Completion on notice

[Lelliebellieboo]

I've mentioned on here before, we have agreed a sale of our house, and agreed to purchase another back in March. Our vendor said that they would move into rented so as not to break the chain as they didn't want to hold anything up. in the middle of June, we were told that the conveyancing was complete on the sale of our house, and the purchase of theirs and we were already to talk dates.

At this point, our vendor announced that they no longer wanted to rent, they had agreed to buy a new build. Obviously I'm furious because it's cost me £££ in stamp duty. However, we've now found out that the house isn't due for completion until September, so we've been told that the developer wants to exchange for completion on notice.

I'm livid because to me, this means that us and our buyers (we are a three-party chain) are essentially being asked to wait indefinitely. Am I in my rights to say that we want a guaranteed completion by the 30 September and we want to know it now? I'm so angry that their actions have caused me to miss out on the stamp duty break, and now there is a chance we could miss out on the reduced as well.

Our buyers mortgage offer expires in September as well, which is another reason why we need a confirmed date.

I'm so sorry, your vendors are just being absolute nightmares. You've done everything right, they are so unreasonable

Ah I’m sorry @Lelliebellieboo, utter scumbags. Hopefully the new house they end up buying gets subsidence.

The only compromise I can think of is that we agree to exchange but rather than a 30 September completion, we offer a 30 October completion which gives them a month leeway for any delays.

I just feel like our buyers have waited so patiently, as have we. Our vendors just seem to be reluctant to do anything to try and resolve this situation. I even suggested that they book an Air BNB as a contingency but they were coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why that wasnt possible.

By now OP I think you have to pull out and look for another property.

And hope that your buyers will hold on to see if you find one. Otherwise re-market yours ASAP.

I bet your EA would prioritise you for anything new cunning on the market rather than lose your sale.

I see no possibility that the developers will agree to exchange with a completion date, otherwise they would have offered this by now.

Don’t waste any more time.

That's so frustrating. Your vendor will be tied to the developer's terms, usually it's a 3 month long stop completion and they wouldn't legally guarantee it for a date within the 3 month window as they'd just be leaving themselves vulnerable (the developer).

It's shocking behaviour on your vendor's part, we bought a new build last year and went into rented for just one month as we didn't think it was far to ask our buyer to hang around for our house to be built (we thought it was going to be 3 months mind, I'd probably have asked nicely if we'd known it was only 1 month at the time!)

In your place I'd look for another house, but not tell your vendor I was doing it, I'd just go silent with your vendor and get my solicitor to do the same. Even if I found one before they deigned to complete, I still wouldn't tell them. I'd just complete on the other house and leave them to find out. If they found out from the EA that I was viewing other properties, I'd make it clear that until they exchange with a set completion date, what houses I look at, offer on, or even complete on, was none of their business. I'm all for patience and co-operation when it comes to selling/buying houses so long as most people involved are doing their best, a bit of give and take will always be necessary, but they are all 'take' and are clearly wanting everything their own way and care nothing about anyone else, and so you owe them the same in return- nothing.

Would you believe this is STILL going on?

Mid-July, our vendors finally agreed to a date at the end of September to move out. So they would exchange on notice and move into a holiday let, letting us and our buyers to get on with things.

We were told that their new build developers wanted to exchange at the end of July, so an 8 week period between exchange and completion which all parties were happy with. Since then, their new build solicitors have refused to answer any questions from our solicitors (and our buyers solicitors) about what happens to the exchange deposit.

It's been utter radio silence so 2.5 weeks on from when they wanted to exchange, absolutely no progress has been made whatsoever!

Honestly, I could scream! How can people be such arseholes?

We're trying to keep an eye out for other properties but absolutely nothing has come up so we're just stuck. Literally, the only reason we haven't pulled out yet is that our buyers have said they are happy to wait and I feel that it would be bad karma on our end to have kept our buyers waiting for so long and pull out now.

I'm so glad you've managed to get them to commit. As someone who purchased a new build i don't understand why your vendors felt entitled to just string you along. Fingers crossed they answer your queries.

@missmarplesapprentice

I'm so glad you've managed to get them to commit. As someone who purchased a new build i don't understand why your vendors felt entitled to just string you along. Fingers crossed they answer your queries.

Well we still don't know whats happening. The solicitor at the bottom of the chain can't get any response from the developer about what happens to the exchange deposit when our vendors are effectively breaking chain.

It also turned out that despite the developer saying they wanted to exchange 2-3 weeks ago, the vendor only recieved their mortgage offer this week, so we have no idea what the current state of their purchase is which is holding everything else up AGAIN.

Honestly, I really think our vendors have behaved badly. They have changed their mind on everything, from initially saying to me (in person and by text) that they would rent, to saying that they wanted to exchange in July, so I still don't actually believe that this late September date will happen.

If it wasn't for the fact that our buyers are happy to carry on waiting, i'd just tell them where to stick their fucking house!

@Lelliebellieboo I hope you know more about what is happening now.
I’m surprised that the new build developers haven’t started piling the pressure on your vendor. Hmmm I’m not sure what happened to the exchange deposit. We sent it to our solicitor and signed the contracts. We had to agree to a long stop date after the projected completion date so we couldn’t request our money back until after that long stop date.
I still think you’re vendors are being extremely unreasonable and you and your buyers have amazing patience. Hope it’s going ok.

[quote missmarplesapprentice]@Lelliebellieboo I hope you know more about what is happening now.
I’m surprised that the new build developers haven’t started piling the pressure on your vendor. Hmmm I’m not sure what happened to the exchange deposit. We sent it to our solicitor and signed the contracts. We had to agree to a long stop date after the projected completion date so we couldn’t request our money back until after that long stop date.
I still think you’re vendors are being extremely unreasonable and you and your buyers have amazing patience. Hope it’s going ok.[/quote]
That's kind of you to ask.

We have exchanged and we are due to complete at the end of this month - literally making the stamp duty deadline and our buyer's mortgage expiration date by the skin of our teeth!

As far as I'm aware, our vendors are moving into an Air BnB although I have no idea what state their new-build is, so they could be on time - I don't know.

To be honest, it's been so long that I can't even remember what the house looks like!! Obviously I saved the photos from RightMove, but I didn't want to do another viewing to measure up etc prior to exchange because the vendors had pissed me off so much.

By the time it comes round, our buyers will have been waiting 7.5 months, and we will have waited 6 months - its insane!

So glad you have a happy ending OP. Have been reading your thread with interest as am in a similar situation. After 3 months and survey, our vendor announced purchase of a new build. Began to demand exchange months before completion and developer wouldn't commit to a date but will pull out of we don't agree. Vendor refuses to go into rented at any point, or budge on cost one bit. My best guess is they actually want us to pull out or don't care if we do, as a similar property in the area is now on the market for £50k more.

It sucks doesn’t it? It’s so unfair

I was at the point of telling them to piss off. The only reason we stuck with it was because our buyers were happy to wait. I think they realised they were into a good thing and they wouldn’t find anything else like our house for the same price. So my view was if they wanted to wait, we wouldn’t screw them over

Hi i just wondered what the outcome of this was?
I was in a three house chain myself. I am have broken the chain and moved myself and my daughter in my parents. To ensure I didn't lose my buyers. This was in October. I initially put my offer in for my purchase in July 2021. They are now putting pressure on to exchange and complete on notice. There is nothing else in my area to purchase, but I am getting wet feet to be honest. I'm a single parent, with a good deposit and good income. But I feel trapped as I missed the stamp duty deadline and I feel my purchase costs are increasing by the day