Advice needed….seller delaying house sale with strange reason

[planforeverything]

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

Thanks so much all.

The latest is we had our solicitor go back and say we wouldn’t wait for a January completion but they could either a) take what they wanted and leave whatever they didnt want or b) we complete before Xmas or early Jan so we can submit our plans and they could leave everything in the house until end of Jan. They agreed to neither.

They came back saying he is off on holiday to America next week and her mum is in hospital about to die and they can’t face clearing it but they want to clear it themselves and not have anyone else do it. We’ve went back and said we’ll agree to a January completion on the basis we exchange in the next 2 weeks. Really hoping they agree to this otherwise we’ll likely walk away as I’d then question their intent to sell

I dont think they want to sell at all and you're better off cutting your losses now

Well whatever the background maybe cut your losses. We went through this with a purchase executors, sister wanted to sell brother didn't it was a nightmare we backed away, the courts took over we heard and removed him as executor.

The bungalow behind my son been empty for two years, brother and sister. Inherited She lives in Spain, garden a wilderness, house falling apart brother and sister hate eachother.

her mum is in hospital about to die
His father's house was supposed to help them move. Do you think that they are now waiting for her mother's estate so they can jump two rungs of the property ladder in one go?

It sounds like you should be looking at other properties as this one may go on too long.

You mentioned the house had been empty sometime. There was a scheme where VAT was reduced on properties empty for over 2years. This might reduce your renovation costs if it is applicable.

renovateme.co.uk/blog/vat-2-year-rule/

I would tell the vendor that you need to complete ASAP and tell them to use storage.
Go into the Estate agents it's listed with and enquire about other properties to put the wind up them.

I think they are havering due to cold feet or change in circumstances (like mother’s illness etc), then it will end up falling through however gently you treat them. And in the meantime you will have a lot of back and forth and change arrangements and other headaches.

So better to get something clear worked out now- so this might be a firm timetable for moving ahead or it might be finding out it’s not going to move ahead.

It really might be that they are just too overwhelmed and there are lots of emotions going on. That can take a lot of time to work out. It’s understandable but it won’t get you any further.

Plus thinks like planning permission and building work will always take longer than you expect from hem too, so you are adding an extra layer of uncertainty of indeterminate length into existing layers of uncertainty of indeterminate length.

Unless you are willing to e.g. move into a caravan in the garden so you can be flexible about when building work is completed I don’t know how you would manage to bring all those things together.

Off on holiday to USA next week and mother in hospital about to die - doesn't add up to me. That's using 2 'reasons' in one go. Are the agents giving anything away ?

Sorry Plan but I don't think you'll be getting this house. Step away. Lick your wounds over Christmas and start looking again in the New year. You could ask the agents to set up some viewing as soon as to show you're serious

They want to do it themselves but they’ve had since February, why would you leave it until the weather is freezing cold.
Why would any person risk those items becoming mould ridden?

They sound weird op and I agree with a pp about it not adding up about mother’s incoming death and holiday to America.

Oh, I take back my previous comment about waiting if you love the house. They are not selling any time soon. If they haven't dealt with their Dads affairs while their mother is alive, they won't be any more sorted with a second estate to sort out.

@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.

If he died in February in England & Wales I'd be astonished if probate has been granted. I'm dealing with three different estates at the moment, none complex, one of the deaths was over a year ago, none have completed probate. A year is normal at the moment.

Effectively the house is part of a chain, just not the typical chain. If the seller lost his father earlier this year and his mother has been ill, now dying then it could well have been an overwhelming year. This isn't just about "moving some stuff" its the life of someone close to you.

So its a perfectly credible story, whether its the actual truth only the seller knows.

I think they haven't moved on, they don't really have a plan and they don't have the headspace to move the sale forward. Personally I'd start looking around at other options. I know it's so disappointing, but you may look back and think 'thank god we didn't go ahead'.

I second the probate taking at least a year too. This is my experience with straight forward estates (well, one of them!).

I don’t think their request to delay so they can move furniture is particularly strange but it is definitely moving the goalposts. His mother dying may also lead to delays.

If you want to go ahead I would definitely push for exchange and set completion date so they’re tied in. However, unless you’ve got builders lined up you may find it incredibly difficult to find anyone with a tight timescale at the moment.

With regards to probate, my dad died in January. I applied for probate in March and it was granted within 24 hours. My experience was ridiculously fast I know, but delays are often when solicitors are used, especially as they have to wait a certain amount of time to ensure all beneficiaries have been accounted for.

I feel they're struggling to let go of the house and are stretching it out. Hopefully they'll come to terms with the fact that they do need to sell and sooner rather than later.

I was coming on to say just give in, if you really want the house. People do extraordinary things if pushed. I agree that the burden always falls on the buyer - we’ve had to suck up a really inconvenient date knowing if we didn’t there’s 10 other people happily in the wings who’d buy it instead. Sorry OP. Can you not extend your rent by a month and adjust the timeframe?

And yes insist on a quick exchange with a locked in completion date. If they won’t exchange you’ll soon know where you’re at…

I wouldn't want an 8 week extension on the completion of purchase of an empty house with water ingress during the middle winter without safeguards.

Apologies I haven’t posted in a while; we came to terms with the fact it wasn’t all stacking up and that it’d likely fall through but we’d keep it going in the background until Xmas (given the hard work from our solicitor was already done) and just go along with their timeframe and let them be the ones to pull out. If they didn’t pull out pre-Xmas we would and start looking for somewhere else. And also knowing we’ll have to be longer in rented. Well yesterday we exchanged. Turns out the delay was them tying up with an onward purchase, which was never mentioned. Weirdly, an onward purchase for them to move his Dads stuff in to (from the black mould house) - they aren’t actually going to be moving and the stuff we were offering to help them ‘clear out’ isn’t being cleared out - they are keeping all of his possessions so our offer to support with that wasn’t relevant for them. We won’t get the keys until 7 weeks after we originally agreed but we loved the house. I’ve definitely learned sometimes it’s not always ‘normal’ circumstances and also to never believe a word the estate agent says - 80% of what they told us was lies, it was our solicitor who got to the bottom of it all.

Congratulations and Merry Christmas!

That’s good news, I hope it all goes smoothly for here onwards. Good to hear that your solicitor was able to get it all sorted for you - at least you know you have a good one.

Now you better get your builder booked if you want to start work in the spring. All the good contractors are booked up months ahead.