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Original poster

Advice needed….seller delaying house sale with strange reason

45 replies

planforeverything · 02/12/2021 19:11

Looking for advice and what you would do, will try and not go too much into detail.

We are in the process of buying a house that belonged to an elderly man who has passed away in February this year. The property has been vacant for almost 5 years. The sellers, who is the son of the man who died, put the house up for sale in October and we had our offer accepted in early November. We bent over backwards to get into the best position we could as he advised he needed to complete no later than the end of December as he was using the proceeds from the sale for an onward purchase. We effectively made ourselves cash buyers and decided to take the property on despite the level of works needed (property will not be able to be lived in for approximately 8 months)

We were contacted by our solicitor on Tuesday advising we were in a position to exchange contracts but he was yet to hear back from the seller‘s solicitors. We had a call from the agent this morning advising they were happy to exchange this week or next week but would not be able to complete until January, as the property (which is jampacked full of his fathers possessions including over 3000 books) will take some time to clear and they have not yet started this process despite having had since February to do so

Our solicitor has since contacted us this evening to advise that this purchase needs to tie up with the onward purchase because the son is planning on moving all of his fathers possessions into the new house that he is purchasing, which is not due to complete until the end of January. This seems a strange reason to me, to be tying up a purchase rather than putting belongings into storage.

We had budgeted on the fact that we would have to be out our flat in June and that the property would be ready (i.e. we could live in the loft) in August which is now completely off the table given the update today.

What would you do in this situation, would you call his bluff and say you are pulling out knowing that they can’t continue their onward purchase without these proceeds? Or bite your tongue and be at the hands of the process

OP posts:
TooWicked · 02/12/2021 19:15

Me - I would tell them I have people booked in to start the work that needs doing so if they want the sale to proceed they’d better get their father’s stuff into storage pronto.

Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 19:34

Already said it - and it’s not a lie. I just think it sounds so far fetched to the point it isn’t true. They demanded a chain free buyer and they have now unnecessarily created a chain.

My husband wants to phone and say we’re pulling out but I’m scared they’ve just got cold feet and say fine

OP posts:
Daphnise · 02/12/2021 19:54

I tend not to believe any of the stories you get told when buying/selling.

I suppose you could apply pressure and see what happens.

After all, next there will be another implausible excuse.

Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 20:01

@Daphnise

I tend not to believe any of the stories you get told when buying/selling.

I suppose you could apply pressure and see what happens.

After all, next there will be another implausible excuse.

What would you do? Put the heat on or just go along with it (or toss a coin for the answer Grin
OP posts:
LIZS · 02/12/2021 20:02

It could be true, saving moving things twice. Perhaps probate only came through in the Autumn or they were preoccupied. If you want the house go with January and reschedule your works so you have enough living accommodation in the summer to move in and work around.

Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 20:08

@LIZS

It could be true, saving moving things twice. Perhaps probate only came through in the Autumn or they were preoccupied. If you want the house go with January and reschedule your works so you have enough living accommodation in the summer to move in and work around.
The property isn’t habitable so if we complete end of January (they want 31st) we won’t have planning permission until March at the earliest and won’t have a builder starting until April, or May. This delay eradicates us being able to move in summer and forces us in to rented.
OP posts:
Drunkpanda · 02/12/2021 20:10

There are movers who would pack it all up, store it, and then move it into his new home in a month or two. Would cost less than losing your sale and having to readvertise

Crimsonripple · 02/12/2021 20:13

To be honest, very little will make a difference. Buying a house in my experience is the most unpleasant process ever. The buyer always carries the stress and upset. You at the mersey of the solicitors/estate agents and quite frankly they don't give a fuck.

LIZS · 02/12/2021 20:16

You can apply for pp before you complete.

Mantlemoose · 02/12/2021 20:17

I'm Scotland and here storage isn't that easy to come by at the moment so it might be true. Again little known fact but in Scotland - don't know about England, but anyone can apply for planning permission irrespective if they own it or not - obviously they can't actually build anything but PP can be applied for and granted!

MrsBobDylan · 02/12/2021 20:26

I would go back and say that since your budget won't stretch to another couple of months in rented, beyond what you had already budget for.

They are entitled to save their own money by moving the date, but you will have to reevaluate your offer.

ItsSnowJokes · 02/12/2021 20:28

Have you already got builders booked? Most are booked up for months and months, so you will be lucky to get one to start exactly when you want if you haven't got planning permission and them booked already. You also could apply for planning now, you don't have to own the property to get planning permission on it.

