Sale about to fall through - advice please?!

[ellequick]

So - we accepted an offer on our flat at the beginning of February from a FTB. Didn’t hear anything from the estate agents regarding what the buyer wanted time-wise so we contacted them at the end of March and they told us he would like to complete in June and move in in July. We said we’d try to work towards that.

We then didn’t find anywhere for onward purchase until April, so whilst we’ve acted as quickly as possible it seems unlikely we will be able to tie it all up by next month. We spoke to the EA to convey this and manage expectations - she then called back and told us that the buyer is “extremely angry” and considering pulling out of purchase.

I was completely shocked by this and asked her if she was aware he had this absolute cut off date that the entire sale was dependant on - she said yes and that it had been a condition of the purchase since the start! I asked her to forward me any evidence of this - have heard nothing since. We absolutely 100% were never told this - I would not have accepted an offer with a hard condition like that as we are not in a position to offer to go into rental (we have 2 kids and I’m not willing to move them from schools twice).

Does anyone have any advice of what to do? I can only assume that she forgot or didn’t bother to tell us about this critical condition of the purchase. I feel sorry for our buyer as I’m sure he has made plans around this date but I’m so devastated that we are now looking at losing the house we want to buy, going back on the market and losing the almost 2k we have paid out already.

It is unfortunate and seems the EA has made an error.

That said, things fall through at anytime. Selling and buying houses is a precarious business.. so completion dates can not be confirmed at the point of making and accepting offers.

There is always, always the risk of things running behind, issues cropping up and sales falling through. It is so stressful but that's just how it is.

I think accepting FTB is unadvisable, if you have any choice. Often they have unrealistic ideas about the buying process and there are also lots of issues that could arise from their end too. I have made the mistake of accepting FTB 3 times (!!) would not do it ever again.

Good luck with your sale and move.

It's not the EA you should be talking to but the solicitors. Certainly the EA should have said the offer was conditional on completing by June (though the moving in date is irrelevant if after completion). But after that it's the solicitors who negotiate exchange and completion dates. I reckon the agent realises they have made an error (you should have got an offer letter in writing even if you had already verbally agreed, and that's where they should have stated the condition).
I don't understand the reluctance to move in to rental though. Unless there's nothing in your area. I'm moving into a hotel, another hotel, then a holiday let to bridge the dates between sale and purchase. I have children (one who is sitting gcse assessments week of the move) and dogs.
Needs must and I did not want to lose my buyer.
I offered on my purchase two weeks ago, have already had two searches and full structural survey done. I'm hopeful of a June 30 completion. The first house I offered on I pulled out of as after two months the seller had not found anywhere, nd would not move in to rental - despite EA saying initially he would, and him being single and self employed, so presumably more able to do so) and I lost patience.

Thanks @BrilliantBetty - yes, I was shocked that the EA seems to think it is normal and fine that the buyer is now considering walking based on this when we have so little control over how quickly it goes through. Ah, what a terrible, stressful process

@Livingintheclouds thanks is for this, it is good to read from another POV. Regarding moving into a rental, the problem is we are moving quite far away and there is very little on the market there. It highly unlikely we could rent somewhere in the same catchment areas as where our purchase is, so I’d have to put the kids in one new school, then take them out and do it again when our purchase goes through.

Also, can I ask where you’re doing with all your furniture etc? Into storage?

If they pull out, they won’t find anywhere else to complete by the end of June!

It sounds like they want to save the stamp duty money and are trying to threaten you.

Perhaps they can offer to pay for your Airbnb stay in the interim if it’s worth the ££ saving to them?

Regarding moving into a rental, the problem is we are moving quite far away and there is very little on the market there. It highly unlikely we could rent somewhere in the same catchment areas as where our purchase is, so I’d have to put the kids in one new school, then take them out and do it again when our purchase goes through.

Can’t you just rent / stay in a hotel / Airbnb in your current area? You’d be there until the end of the sale anyway?

The housing market is booming atm and everyone is trying to complete by end of June. Sunak is offering a 50 percent of stamp duty until end of September. Could you not rent in area you live in ATM that way kids would only still have one move of school.

@Propertyquestion1 it’s just so bloody expensive - twice what our current mortgage is! Just don’t know if we can afford it. Also seems really hard to find anything short term too.

Our sale collapsed due to a similar reason (ish) four weeks ago. Our buyer allegedly told the EA that they wanted to be in before the middle of June. We found somewhere to move too the weekend that we accepted their offer, but our seller didn’t. We kept the EA fully informed, who told the buyer, and all seemed okay.

