks and your solicitor that unless you receive a satisfactory response from the vendor by the end of Friday, you will be withdrawing your offer. Put this in writing.
And get some viewings lined up for the weekend.

Original poster

Sparrow91 · 15/04/2021 16:59

Thanks again everyone. Really appreciate all the opinions and advice!

@Tittie to be fair to purple bricks, they have been pretty good at trying to chase and contact. Their solicitors on the other hand I think is a nightmare from what little information we have got, but that is a whole other thread!

@FuglyHouse I think you’re dead on the money. I believe it’s just him left and wife/partner has moved out - the house didn’t have any womanly possessions and was very bare.

@Shellingbynight I do agree. I think my question is now more like - are they moving in with friends/family or willing to rent if needed? The other question is are they deliberately being twats to get one up on their former spouse? I think the answer is possibly yes.

On the plus side our mortgage provider has confirmed we actually have 180 days and we can still port the mortgage. So potentially we could still savage the sale of our property although that isn’t ideal. Thank you for the heads up @Africa2go we’d never have considered it otherwise.

Currently drafting an ultimatum email to send onwards to our solicitor but considering one last ditch attempt to contact the vendor directly - at least then he can’t say we haven’t tried to contact him. It’s probably past the point of no return though 🤷🏼‍♀️

OP posts:

Africa2go · 15/04/2021 20:12

@Sparrow91

Thanks again everyone. Really appreciate all the opinions and advice!

@Tittie to be fair to purple bricks, they have been pretty good at trying to chase and contact. Their solicitors on the other hand I think is a nightmare from what little information we have got, but that is a whole other thread!

@FuglyHouse I think you’re dead on the money. I believe it’s just him left and wife/partner has moved out - the house didn’t have any womanly possessions and was very bare.

@Shellingbynight I do agree. I think my question is now more like - are they moving in with friends/family or willing to rent if needed? The other question is are they deliberately being twats to get one up on their former spouse? I think the answer is possibly yes.

On the plus side our mortgage provider has confirmed we actually have 180 days and we can still port the mortgage. So potentially we could still savage the sale of our property although that isn’t ideal. Thank you for the heads up @Africa2go we’d never have considered it otherwise.

Glad to be of use! Good luck with it all!

Vikingmama79 · 15/04/2021 21:49

Sounds very familiar ! We had an offer accepted on a property way back in November, and accepted one on ours in December, we progressed on our sale but vendors of one we were buying made no progress at all- didn’t appoint a solicitor as couldn’t find onward purchase and weren’t prepared to break chain. Come April our lovely patient buyers were getting to end of tether so resumed property search to get a back up in place as couldn’t bear months more waiting/uncertainty being in limbo for both us and our buyers. Progressing now on an alternative so 🤞🏻. As for original vendors in an attempt to not lose our sale said they would move out after all but after months of barely any communication/updates/progress all too little too late I’m afraid. No regrets.

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