TheresACrackInEverything · 02/12/2021 20:32

They may well say 'fine' if you pull out. They won't pay more to 'readvertese', the agent gets one lot of commission. Plus, house prices are going up in many areas,so they might get more money. If you've got your heart set on the place, exchange and get that later date locked in.

RubyTuesday70 · 02/12/2021 20:40

If they haven't touched the property since putting on the market, chances are that they're either completely overwhelmed with the process or are just dithering over it all. Neither of which are going to help you much.

I'd insist on completion before Christmas or pull out.

whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy · 02/12/2021 21:13

I don't know,it depends how much you want the property really, which only you can say.

My idea of habitable is different to other people's, I'd move in and get over it because your post completion timeline sounds tight and stressful to me.

Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 21:36

Thanks so much for all your responses - definitely food for thought.

We love the house, we want it so much but equally if we’re at the behest of a chain then there will come a time it’s no longer workable for us. If their chain delays, Are they still not going to vacate the property?

Unfortunately the property is not habitable, no central heating, black mould everywhere and the main vbedroom ceiling has water ingress to the extent the polystyrene tiles are falling down.

We really love the the house - I’m just not sure I buy what they’re saying. Leaning towards saying the 8 week delay doesn’t work for us and highlighting the knock on impact on the wider timeline

OP posts:
Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 21:39

Empty the contents of the property I should say - they don’t live in this house, they live 5 mins away in a 5 bed house. They just don’t want to empty the contents before their onward purchase.

OP posts:
SpoonWhereArtThou · 02/12/2021 21:46

You can apply for planning permission now, you don't have to own the property to apply so you can start that ball rolling. With a whole house clearance I would want to see it empty before I exchanged contracts.

Eddielzzard · 02/12/2021 21:50

I dunno. I might say something like 'Look we've really bent over backwards to accommodate the seller as he insisted he had to complete at the end of December. Now we've put a lot of work into making that deadline work and the end of January really causes a lot of issues for us. Most importantly we were chain free and now he has gone and forced us into his own chain! No, sorry, it doesn't work for us. Let's exchange next week, complete at end of December as we all agreed.'

And then see if they push back hard. Another strategy might be to ask for a price reduction for the extra month, but I personally think that opens you up to all sorts of extra demands 'since you've got this discount'.

Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 21:51

@Eddielzzard

I dunno. I might say something like 'Look we've really bent over backwards to accommodate the seller as he insisted he had to complete at the end of December. Now we've put a lot of work into making that deadline work and the end of January really causes a lot of issues for us. Most importantly we were chain free and now he has gone and forced us into his own chain! No, sorry, it doesn't work for us. Let's exchange next week, complete at end of December as we all agreed.'

And then see if they push back hard. Another strategy might be to ask for a price reduction for the extra month, but I personally think that opens you up to all sorts of extra demands 'since you've got this discount'.

Great idea - thanks!!
OP posts:
Original poster
planforeverything · 02/12/2021 21:52

@SpoonWhereArtThou

You can apply for planning permission now, you don't have to own the property to apply so you can start that ball rolling. With a whole house clearance I would want to see it empty before I exchanged contracts.
Won’t go in to it but there’s a very prominent factor preventing us doing this but thanks a for suggesting.
OP posts:
HaaaaaveyoumetTed · 02/12/2021 22:00

It's entirely possible that when faced with the task of clearing the house it was just too much for them and they do have cold feet.

We tried to buy a house in similar circumstances, offer accepted, everything moving forward and the vendor just kept putting the breaks on. Eventually the vendor pulled out, they were too emotionally attached to the house.

Didicat · 03/12/2021 07:50

We had this problem with a house, in the end we told them to remove everything they wanted and we’d dispose of the rest.

In the end they put stuff in the garage they wanted for two weeks, in the end they had a house clearance person come in and empty it.

If you want to push through, taking it with the contents, albeit a hassle might get the deal done?

countrygirl99 · 03/12/2021 08:10

I would immediate exchange then you have a completion date and can confidently crack on with planning permission. If they dither over that I would doubt their commitment to the sale.

justasking111 · 03/12/2021 08:20

DS bought a house like this full of stuff. Family overwhelmed by it all. I suggested we offer a sum for contents take what they want and we would dispose of the rest. It worked. It meant hiring skips to dispose of stuff.

Your seller should be aware that taking books etc from a house with black mould may transferring the spores to their new home which would be a disaster

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