It took our seller six weeks to find somewhere else. They called us and then our EA to confirm the chain... our EA told theirs that the chain had collapsed as they hadn’t heard from our buyer in a while.

Our seller approached the other parties who had offered the same as us for the house; and went with one of those instead.

Our EA came back a week later to confirm that the buyer had pulled out because she’d wanted to complete by June. There was no way a new purchase was going to go through by then, but it didn’t seem to matter...

It hurts I think all you can do is acknowledge that this could have happened at any point, and that if they pull out, they were likely always going to. They won’t have made solid plans around the date, if you haven’t even agreed a completion date yet...

We were never asked about moving into rental, but we wouldn’t have wanted to. Rents here are sky high and I’d be too scared that we’d get stuck in one and get priced out of the local market.

They probably made their offer assuming they'd save via the stamp duty holiday and are panicking now. If your place is £500k+ they'll be out £15k due to not finishing up by 30 June. I'd see what they say, if the issue is the stamp duty and they really might drop out, it could still be cheaper for you to agree to drop the price a bit but avoid having to organise rent, storage of your belongings etc.

I don't understand why you are shocked. Any buyer would like to finish before June to avoid the stamp duty. If you need to extend longer, you should compensate the buyer.

Depending on where you live be very wary of renting as a stop gap solution. The rental market is very pressured and we found it very difficult to find a suitable rental when our house purchase fell through - like the purchase market there aren't enough properties available to meet demand. It's caused us huge amounts of stress. We have seen Airbnb and other rentals but the amount of rent on them is ridiculous, and the holiday lets market is also pressured due to people not extensively holidaying abroad. We have to move due to new jobs, otherwise I'd stay put!

Thanks for the comments all, appreciate the suggestions and good to hear different perspectives.

Sorry you've had similar recently @TakeYourFinalPosition - such a disappointing thing to happen. Here's to hoping the right thing comes along soon!

As FTB they shouldn’t be affected by SDLT, unless it is at a high enough sale price.

The EA needs to do some careful and calming negotiation with them. Find out what their objective and needs are. Gently point out how far into the process they are, and that if they pull out they will need to start over with a new mortgage offer, survey and search costs etc on anywhere else.

But it does seem that the EA have been a bit lax with communication over all this time.

The EA will want to hold on to the sale! They are the only people who don’t get paid unless there is completion!

OP, storage is very cheap atm. If it is a case of a month, an airb’nb might be worth it to allow your kids to finish school here, move over the summer to start anew in September.

What is the state of your current purchase? Is it chain free? Enquires all dealt with? Etc?

I'd call their bluff. If they pull out they wont get another purchase through before 30th june so either way they're likely to need to pay stamp duty unless they buy somewhere under the threshold.

If you're not in a rush to move anyway, I'd pull out. FTB are a nightmare.

@UpTheJunktion yes the EA hasn't been helpful at all and seems entirely disinterested in trying to help negotiations. Our searches on onward purchase are not back yet - solicitor says they expect they will be by end of next week. The property we are buying is a probate and that isn't complete yet, so I think there's very low chances we'll complete in June sadly, more likely July. I wish this wasn't the case - we would be saving 13k stamp duty if we could get it through.

@SpnBaby1967 we are in a rush to move unfortunately, if we could put the brakes on I would definitely not be trying to do it at this wretched time. Didn't realise FTB were known for being a nightmare to be honest, I wasn't when I was one!

@OverTheRubicon

They probably made their offer assuming they'd save via the stamp duty holiday and are panicking now. If your place is £500k+ they'll be out £15k due to not finishing up by 30 June. I'd see what they say, if the issue is the stamp duty and they really might drop out, it could still be cheaper for you to agree to drop the price a bit but avoid having to organise rent, storage of your belongings etc.

I'd think about this. As a FTB, I would have wanted to save the SD too (I managed to buy under the threshold at the time, refused to pay £1 more and 8K tax)

For the FTB, they may well expect prices to go down more than the 15k so can just buy later.

Accepting an offer in Feb gives 5 months for the sale: they are not at fault that it took you 3 months to offer on somewhere. Once I had an offer on my flat last year, I had offered on somewhere else within 3 weeks, so that both I and my FTBs could benefit by end March. This is London - they stood to pay 10K tax on a flat, and although they did not officially put it in their offer letter it was always v clear

EA or solicitor could have been clearer, but I think other party's position is rather understandable